Interesting thread and replies!

Like some of you I wouldnt decide on somewhere purely because of flight times - but if I was asked to pick a time preferred for a short haul flgiht I would say about 9.30am - arriving in round lunchtime but still not up in the middle of the night to get to the airport (dont really mind doing that either though - anything when you are going on holiday!).

The bit I really do dislike though is a very late flight back. We actually do look at the return flight times as theres nothing worse than checking out at 12 noon (even if you do get changing facilities in the hotel or apartment complex) and not flying till the early hours of the morning.

Long haul is a bit different obviously as you are at some stage going to be flying at awkward hours.

Im just so pleased to be going SOMEWHERE that times arent really that important though

tootsie wrote:

Long haul is a bit different obviously as you are at some stage going to be flying at awkward hours.

Im just so pleased to be going SOMEWHERE that times arent really that important though :cheers

I totally agree!

I do realise how fortunate we've been with the last five years or so holidays, in that the various apartment
owners haven't set a time for us to vacate the property, they've just been happy for us to leave when we
were due to be collected for the airport. (Lovely people that they are. )

If they did set a time for us to be out by, I'd look for a flight that was as close to "chucking out time" as
possible, because I agree, there's nothing worse than hanging round like a spare part all day.

The flights we had to malaga in august were ok going out, 8.20am, but delayed 2 hrs with bmi manchester airport, can handle that, BUT the flight home was 8.50pm malaga-manchester, and we had to be out of hotel at 11am, just hung around in internet cafe spent more money on lunch drinks etx, then picked up at 6pm, then got to malaga and guess what DELAYED again 2 hrs(spent 30 euros plus at the airport rip off for drinks and a bit of food), didnt actually take off till 11.30pm, landed into manchester after 1am!! was knackered cold, and exhausted!! waited for taxi and finally got back into sale at around 2.30am thank god I was off next day, got a decent lie in and unpacked did laundry..Never again will I book a package deal unless we get an lunchtime flight home, reason for me booking diy next august!! and what I am also doing for decembers trip to barcelona flying with monarch great times out and back...

Prefer a flight around midday for short haul as I can't see the point of getting up at three or four in the morning to catch a 7am flight as I end up feeling like I've done a long haul. Done enough of those get ups for flights for work, I'm not doing it for my holiday. If I'm coming back on a late flight I'll book late checkout or an extra night in order to avoid that dreaded hanging around which can undo some of the good the break has done.

shirley h wrote:

Do you mind me asking when do you do your unpacking and washing ? I can't relax until that's done.

The butler sorts that out! , i'm always back to work the next day, once i've had my holiday and rest, thats it, i'm happy to be back and get on with things, usually the wife has a couple of days off to re-adjust as she goes onto her shift pattern leaving home at 2.30am every day , so she sorts out the cases and gets the washing on and if there's too much ironing for her i get someone i know to do a couple of hours to clear it and pay them , i would like to offer to help myself as i can iron but i'm sorry to say that i'm not really that good and i've come to the conclusion that its just one of those things i'm never going to get the hang of, i've come to terms with the fact i'm never going to be good at it , so i'll concentrate my efforts on other things that i'm better at.

Stace, we did the same flight a few years ago to BKK for 2days then Phuket and the cruise down to Singapore , the jet lag is a killer , we tried to get into the correct time , but trying to eat breakfast when your body says its midnight ain't easy!
second time around we flew to Phuket (short transfer in BKK) we arrived about midday , i skipped breakfast and had a couple of beers instead and slept all afternoon and that got my bodyclock right. great place and fantastic people though.

Kazza, you make a good and valid point , its now quite easy to do diy and get the flights and accomodation that suit your requirements , its not always about cost but the convenience we want.