I'm standing up for Trev on this one - you can say "4. A moderators decision is final and no debate will be entered into. " - we can stop posting, so who wins ???

I have found Trev's postings very helpful in the past - I hope mine have been helpful to some.

openminded has posted inflamatory messages before - he/she is the one you should be checking, not bhm2trev

The point of the 'off topic' comment was because you are on the Malta forum and asking about a Riga comment.........unless my geography is severely lacking I think Riga is in Latvia not Malta
Thare are forums to post comments about Riga either city breaks or Eastern Europe.

Many threads in the Malta forum seem to go off on a tangent which can lead to confusion and loss of information in the threads.
I am sure Van will eagerly read your complaint however I draw your attention to the terms and conditions of the site as written by Van

2. Keep in Topic
Drifting off topic causes confusion, annoyance and a loss of interest by members in following discussion

And of course

3. Show respect and courtesy to all other users
Do not allow yourself to be drawn into conflict with another user. We will not accept personal attacks from one user toward another and this will be dealt with very severely. If a situation arises that you feel may be getting out of hand inform a moderator or Admin via Personal Messaging . We will then attempt to deal with the situation.

4. A moderators decision is final and no debate will be entered into.

I hope you now realise that the comment was not personal, i was mearly carrying out my duties as a moderator.

Biff

I dont see Biff referring to anyone in particular in that topic. It was Trev that assumed rightly or wrongly that she was referring to him.

If members have a problem with something then Admin should be contacted direct, and not debated on the forum.

Kath HT Admin

Biff - the discussion was never about Riga, but about how Malta may or may not be turned into somewhere like Riga, which is not the same

(respect due to you, and any mods on any forum - I woudn't do it)

ps "Many threads in the Malta forum seem to go off on a tangent which can lead to confusion and loss of information in the threads." - and thats what makes it such a great forum

hi all . looking at doing a few days or maybe a week primarily for diving. If we were to to get ryanair flights how easy would it be for us to get to either mellieha(sorry spelling?) or somewhere on the north coast or to gozo if we choose to stay at either of these places. looking at these 2 as i think although i could be wrong that diving would be better or easier from here. im assuming that a private transfer would be reasonably easy if staying in the north but not sure about gozo under our own steam

lyn

Hi Lyn, and welcome to the Malta and Gozo forums, both places are easy to get to by private transfer, if you decide to go to Gozo then you would catch a taxi up to the ferry port at Cirkewwa then the ferry to Mgarr Gozo then a taxi from there on, dead easy.

Regards
Sliema2

thanks for that sliema2 - thats great . We live just down the road from stanstead and they are offering flights for £6 each way + taxes etc so a bargain . My hubby and 2 eldest sons are advanced divers so i think malta is a must. How long would the transfer take??.

lyn

ps. sorry just realised its luton. ok not as good as stanstead but still close

Luqa to Mellieha about 30 mins to 45 mins at worst I reckon possibly even quicker depending on what level of Grand Prix training your driver has had ferry from Cirkewwa about 30 mins or so, but obviously you will need to co-ordinate your flight with the ferry crossing this website should help you http://www.gozochannel.com/ I can also highly reccomend Wembley taxis to pick you up at the airport they are really good and reliable http://www.wembleys.net/ ask if I can help you with any aspect at all about Malta and I will do my very best to help you.

Regards
Sliema2

Thanks for your help sliema2. Im going to need to investigate possible times for us to go as far as the diving goes. i.e sea temperatures that they will be able to cope with. got a feeling now will be a good time but we are goverend by school holidays and oct half term is out as we are already going away then. wouldnt it be lovely if we could just book those flights now and just go.

lyn

Thanks for your help sliema2. Im going to need to investigate possible times for us to go as far as the diving goes. i.e sea temperatures that they will be able to cope with. got a feeling now will be a good time but we are goverend by school holidays and oct half term is out as we are already going away then. wouldnt it be lovely if we could just book those flights now and just go.

lyn

Hi there, Although I live half an hour from Manchester airport I am on the verge of booking with Ryan Air from Luton. With Air Malta on the dates that we want it is £245 each, on the same dates from Luton it is £110. For our party of 6 that is a saving of £810. We would have to pay parking at Manchester anyway so it is just the petrol extra. Oh and a 3 hour drive!

I would go for it charliegirl. £800 is a lot of money and 3 hrs isnt that bad. if its an early flight you could stay the night at luton airport and still have a huge saving and if you can find a hotel that includes free parking at luton for your holiday duration (i know hilton at gatwick amongst others do this ) . that would be even better.

lyn

I have just priced a return flight from Luton with Ryanair in November. £20.00 p.p.

Pity they don't fly to Malta from Liverpool. At that price I'd have booked virtually every weekend.

Hi M&N, that's an amazing price, I know we both live in the North West so would you actually fly from Luton, I think we would at a pinch but the flight times would have to be right, don't want to be spending to much time in Luton I get nose bleeds if I spend to much time darn sarf

Sliema2

Hello Sliema2,

You are quite right with regard to flight times. The return flight gets you to Luton at 23:45. Too late for a return train journey to the wet,windy,bleak,cold North. and driving back at that time does not appeal to me at all. I live and hope more subsidised flight journeys are opened up by the Maltese Gov't or that they drop their landing charges at MIA.

Well, I have to say that Manchester isn't much better.

Have just returned to Malta after a long weekend at home.

Caught the Air Malta flight from Manchester scheduled to leave at 11.00pm. Plane delayed until 1.30am, so I arrived back home in Malta at 7am just in time to get the kids up for school!!!!!

I had been travelling for 12 hours at that point having left Lincoln at 6pm the previous day. Having a super picky security official tell me my (small) handbag counted as an extra cabin bag didn't help either

It also takes ages to get out of Manchester Airport particularly if you've got to pick up a hire car from terminal 1.

Ciao

Susan

BA are doing flights for £80 return including ALL taxes from Gatwick during November, December and January (didn't check later). Now that is a fantastic deal considering the facilities at that particular airport and it's proximity to many people.

That also includes a full service with AS MANY drinks as you like and decent food. You'll also get good backup if there is a serious delay (hotels etc) which you certainly won't get with Ryan Air.

We should be thankful of companies like Ryanair. they have opened up a lot of affordable destinations. I think I can do without airline food and free drinks in order to save a fortune.

As an individual travellimg alone then maybe BA is OK for the price. Just think about the savings for a family of 4 though!

Don't be fooled by Ryan Air's opening offers. Once the honeymoon period is over, you'll have to book many months in advance to get a reasonable fare. It's all a marketing ploy. They run a business to make money and selling most seats at £20 doesn't make money. That's why after the initial offers, only a very few seats will be at those kind of prices.

Also, expect regular delays. They have such a short turnaround time for their aircraft (something like 20-25mins) that regularly the aircraft you're getting is 'late coming from the last destination'.

I've experienced 2-3 hour delays when I tried them so I gave up. They have NO representatives of their own outside of the UK, relying on contracting out other local service personnel. The problem with this is that they also pay for the cheapest option for these people, so you're basically on your own if there is a problem.

Anyway, experience it for youself. I have (including Easyjet) and never again for me.

My mother and sister flew British Jet for a 2 week trip to Malta and have just returned. They booked 6 weeks ahead and it was only £8 cheaper than British Airways and about £10 cheaper than Air Malta. They arrived in Malta 1 hour late at 1 am in the morning. Terrible schedule times and when they came back yesterday, they said the service was atrocious and the aircraft was so noisy in the cabin. For them, no more Britishjet.

Also, why isn't that Airline called Maltajet since it's a Maltese airline? Because it's all marketing to make you believe it's big and British. What a joke, they only have one aircraft ( an old MD80 I believe). If there's a technical problem, you're going no where. This is what happened a week ago at Gatwick (was a letter in the Times of Malta). A 12 hour delay and no hotels overnight for any of the passengers. You really are on your own with these airlines.

Sure, Ryan air have loads more aircraft but they stretch them to the limit to make as much money as they can while the 'low cost' honeymoon period lasts. Personally, I really do not feel safe on an airline that runs everything that is cut to the bone.