Flippin heck Lyn. I would want the hotel as well for that price

Me too Chris . They must know they will get it though

True Lyn. A lot of people actually fine easyjet flights more comfortable than Thomas Cook flights as well, so for those that want to book a flight and a hotel separately they will still go for this I guess.

I think I would prefer to fly EJ over TC too but in all fairness I would probably fly with whoever is the cheapest .By booking early enough with them they usually are. Maybe over £550 is the going flight price now , I can remember not so long ago I was paying £300 at easter. By the time you put on the extra that's an almost 100% price increase.

I know it's serious money isn't it especially when it's for just a one week holiday. Maybe you should go for a two week one if you can get away with it at that time of year. That makes it seem like a so much better deal then.

I was looking at march 2013 just before Easter earlier on this year and thought that prices were quite high until I compared them to what Thomson and TC wanted ! That was to Luxor and SSH , I think that they can only justify the prices on the fact that they have the demand our flight to Luxor earlier this year was nearly full , I've just had a quick look on EJ site and you can get 2 adults from LGW to SSH on 14th to 21st April ( still in school Easter hols ) for £494 total plus bags and seats etc so that is reasonable I think .

Hi Andy if that is for two that is reasonable but I think the14th April is virtually the day they go back to school in lots of areas so technical it would be the first week after school hols end and the prices drop away. I was looking at the last week of school hols and needed to leave by 7th April at the latest.

I keep meaning to check out how much it would cost using AVIOS as I would imagine you could get a Reward Saver of some kind to Cairo then change planes onto an Egyptair plane to transfer on to Sharm or Hurghada.

It wouldn't bother me changing plus you would get the benefit of being on British Airways plane to Cairo which has gt to be marginally better than easyjet, TC etc

I appreciate a lot couldn't be bothered with this, could also do 8 days not 7 to make up for any hours lost.

Doe

I think in my area that they decided to fix the Easter holidays from 1st April to 21st April as Easter usually falls in this period , except next year 2013 when it is at its earliest date possible !!
And not all schools have the same holiday dates either ! The only problem with the cairo flight is having to go from Heathrow , to me it seems a lot of faffing around to reach somewhere which is just over 5 hours away directly , I think that BA did fly to Sharm directly a while ago , pity they don't now , it would be another option , and with less options the price always goes up , I've found this on prices to Lanzarote too over the last couple of years where we often holidayed , it makes you look at other more affordable routes or destinations .

Yes Ba did fly to sharm at one point Andy . It wasnt actually a BA flight but an operater owned by them or something similar. You could still book on their website though . BA sold them off a few years back . For the life of me I cant remember their name .

Was it Air GB or GB Airways Lyn?

I remember flying to Tunis with them once, had booked with BA though.

andy66 wrote:

I think in my area that they decided to fix the Easter holidays from 1st April to 21st April as Easter usually falls in this period , except next year 2013 when it is at its earliest date possible !!
And not all schools have the same holiday dates either ! The only problem with the cairo flight is having to go from Heathrow , to me it seems a lot of faffing around to reach somewhere which is just over 5 hours away directly , I think that BA did fly to Sharm directly a while ago , pity they don't now , it would be another option , and with less options the price always goes up , I've found this on prices to Lanzarote too over the last couple of years where we often holidayed , it makes you look at other more affordable routes or destinations .

Heathrow isn't a problem for me. Since we have been talking about this I have tried the AVIOS site to try and get a miles/pricing to Cairo but the site is pants so I need to call them. I am guessing it will be a zone 4 in the reward saver bracket, I think you can easily book an Egyptair flight for the rest as many who travel to Sharm and Hurghada book a day trip to the pyramids independant of TUI/TC etc at a quarter of the cost of the organised trip, and everyone ends up on the same flights.

Yes that's them Judith , GB airways , a family who the lads dived with the first couple of years we went always used them but it must of been a few years ago now that they stopped operating there. Im wondering if over the last couple of years BA themselves flew there . Seems Egyptair took up their slots

Hi Doe , I think it is 25000 AVIOS plus taxes and fees , I only found about 1 or 2 flights in feb and march that had reward availability , looking at full prices on both BA and Egyptair on Easter weekend they are around the same price as the easyjet price that Lyn saw , and you get baggage included etc , the LCC seem to be charging the same as national carriers on peak weeks , good prices can be found outside of these peak weeks though , but if you're stuck with having to go on peak weeks then its worth looking at other options like national carriers as at least you get baggage included and fed and watered .

Egyptair price from Cairo to sharm is £128.50 return per person , around Easter weeks .

Hi Andy, so maybe it would wor out at about alf the price of an easyjet price, if I was prepared to do the messing around. I don't think it's one for anyone with kids to investigate but it might be worth while for me and my OH. I will keep it in mind the other problem is getting the availability on AVIOS at he time you want

I can understand why people use easyjet despite the high prices Lyn posted as it is simple and there is a lot of availability.

I agree totally with what you're saying , and the availability of reward flights at the times you want is crucial , it also depends if you want to spend a few days or so in Cairo visiting the sights etc , its a more flexible way of booking a nine night holiday as most packages are 7 or 14 , that way you can see a bit of culture and have your rest around the beach and pool .
I have never visited Cairo , but if passing through I would stopover for a couple of days , despite having been to Egypt 11 times I haven't seen a pyramid yet !

Me neither and we've been a fair few times as well it's getting to the point where it s embarrassing. Gonna have to go soon but once I get to the Red Sea I can't be bothered to travel about.

despite having been to Egypt 11 times I haven't seen a pyramid yet !

Other than those you have seen from the window seat of the plane as you fly over them

Me neither but Cairo doesnt interest me . I wouldnt mind going to Luxor but I couldnt do it in any form of heat and I would need to be based there. A sunny UK spring like or autumn day would be nice but even in January I cant see that happening. Plus there is that other little problem of once my backside hit's a sunbed I struggle to make it up and down from the room never mind a jaunt around the pyramids !!

I'd forgotten that I have seen them from the plane as well Lyn, that is going to have to keep me going for a while

lynwestie wrote:

despite having been to Egypt 11 times I haven't seen a pyramid yet !

Other than those you have seen from the window seat of the plane as you fly over them

I'm usually asleep at that point .

Me neither but Cairo doesnt interest me . I wouldnt mind going to Luxor but I couldnt do it in any form of heat and I would need to be based there. A sunny UK spring like or autumn day would be nice but even in January I cant see that happening. Plus there is that other little problem of once my backside hit's a sunbed I struggle to make it up and down from the room never mind a jaunt around the pyramids !!

We'd done Sharm and Taba for a few years and thought it was embarrassing that we had never done anything cultural except going into the desert for a Bedouin meal where they served cans of coca cola

So we decided to try Luxor , we have stayed there 3 times and also had a Nile cruise from there too , the cruise was very busy sightseeing with little relax time and early starts too , but it was enjoyable and interesting , when we have stayed , we go out early to visit the temples and VOK and are back for lunch then an afternoon around the pool . I think Luxor is great as you can relax and sunbathe , yet go out to see some fascinating sights which are literally on your doorstep , you don't really have to make too much effort to get of your backside to be wowed by the history that surrounds you . Temperature wise , we have gone in March and its fine to walk around in , also very good for sunbathing but cool in the evenings .