It should also be mentioned that the earllier post which showed an example from Glasgow and Newcastle to Malaga, should those travelling from Newcastle wish to book a flight only, The Thomas Cook website charges LESS to fly from Glasgow than Newcastle. I'm not sure how they come to these figures but it should be noted that these flights are with FlyGlobespan and Jet2 respectively and when comparing a tour operators holiday I think its best to choose ones where the flights are also operated by their own in-house airline, as we don't know what arrangements they have with other airlines which may cause some distortion in pricing,

Regional variations in prices can simply be down to increased costs, market forces - think income and demand or profiteering. Whilst mention has been made in the past here on HT I don't recall any real discussion. This is the complaints section and whilst examples may be quoted I wonder if it is the right place, perhaps Mods may give it some consideration. Not everyone comes into this part and I think it is a topic worthy of discussion.

I am of the opinion that the manner in which this was reported in the original article was more of the sensational journalism variety than proper discussion. There is of course the Monopolies and Mergers Committee who oversee things such as this and I would have thought they would have investigated it a long time ago if there was any truth in the idea that it was discrimination against any section of the community.

Pricing policies operated by TOs do seem a mystery at times. The old favourite "under occupancy supplements" which have been discussed elsewhere on HT do not seem to be quite the problem they were since people have found out it is cheaper to book a child as an adult and save money. A piece of advice often given here on HT

Right or wrong the people I feel sorry for are those who are not internet aware and therefore do not have the access to sites such as HT. The travel sections of newspapers devote little space to problems, seeming more interested in selling the idea of our visiting yet more exotic locations.

fwh

Mark757, that is actually the holiday I'm going on and although, distressingly for my bank balance, since i booked the price has come down (including the flight supplement price) it is still the same overall scenario. If Thomas Cook aren't using TC Airlines to fly me to my package holiday then I can't price the holiday using TC Airlines! However both departures ARE using Jet2.com as the airline, therefore there is still £100 in the price difference of supplements!

I agree that it can be the case when those in England pay slightly more than in Scotland, but 9 times out of 10 its Scottish people being ripped off! i.e. when I priced my actual holiday in June when I booked it, it was £140 per person to fly from Glasgow, and it was free (no flight supplement) to fly from Newcastle. However, it was £145 per person to fly from Manchester, so although it was overall cheaper to fly from Newcastle, had Newcastle not been an option, then yes Glasgow would have been £5 per person cheaper.

I always fly from Newcastle because I've always found that its not as expensive as flying from Glasgow.

Well if Thomas Cook are profiteering, they are not doing a very good job considering they lost £50 million in the 9 months up to June!

But in all seriousness, there are a hell of a lot more costs than just fuel, as many Scottish routes are seasonal, and operated out of airports that airlines don't necessarily have a full base. You can't necessarily simply equate extra cost with extra profit.

I'd like to think that if that much extra profit was been squeezed out of our northern neighbours then a number of other operators would step in. Or even a Scottish Tour Operator???

Would'nt it be simpler if the tour companies dropped this ridiculous term "flight suppliment", it's got nothing to do with the flight costs, just simply say the cost of this holiday on this day is "x" ammount of pounds more to fly from this airport on this specific date, instead of trying to justify it with terms like "Flight suppliment" I'm sure they will attempt to justify the huge differences at peak times such as other posters have complained about, but large among the reasons, is simply that they know that most people going on their annual break with children, are not going to journey vast distances, to try and get a cheaper deal, but will simply pay the outrageous hike up in prices that kicks in the day the school holiday starts. Alan

can i just say, that living in Cumbria, when looking for a holiday i take into account the time of year i am travelling. Whilst the poster is stating it is cheaper to fly from Newcastle in June than from Scotland, when i was looking to try and book a holiday at the end of August, i found it was much cheaper to fly from Glasgow than Newcastle, because the Scottish Schools were back off their summer break where we were still on ours.

As mentioned previously, i think it is swings and roundabouts depending on the time of year you wish to go on holiday. Whichever airport i want to fly from, i have at least a 2 - 3 hour drive to get there adding to the cost of the holiday, but because i live near the English/Scottish border, i can check the prices for both English and Scottish airports prior to booking.

we have the same problem here in Wales , its cheaper to book to fly from Bristol than our local Cardiff airport , for my holiday next year its only a £80 differnece which is nothing compared to what others are qouted , and even with the travelling and bridge toll we still save a little bit of money ........... the flight times are better also

Hi,
Have been looking at prices for Gran Canaria for October 2010 with Thomas Cook and thought they were a bit high and was hoping they would come down a bit.As of last week the same holiday that I was looking at has gone up in price by £500+.Guess whos not going to be booking with Thomas Cook.