Schools holidays are a time that many families plan to take a break, often abroad, but it appears that they are paying the price! And parents are now in outrage at the way holiday firms and airlines are increasing prices to effectively ‘make a quick buck’ at the expense of already cash-strapped families. For example, flights from Manchester to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt double to £1,044 per person; or to Malaga from Gatwick increases by £200 per person; and fly to Bergamo in the Italian Alps from Birmingham and you will pay three times the price!
Since Mr Paul Cookson had a SCHOOL HOLIDAY RANT on his Facebook page and posted how the price of a Centreparcs village increased by £400 during the school holidays, it went viral – 100 words was shared 150,000 times, resulting in an e-petition – “Stop Holiday companies charging extra in school holidays” – and 140,000 signatures. One Facebook sharer exclaimed: “Why should your children be denied a family holiday because of capitalism?”
But there is a reason why this happens. Many airlines offer plenty of flights outside of school holidays at a loss and when they up the price for the periods of time that children are out of school, yes, they make a healthy profit, but not excessive in comparison to the losses they’ve already made. Ok, that means that people who travel outside of the school holiday period gain, and yes, many families will say that they are subsidising them, but if the e-petition is successful in bringing about a cap on prices, it could well spell the start of a reduction in travel options. This method of pricing pretty much ensures that there is a constant supply of seats that are priced according to demand, and provide a very wide variety of travel options for all.
Like any business, airlines want to make a profit, but they also use revenue-management tools that push up prices as seats are taken on their airplanes. So, in reality, whilst it looks like prices are going up exponentially during the school holiday periods and not at other times, it is actually linked to passenger demand, i.e. if double, or even treble, the number of people want to book seats on an airplane on specific dates, i.e. during the school holidays, that significantly pushes up demand and the automatic revenue-management tools are activated.
And remember, just because there are high-priced airline tickets and holidays out there, it doesn’t mean you have to buy them. There are other options available, maybe not your first choice of holiday, but still a holiday! Or instead of flying, why not travel by ferry?
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By Oliver Derek