V-Flyer

I am taking my nieces and nephew to florida, because they are at school as well as my sister (rather take a half starved tiger than the kids on my own more scary 3 14 year olds) I hadn't realised how much of a rip of it is to travel in august.

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The cruel hand of supply and demand, I'm afraid.

GJ

It is indeed a rip-off, but with August being right smack in the middle of the school holidays you should expect rip-off prices like that to Florida or anywhere in the world. Just that places that are normally cheap (like the Spanish Costas) become expensive and the normally expensive (like Florida) become even more expensive.

Out of interest have you tried XL Holidays/Travel City Direct for Florida? They seem to be the cheapest out of the lot generally.

If you want to save a few quid why not try FlyGlobespan, they get plenty of free advertising on BBC1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by Denzil
If you want to save a few quid why not try FlyGlobespan, they get plenty of free advertising on BBC1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is just bad Denzil [:p]...

In case you don't know...DO NOT book a flyglobespan flight.

An aircraft seat is worth as much as people are prepared to pay for it, and there appears to be no shortage of people wanting to fill the planes to Orlando in August.

Nick

Try thedibb.co.uk for lots of useful tips for booking holidays to Orlando

I always think this is a wonderful example of a way in which families (who have to travel during school holidays) subsidise the profits of airlines and travel companies to the advantage of singles and couples who can travel at other times.

It is outrageous but is an indictment on the ridiculous policies the government has to taking holidays during school time. I do not blame the companies who quite rightly are just reacting the laws of S&D.

FM

Weren't they talking (some time ago) about trying to stagger holidays to help with this? I also remember schools teaming up with some travel companies to offer vouchers towards school holiday travel to try and halt the tendency for parents to take kids out of school during term?

Originally posted by preiffer
Weren't they talking (some time ago) about trying to stagger holidays to help with this? I also remember schools teaming up with some travel companies to offer vouchers towards school holiday travel to try and halt the tendency for parents to take kids out of school during term?

I know they were talking about this, but nothing seems to have come from it (so the seasonal fare hikes suggest[n])

On my recent trip out to MCO there seemed no abating the tendency for families to have no option but to take their offspring out of school in term time.

buns

We're heading to MCO on the 16th December - still one week before school has broken up but we actually managed to secure permission - although it niggles me that getting permission is so difficult.

We're actually using miles for the trip, which thank heavens do not fluctuate with the seasons. To have paid for the trip cash would have been about £800 each - even on this date - whereas a week earlier the flights were about half that price.

Until someone loosens the 'Holidays in School Time' rule and realises that holidays with family can be far more rewarding, personally and educationally, than another couple of weeks in the classroom, families will continue to pay more and suffer the queues that are associated with peak times. If schools advocated 10 days a year 'vacation on demand' - with certain blackout periods -for non-problem children it would act as an incentive for the children and parents. Schools could then get organised with having a standard 'holiday project kit' and accepting this as normal.

FM

Originally posted by preiffer
Weren't they talking (some time ago) about trying to stagger holidays to help with this?

I know next year they have kind of done this with Easter. A lot of schools throughout the UK have 2 weeks off starting w/c 7th April, when in fact Easter is the 21st March, and some schools are having the standard 2 weeks off nearer Easter at the end of March.

This, however has not helped in any way and has just made the 4 weeks from March 21st very expensive, so the airlines/holiday companies are actually gaining but the staggering of school holidays, which I am sure was not what was intended[ii]

Back to the OP's original point, as others have said it is purely a case of supply and demand, something that happens in every industry. If you can get more for your product at a certain time of year and people are paying it (whether they are happy paying it is another matter) then why shouldn't you, business is all about making money at the end of the day.

Maybe someone can help me as I don't have kids, but is there now an issue with taking children out of school during term time?

We as a family always went away during term times as the prices during half-term etc were absolutely stupid. As someone already said, it is very educational in some regards for children to experience different cultures and countries - yes maybe going to Spain for a week and doing your archetypical British holiday thing may not, but going to MCO for a week and spending time at places like Epcot was very rewarding in terms of education.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Maybe someone can help me as I don't have kids, but is there now an issue with taking children out of school during term time?

We as a family always went away during term times as the prices during half-term etc were absolutely stupid.

You just answered your own question!!! [;)]

Basically it's a major issue now as everyone has picked up on the fact that the same package holiday is cheaper in term-time than during half-term. Schools are concerned because they believe it's affecting the education of children and nowadays you have to have a very valid reason for taking your child out of school during half-term. At my old high school you were only entitled to ten days authorised absence per academic year.

When you have kids LRoM you will probably understand it better than you do now, and it's all down to the parents really...is it worth saving money at the expense of your own child's education or is it worth paying through the nose but know that your child has got his/her education during term time?

And in case anybody thinks 'hang on book early cos its cheaper?', I'm afraid it doesn't exactly work like that as some holidays are priced high anyway when the brochures are released and get even higher nearer the time.

For the last 10 years or so, don't know exactly, most schools have had a policy of a maximum 10 day period of absense that would be authorised. This certainly was the case for our local schools throughout my 3 boys' education until the youngest finished school nearly 2 years ago.

The above had to be applied for in writing and a letter of authorisation was then issued. My letter was usually received with an accompanying paragraph warning me that their education would more than likely suffer because of it.

However, a lot of schools now have a policy that no leave in term time is allowed and fines may be issued. Unfortunately, it's something that varies from school to school and I know of people that have booked their holidays and then had permission refused.

Usually the un-authorised days are just recorded as such, any other cases are usually reported in the Daily Mail!

Jilly

Fines? After the long conversation we had here recently about tax money and it being used to allow the option for your child to have a free education? What's the rationale for that, who gets the money and what is done with it!

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Fines? After the long conversation we had here recently about tax money and it being used to allow the option for your child to have a free education? What's the rationale for that, who gets the money and what is done with it!

Probably pays for the teacher's tea/coffee money for the year! [:o)]

On a serious note it's there to bring home the point that taking your kids on holiday during term-time is not tolerated by the schools and, depending on the fine, the price difference of term-time holiday vs half-term holiday may be cut by a significant margin. Each school to their own when it comes to term-time holidays but the belief is common...it is not tolerated by the schools.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Fines? After the long conversation we had here recently about tax money and it being used to allow the option for your child to have a free education? What's the rationale for that, who gets the money and what is done with it!

I believe that the fines are issued by the LEA, however I have no idea what they actually do with the money.

Jilly

FamilyMan wrote: 'I always think this is a wonderful example of a way in which families (who have to travel during school holidays) subsidise the profits of airlines and travel companies to the advantage of singles and couples who can travel at other times.'



Just one very small way in which the single/couple taxpayers can claw back some of their taxes that this government steal from us on a monthly basis![:D] We fund your kids education, you give us cheap airfares- seems like a reasonable deal to me[8D]

NOC

Originally posted by nowt ont clock
Just one very small way in which the single/couple taxpayers can claw back some of their taxes that this government steal from us on a monthly basis![:D] We fund your kids education, you give us cheap airfares- seems like a reasonable deal to me[8D]

You have just made my Christmas Card list for that peach! [:D]

nowt ont clock - WHATEVER you do, try to get off of it as soon as possible... [B)][}:)]

I always think this is a wonderful example of a way in which families (who have to travel during school holidays) subsidise the profits of airlines and travel companies to the advantage of singles and couples who can travel at other times.

The flipside of this is that, if I want to book a holiday package, I will almost invariably be charged anywhere between 50-100% extra for single occupancy.

Funny how whenever this topic comes up, a trip to MCO is always a very expensive holiday when taken out of term time, but all of a sudden it becomes an essential educational experience when taken during school term. That's just self-serving bulls**t.
The educational message that children receive from their parents when they are taken out of school is one of stuff the authorities, I'm doing what the hell I want to do. Some lesson!

Originally posted by Ian
Funny how whenever this topic comes up, a trip to MCO is always a very expensive holiday when taken out of term time, but all of a sudden it becomes an essential educational experience when taken during school term. That's just self-serving bulls**t.
The educational message that children receive from their parents when they are taken out of school is one of stuff the authorities, I'm doing what the hell I want to do. Some lesson!

I didn't say it was essential, but it can be made educational given the right activities. Need to factor in that schools tend to cater for the average student, they simply don't have the resources or efforts as such to deal with the extremes; I know we as a family took holidays out of term due to the expense otherwise, and I certainly haven't suffered as a result. Each to their own of course, but I know if I was a parent (heaven forbid) I would have no qualms about taking my child out during term time for a holiday, albeit made to be educational.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
I didn't say it was essential, but it can be made educational given the right activities. Need to factor in that schools tend to cater for the average student, they simply don't have the resources or efforts as such to deal with the extremes; I know we as a family took holidays out of term due to the expense otherwise, and I certainly haven't suffered as a result. Each to their own of course, but I know if I was a parent (heaven forbid) I would have no qualms about taking my child out during term time for a holiday, albeit made to be educational.

OK, strike the 'essential' bit and I wasn't directing my reply specifically at you, Richard. But what you say just goes to show that the lesson you learned from your parents (and you appear to have learned it well) is that it is justifiable to take children out of school. If you have children (heaven forbid, haha) why not consider taking them on the 'educational' holiday out of school time?
Or, as I suggested before, send them to Charterhouse, where school ends on 28th June, leaving a good 3 weeks before holiday prices rise.