Dear Reader

MY FLIGHT to Malaga earlier in the week cost £851.48 return. Admittedly, it was a last-minute booking during the peak holiday season, but it’s still a huge amount of money for a berth in economy, a tiny bottle of water and a packet of pretzels.

What struck me was how friendly everyone was. Even the BA captain got into the spirit.

‘I can promise you one thing,’ he said. ‘The weather on the Costa del Sol will be gorgeous and you’ll have a great holiday.’

The man next to me giggled at that. He was wearing a suit in preparation for a business meeting in Marbella, pictured below, and was flying back the same day. ‘All right for some,’ he said.

During the flight, I read a Flight Centre report saying that airfares will drop in the next six months, especially long-haul.

I’m not so sure. Demand is still high. It’s as if the more dire things are in the UK, the more determined we become about fleeing the country.

According to Amadeus, the Spanish IT provider for the tourism industry, consumers regard international travel as their highest discretionary spending priority — ahead of eating out, new clothes, items for the home, and online subscriptions — and would be willing to spend 28 per cent more on it over the next 12 months. But let’s not tell the airlines.

Once I’d checked into my hotel, I got talking to a family from the West Midlands and they were having a fine holiday. In part, this was because they were paying £1,000 per person for nine nights on an all-inclusive basis with drinks thrown in — alcoholic and non-alcoholic. They booked flights with Ryanair for less than £100 several months ago.

‘There are deals out there,’ said one of them. ‘You’ve just got to do some leg-work. We’re going to book again for next year before we check out and will insist on being charged the same rate.’

Then they will have 12 months to look forward to it. We all need to find ways of coping. This sounds like a good one.