I am no charter expert but I would say that you are far too early yet to get Low Cost or charter flights for August 11 at reasonable prices. Indeed I would be surprised if full programmes for Aug 11 have been released yet. Might just be better to hold off for a few months yet.

Nivsy

Believe it or not the cheap charters have mostly gone, particularly for the school holidays.

Aegean usually release their's in June for the following summer.

You could await easyJet releasing their summer 2011 schedule which will happen sometime from mid-October onwards into early November.

I fear you are right, should have done it before I went away but have missed out. Price has gone up on agean by £100 bringing flight only to £500 for the 2 of us. :-(

Oh well I will live and learn!!

However, guess I should look out for the EJ flights.

At the moment packages are coming up cheaper than the DIY option.

Easy Jet flights are only listed until the end of March so far, so you might have a bit of a wait for the summer flights.

At the moment packages are coming up cheaper than the DIY option.

In my experience you have to be really lucky to get diy cheaper than a package during school hols especially if you're tied to the airport you want to use. I'm not saying it can't be done but I've always found a package cheaper (think it's probably due to the fact I'm in Wales)

At the moment for me DIY is coming in slightly cheaper. I travel with just my daughter whose 4 and I so pay as 2 adults. With DIY if I do flights and an apartment I can get per room price on apartment and not per person price like the hotel's, so make a good saving.

But you are right there are some good deals for packages around if you do the leg work. I have just tried moving my dates and it is looking better, but will mean my daughter missing 4 day's of school. I'm not advocating this but sometimes feel I'm over a barell so to speak!!

I may well just book the flights I have found and bit the bullet before they go too!! Fair enough I have changed dates and it's £20 more than when I looked but hey! ho!

...and just make sure you have airline/travel company failure protection in place if you DIY. Try to pay by credit card, look for bonding (e.g. ATOL scheme). I don't wish to put you off DIY but if the saving is so small then a tour operator package will give you a degree of security as well. Those who booked with Thomson/Thomas Cooks etc and where delayed following the volcano where well looked after. Those on DIY trips were on their own and paid additional costs in many cases to extend stays and get home.

Hi Ruth, I'd suggest you try Icmeleronline to see if there's anything cheap available, although as you say the prices do seem to have gone up somewhat. There's a liverpool number you can ring to discuss what you need, and in my experience they don't give you the hard sell - just sound advice!

Given how many TO/FOs have gone bust recently though, cheapest isn't necessarily the best option to go for unless you can afford to lose what you've paid.

Good luck in your hunt and hope you manage to find something at the right price

Yeah I hear what you are saying. I'd book a package but my OH is Turkish and there is little to no chance of him being allowed into the hotel if I book a package. I honestly don't think there is a way around this other that booking as DIY and us paying in resort for the accommodation...

I was one of those lucky people caught up in the KTHY affair...lol So know first hand of the nightmares, luckily I paid by CC...

ruth24s wrote:

Yeah I hear what you are saying. I'd book a package but my OH is Turkish and there is little to no chance of him being allowed into the hotel if I book a package. I honestly don't think there is a way around this other that booking as DIY and us paying in resort for the accommodation...

hi again Ruth, icmeleronline sounds like just what you need. Your Turkish OH would be fine to stay in the accom provided that his name's included on the booking for the accom. ICR are a UK and Icmeler based travel company, what they sell isn't the traditional package as such - you book the flights, accom and transfers with them. And you don't get stung for supplements like you would usually.

Thanks, I will give them a call. The agean flights are still ok. We just need make sure all names on booking as had a world of trouble in August... Oh well...

Thanks for everything