BA stop FREE ski/board carriage

Damn - I have just bought our BA flights to Zurich from City Airport.

Swiss are still carrying skis for free.

I can see BA loosing a lot of ski business from City Airport because of this. Swiss fly similar routes, at the same times, for around the same price. Now BA is about 25% more expensive if you have skis.

I went to Andorra last jan and packed my girlfriends snowboard in my double board bag, my mate did the same with his girlfriends ski's . we'd prepaid for the ski bags when we booked the holiday but at the airport they wanted to know how many pairs of ski's were in his bag so he said 2 and then had to pay again,so when they asked me how many boards i had in mine i lied,they didn't check and i saved myself £15..on the way back they just took the ski bags and loaded them up,no questions asked . I'm just about to book our flights for Barcelona through easy-jet and its going to cost us £18.50 per ski/snowboard

ATOO, that Easyjet price is per sector, in case you want to bring your stuff back )

ATOO wrote:I went to Andorra last jan and packed my girlfriends snowboard in my double board bag, my mate did the same with his girlfriends ski's . we'd prepaid for the ski bags when we booked the holiday but at the airport they wanted to know how many pairs of ski's were in his bag so he said 2 and then had to pay again,so when they asked me how many boards i had in mine i lied,they didn't check and i saved myself £15..on the way back they just took the ski bags and loaded them up,no questions asked . I'm just about to book our flights for Barcelona through easy-jet and its going to cost us £18.50 per ski/snowboard

Depending on who your tour op and airline is, I wouldnt even declare ski carriage. Many airport check ins dont check to see if you have prepaid for skis, and many charter airlines dont actually charge for skis, its the tour ops that MAKE MONEY charging for these. For example, MOnarch Airlines clearly state they do not charge for ski carriage, yet Skiworld rep at the airport made sure anyone who was travelling with them paid £35 at the check in if they hadnt prebooked. Do a little research and it may be worth risking it. Me and Mrs H have skis each and it soon adds up with ski carriage, especially at these ridiculous new costs BA and Ryanair are applying. I suddenly see the attraction of driving, Ian.

Tony, give the driving a go, just for 1 winter. You have more choices if you want a late booking, as you can go straight to a Tourist Office in your chosen resort, without the worry of getting a flight to "fit". You've got a decent motor, the alps can be done in a day if you start early.

Our household went through a phase of following the snow for several winters, where we would book 1 week, and then just drive on to wherever we fancied skiing, and calling in at the Tourist Office, or stopping at houses with Zimmer Frei signs outside. Always found somewhere to stay, always had good memorable trips, feeling like I'd experienced the places properly, outside the package tourist cocoon.

Tony_H wrote:

ATOO wrote:I went to Andorra last jan and packed my girlfriends snowboard in my double board bag, my mate did the same with his girlfriends ski's . we'd prepaid for the ski bags when we booked the holiday but at the airport they wanted to know how many pairs of ski's were in his bag so he said 2 and then had to pay again,so when they asked me how many boards i had in mine i lied,they didn't check and i saved myself £15..on the way back they just took the ski bags and loaded them up,no questions asked . I'm just about to book our flights for Barcelona through easy-jet and its going to cost us £18.50 per ski/snowboard

Depending on who your tour op and airline is, I wouldnt even declare ski carriage. Many airport check ins dont check to see if you have prepaid for skis, and many charter airlines dont actually charge for skis, its the tour ops that MAKE MONEY charging for these. For example, MOnarch Airlines clearly state they do not charge for ski carriage, yet Skiworld rep at the airport made sure anyone who was travelling with them paid £35 at the check in if they hadnt prebooked. Do a little research and it may be worth risking it. Me and Mrs H have skis each and it soon adds up with ski carriage, especially at these ridiculous new costs BA and Ryanair are applying. I suddenly see the attraction of driving, Ian.

As Bandit has described there are a lot of pluses to driving but remember price is not one of them, the price of fuel, five star cover, ware and tear on your car, tunnel fares,but on saying that if you have not got young un's then it is a bit easier to just pack up and go and find accommodation at will. 8) 8)

Well at present I have the company pool car, a battered Golf 1.4 which is filthy and done 100k miles so I wouldnt go anywhere in it! However, come the winter I will have my new new A3 tdi which will be fine to take away. I was thinking it would need 4 of us to go to halve the costs to make it cost effective. Obviously wear and tear on the car dont come into it for me, and they cover it abroad on insurance, so it would just be fuel costs, but I know I can get to and from the alps for a reasonable amount of fuel, 50mpg average on the A3 when its full.
So yes, its something to consider, and I like the idea of independence, and it opens up several places to try with the freedom of a car that I would possibly not consider as a package, eg Flaine, Aosta Valley, and more.

As for BA, I think they are going to regret this decision to add ski carriage costs, as they are definitely going to lose business over it. I am just saving up my air miles for a short trip later this season, for which I might even consider hiring skis.

Cheers for the heads up bandit. i've just this minute booked the flights and it automatically adds the price on for the return flight for the ski bags...£392 return for 4 adults,luggage and ski bags so £100 each seems like a good deal ..oooow im so excited :0)