Last minute holidays

[audi321]

Is it just me or have all the sites which claim to have bargains for last minute stuff gone now?

The usual suspects (last minute.com etc) are hopeless these days and never have proper ‘fly tomorrow’ bargains anymore.

Or does anyone know of some good ones left?

[alangla]

I just went on the EasyJet app, book holidays, chose a week from today to 2 weeks, +/- 7 days, selected “anywhere” as the destination, all London airports as the departure location and sorted low to high on price. amongst the first few returns was a week’s B&B in the 5* Hilton Monastir from Luton for £254/head with a £50 discount code. Add upgrades to all inclusive and a better room and it’s still only asking for £376 after the discount code.
A similar technique would probably work on Jet2 or TUI’s sites or apps.

Edit: after a bit of digging I found BA’s cheap holiday finder https://www.britishairways.com/travel/holiday-find...

Edited by alangla on Monday 10th February 05:57

[Chrisd83]

Agree last minute holidays aren’t about as much as previously, in my experience the earlier you can book something the better!

I did get a good deal on a fairly last minute holiday (6 weeks) via Jet2, have a look on there

[captain_cynic]

I must have missed the time when last minute holidays were cheap... Hasn't been the case for the last 15 years at least.

Airlines and hotels have become better at load management. It's no longer a case of "we've 50 seats to sell in 5 days". It's rather the opposite, they've reached their desired LF (load factor) earlier so if you need to fly tomorrow they know they have you over a barrel.

[alangla]

captain_cynic said:

I must have missed the time when last minute holidays were cheap... Hasn't been the case for the last 15 years at least.

Airlines and hotels have become better at load management. It's no longer a case of "we've 50 seats to sell in 5 days". It's rather the opposite, they've reached their desired LF (load factor) earlier so if you need to fly tomorrow they know they have you over a barrel.

I think you’re probably right. Looking at that example I posted above to Tunisia, if you try to book that as flight only it’s only asking £25 per person each way and the seat map shows the plane as very lightly loaded. So although generally they seem to shift all the tickets well ahead of departure, it looks like there’s still a possibility of the odd cheap deal nearer the time. Not sure how the hotel cost for that package stacks up against the norm, £250/person does seem extremely cheap for a week in a Hilton, even ignoring the cost of the flights & transfers.

[Linksmas]

I wasn't sure if it was just me. Holiday Pirates is good website and on appearance has some great deals.

But always when I click through the dates are not suitable really, or when I start to define what I need and want the price goes up to "normal" levels.

As mentioned already, booking early feels like the way to go now. Last May we got a week for two in Tenerife inc breakfast and a hire car, extra legroom seats for £1200 with Jet2. We'd booked that in early February

My wife dillydallying on our upcoming New York trip saw prices go up about £200 each on flights and £100 night on hotel room.

[LuS1fer]

My mate uses Loveholidays and a glance suggests very reasonable prices, some as good as booking separately.

[chip*]

LuS1fer said:

My mate uses Loveholidays and a glance suggests very reasonable prices, some as good as booking separately.

It may have changed now, but when I looked before, I find their package deals are usually filled with the crappiest flight times!
Personally, I prefer more sensible flight time for my holidays, especially travelling with kids these days (unless a long haul where an evening flight is preferred).

[LuS1fer]

chip* said:

LuS1fer said:

My mate uses Loveholidays and a glance suggests very reasonable prices, some as good as booking separately.

It may have changed now, but when I looked before, I find their package deals are usually filled with the crappiest flight times!
Personally, I prefer more sensible flight time for my holidays, especially travelling with kids these days (unless a long haul where an evening flight is preferred).

I looked at one for Lanzarote from Bristol and the flights were afternoon so not always. Sometimes flights are crappy times, per se - Málaga with easyJet always has early times but book Almeria and the flights are OK.

[Stretchly]

I signed up to “Jack’s flight club” for cheap flights news. There’s a free and a paid version which I think is about £30 per year or something. Anyway - I like it for the sub £50 flights and flights to the carribean and americas for £200 odd. They also have every now and then mispriced ones that come up that are an absolute steal - I.e Aus for £300 odd but they are generally a little in advance for most flights. Good to sign up for free and keep an eye on what comes up though