2011 price hike

[Colin & Sandra]

Hi
Anyone else noticed that over the the last weekend both Olympic and Thomas Cook have slapped a £30 per head "price adjustment" on this summers bookings. I can't find anywhere on their websites to explain what its about, I have emailed Olympic and will post their reply if I get one.
 

All the best

Colin & Sandra

[Mike G]

Hi
Anyone else noticed that over the the last weekend both Olympic and Thomas Cook have slapped a £30 per head "price adjustment" on this summers bookings. I can't find anywhere on their websites to explain what its about, I have emailed Olympic and will post their reply if I get one.
 

All the best

Colin & Sandra

Are you saying this is for new bookings only or all bookings? I put my booking ref. nos. into the Olympic website and they came up with the prices agreed, although according to the Olympic brochure there are some conditions under which they can apply a surcharge post booking. To my knowledge they haven't done this during the time I have been buying from them.

It was only a week ago that they were advertising double online discount.

Mike

[Colin & Sandra]

Hi
Anyone else noticed that over the the last weekend both Olympic and Thomas Cook have slapped a £30 per head "price adjustment" on this summers bookings. I can't find anywhere on their websites to explain what its about, I have emailed Olympic and will post their reply if I get one.
 

All the best

Colin & Sandra

Are you saying this is for new bookings only or all bookings? I put my booking ref. nos. into the Olympic website and they came up with the prices agreed, although according to the Olympic brochure there are some conditions under which they can apply a surcharge post booking. To my knowledge they haven't done this during the time I have been buying from them.

It was only a week ago that they were advertising double online discount.

Mike

Only on new bookings, I have been watching the prices throughout Jan. hoping to pick up a bargain

Colin & Sandra

[cornucopia]

I'd guess VAT - fair enough really.

[grahame]

VAT is not payable on package holidays, so the price adjustment would be Olympic putting the price up!
I checked the website today and there is no "price adjustment" on my booking but I did notice that the flights have been changed from Monarch to Travel Service Airlines , a Czech airline. I rang Olympic and they said that they would not be using Monarch but that they have not finalized arrangements with Travel Service Airlines and it may well change again!!! They hoped to keep the same time slots but couldn't guarantee this and of course they have the "right" to change your flight times by 12 hours and pay no compensation.

[Mike G]

VAT is not payable on package holidays, so the price adjustment would be Olympic putting the price up!
I checked the website today and there is no "price adjustment" on my booking but I did notice that the flights have been changed from Monarch to Travel Service Airlines , a Czech airline. I rang Olympic and they said that they would not be using Monarch but that they have not finalized arrangements with Travel Service Airlines and it may well change again!!! They hoped to keep the same time slots but couldn't guarantee this and of course they have the "right" to change your flight times by 12 hours and pay no compensation.

A Google search revealed the following.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/201...ff+website.html

Mike

[Rogataber]

I checked the website today and there is no "price adjustment" on my booking but I did notice that the flights have been changed from Monarch to Travel Service Airlines , a Czech airline.

That makes me more inclined to consider using Olympic - Monarch is the grottiest airline I have ever travelled on (and I am old enough to remember DanAir!).

Roger

[Mike from Sussex]

VAT is not payable on package holidays, so the price adjustment would be Olympic putting the price up!
I checked the website today and there is no "price adjustment" on my booking but I did notice that the flights have been changed from Monarch to Travel Service Airlines , a Czech airline. I rang Olympic and they said that they would not be using Monarch but that they have not finalized arrangements with Travel Service Airlines and it may well change again!!! They hoped to keep the same time slots but couldn't guarantee this and of course they have the "right" to change your flight times by 12 hours and pay no compensation.

I think you will find that package holidays are subject to VAT. When insurance premium tax was 5%, it was suddenly increased to 17.5% for holiday insurance, due to some operators offering extremely cheap holidays with "compulsory", very expensive holiday insurance. The recent VAT increase would not account for £30 on Olympic prices however!

The Olympic search for replacement airlines is interesting, but where would the necessary landing slots come from at the large airports, particularly Gatwick. I am very interested, since I am due out of Gatwick to Heraklion in September.

Mike

[grahame]

VAT is not payable on package holidays, so the price adjustment would be Olympic putting the price up!
I checked the website today and there is no "price adjustment" on my booking but I did notice that the flights have been changed from Monarch to Travel Service Airlines , a Czech airline. I rang Olympic and they said that they would not be using Monarch but that they have not finalized arrangements with Travel Service Airlines and it may well change again!!! They hoped to keep the same time slots but couldn't guarantee this and of course they have the "right" to change your flight times by 12 hours and pay no compensation.

I think you will find that package holidays are subject to VAT. When insurance premium tax was 5%, it was suddenly increased to 17.5% for holiday insurance, due to some operators offering extremely cheap holidays with "compulsory", very expensive holiday insurance. The recent VAT increase would not account for £30 on Olympic prices however!

The Olympic search for replacement airlines is interesting, but where would the necessary landing slots come from at the large airports, particularly Gatwick. I am very interested, since I am due out of Gatwick to Heraklion in September.

Mike

Mike,
Vat is charged on the profit margins not the total price for flights/accommodation outside of the UK, so any increase in VAT makes a very small difference to the cost.
http://www.iwantsun.co.uk/beach-holidays/2...-rise-says-abta
I googled it and above is one of the serach results.
I'm not so much concerned about the Flight Operator but like you the time slots. Having booked for a flight leaving at 0900 I don't want to end up on a "Night Flight" which are horrendous!
Grahame

[Mike from Sussex]

Mike,
Vat is charged on the profit margins not the total price for flights/accommodation outside of the UK, so any increase in VAT makes a very small difference to the cost.
http://www.iwantsun.co.uk/beach-holidays/2...-rise-says-abta
I googled it and above is one of the serach results.
I'm not so much concerned about the Flight Operator but like you the time slots. Having booked for a flight leaving at 0900 I don't want to end up on a "Night Flight" which are horrendous!
Grahame
[/quote]

Grahame,

I agree that whatever VAT is chargeable on, the rise cannot amount to £30 on an Olympic holiday.

Like you, I booked a morning flight (from Gatwick) and the Olympic site is still quoting the Monarch flight times, but showing Travel Services as the carrier and a £27 surcharge for a morning flight  

I'm trying to draw up a contingency plan in case Olympic don't survive through to September.

From its website, it looks like Travel Services is owned by Icelandair!

Mike

[grahame]

Olympic website now showing flights operated by Strategic Airlines.
They are an Australian company!
The plot thickens.
Grahame

[Mike from Sussex]

Olympic website now showing flights operated by Strategic Airlines.
They are an Australian company!
The plot thickens.
Grahame

Strategic does not operate any flights out of UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Airlines

http://www.flystrategic.com.au/

If this actually comes to pass then I imagine Stategic will be finding aircraft available for charter, but Olympic have been selling holidays by taking seats on charter flights and I doubt they have the customer numbers to be able to charter aircraft themselves.

I have a great feeling of foreboding.

Mike

[Colin & Sandra]

Olympic website now showing flights operated by Strategic Airlines.
They are an Australian company!
The plot thickens.
Grahame

Strategic does not operate any flights out of UK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Airlines

http://www.flystrategic.com.au/

If this actually comes to pass then I imagine Stategic will be finding aircraft available for charter, but Olympic have been selling holidays by taking seats on charter flights and I doubt they have the customer numbers to be able to charter aircraft themselves.

I have a great feeling of foreboding.

Mike

Lets hope things don't go to pot, we bit the bullet yesterday and booked for Kostas in June with the January offers on the Thomas Cook website, we thought we might have a bit more protection than booking direct with Olympic. The Airline out of Humberside now is
Fly Hellas who I've never heard of before


Colin & Sandra

[Arnaki]

"The Airline out of Humberside now is Fly Hellas who I've never heard of before"

Fly Hellas appears to be part of Viking, judging by the flight number.  Manchester is also showing Fly Hellas and Strategic Airways for its flights, along with Jet2.  We are booked for August with Olympic to Kosta Chryssoula, so also have more than a passing interest in this.  Anyway, let's not be doom merchants and keep our fingers tightly crossed for great holidays all round.  (Crossed fingers might excuse the odd typing mistake on the forum.)

[Graham_and_Karen]

Wow - just caught up on lots of posts (I've been neglecting the site for a while). Have been trying to plan a long haul holidy for May but we're no closer to making a decision. I think I might sneak a Plakias option into the mix but looks like booking independently might be the best option. A few years back we managed to lose 13 hours when Olympic changed the flights in 2 stages. Hope Olympic don't have problems - some of their late deals have been very good in the past.