The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
May half term is set to be the most expensive ever
With airfares to Malaga or Crete topping £1,000 as schools break up, August might be a better bet, says Nick Trend
There was a time when the May half-term week was an excellent alternative to the school summer holi- days. You could jet off to the Med for a bargain break with the family for significantly less than in July or August. Not any more. The surge of demand which has been causing so much chaos at UK airports over the past few weeks has also spilled over into half term and has caused an extraordinary spike in prices.
Want to fly to Malaga on May 28 – the morning after schools break up? Most flights from both London and Manchester airport are now over £500 return – £2,000 for a family of four. You can shave off a little by travelling at unsociable hours, but the cheapest fare from a London airport has already gone up to £355 (with easyJet) and that means landing in Spain at 11pm (assuming it is on time, of course) and checking in at 4am for a 6.05am return on June 4 – not great for anyone, let alone a family with children.
If you are looking for more civilised flight times, fares have soared to previously unheard-of levels. BA’s 3.40pm flight from Heathrow on May 28, returning from Malaga at 2.10pm on May 4, is currently selling at £1,038 (including checked-in bag). EasyJet’s 11.20am service out of Gatwick, returning at 2.45pm, on the same dates is even more expensive. Travelling with more than a small cabin bag it will set you back £1,054 – that’s £4,216 for a family of four to get to the Costa del Sol.
It’s a similar story on most routes to the Med. EasyJet is charging up to £1,068 return from Gatwick to Heraklion in Crete. And midday returns from Stansted to Alicante with Ryanair are now £644. Both fares include checkedin bags. Given that some flights are already sold out and that there are still six weeks to go, it seems certain that fares will rise even higher.
The demand for flights is also hitting package prices. For the week beginning May 28, say, a family villa sleeping four on the Greek island of Ithaca – the Elia Beach Villa booked through Simpson Travel (simpsontravel.com) – costs £1,515 rental only, but £3,878 as a package with flights. That means the airfares are nearly £600 each.
And a seven-night all-inclusive package to Mallorca, departing on the same date with Tui (tui.co.uk) and staying at the Sensatori Biomar hotel in Sa Coma, costs £5,390 for a family of four. That is more expensive than the price in August, when it drops to £4,965 if you depart on Tuesday 23.
Inflated prices were always looking likely at peak times this year. This is the first spring without significant disruption by the pandemic since 2019 and, as we have seen over the run up to the Easter weekend, airlines and airports are already struggling to cope with the pent-up demand.
What’s more, the half-term week falls very late this year. It straddles the end of May and the beginning of June so psychologically it feels more like a summer than a spring week – and temperatures in the Med will be that little bit warmer. And then, to compound matters there is an extra day off to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. The two bank holidays – on the Thursday and Friday – make the week a much more attractive one to book a getaway for those who aren’t tied to school holidays because they can take nine days off work at a cost of only three days’ annual leave.
So, broadly speaking, it looks as though most families who haven’t already booked this spring would do well to rethink their plans and focus on July and August instead. The extra flexibility around departure dates makes it much easier to find reasonably-priced flights and packages.
For those who are desperate to get away to the Med at the end of May, your best bet is to book a slightly shorter trip – perhaps booking from Monday to Friday to avoid the huge pressure on weekend flights.