Why are our holiday flights cheaper from London?

Simon Calder answers your questions on flight prices, delays, travelling to Cuba and compensation

It’s almost half as cheap to fly to Kitzbuhel in Austria from Gatwick than Newcastle (Getty)

Q We love Austria in summer, and Kitzbuhel in particular. This morning we found a one-week holiday at the Hotel Maria Theresia on 15 June from Newcastle. We were quoted £1,022 each. The same holiday from Gatwick was £695. How can travel companies justify such a difference?

Paul C

A I agree that Austria in summer is a joy. A week at a top hotel including flights from London Gatwick looks good value at £695. I agree, though, charging 47 per cent more for the privilege of flying from Newcastle rather than Sussex looks steep. Certainly, the extra distance (about 170 miles or 20 minutes’ flying) implies a certain increase in costs. Holiday companies may also point out that the costs of operating a small base are, per passenger, are significantly higher than that at a large airport such as Gatwick. But taken together these do not amount to anything like an extra £327 per person.

So what else is going on? Quite simply, competition, supply and demand are up to their usual tricks. The London area is the most competitive travel market in Europe, with multiple companies jostling for business and keeping prices down. There is, of course, nothing to stop holidaymakers based elsewhere in the UK taking advantage of the deals by travelling to one of the capital’s airports.

Yet the option to fly from a local airport is greatly appreciated by many travellers, who evidently are prepared to pay highly for the privilege. The demand for flights from Newcastle may be intensified by demand from people in Scotland, if no direct services are available from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

With these dynamics at work, all you can do is make a judgement about whether you deem the “regional surcharge” to be value for money. In your position, I would also look at prices from Manchester airport. These tend to be highly competitive, too, and the airport has good rail connections from northeast England – far easier than travelling south to Gatwick.

Our flight to Jacksonville, Florida, has been changed to a time that’s too late to drive (iStock)

Q In August four of us are flying from Jacksonville in Florida via New York. On arrival we plan to continue to St Augustine, about an hour’s drive south, where we have accommodation with friends. The domestic flight was scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville at 6.15pm local time. But soon after making the booking, the airline changed our flight from New York so that it is now scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville at 9.15pm. That corresponds to 2.15am UK time, which looks too late for us to drive. If we spend yet more money on an airport hotel at Jacksonville, before travelling on the following day, can we claim the cost back?

Jez W

A How frustrating. Airlines can and do change schedules frequently. Ideally, you would have been offered an alternative routing, at no extra cost, that would not have involved so late an arrival. For example, a connection via Washington DC, Philadelphia or Atlanta could have worked better. You might even have asked to be transferred to a nonstop flight into Orlando and driven instead from there. A good travel agent might well have intervened with the airline on your behalf; if you bought through an agent, you could even now ask them to do so.

Assuming things stay as they are, I cannot see the airline reimbursing the cost of airport hotel rooms. Knowing how prices have risen for US hotels recently, I imagine you are looking at a total cost for two rooms of around £300. In your position I would ask your friends in St Augustine to enquire about the cost of a transfer from Jacksonville; I reckon you might find a driver who will cover the distance for about £100. Assuming you were planning to rent a car, and had booked a pay-on-collection deal, you could even save some of this cost by hiring the vehicle next day in St Augustine, avoiding the airport surcharge and paying for one day less.

The final flight between the UK and Cuba – from Manchester to Varadero (pictured) – is scheduled to depart next month (Getty/iStock)

Q Before Covid I was a relatively regular visit to Cuba, an island I love. I am now keen to return in November, which I find the best month in terms of weather and price. But I was astonished to see that there appear to be no direct flights from the UK. Is this correct, and if so what is your recommended route?

Juliet C

A Sadly, the final flight between the UK and Cuba – from Manchester to Varadero – is scheduled to depart next month. Leaving aside the pandemic, that will mark the first time in three decades when there have not been nonstop flights to the Caribbean’s biggest and most interesting island.

Rumours circulating in the travel industry suggest that a new air operation may move in, possibly as soon as the summer; there is certainly plenty of demand for nonstop flights, not least from Cubans living in the UK. Unfortunately, there is no possibility that the problem will be solved by a new Shannon connection (in the early 1990s there were 10 flights a week from the west of Ireland direct to Havana).

Unless and until a direct link is restored, my recommendation is to fly via Madrid on Air Europa. This airline offers a reasonably good connection from Gatwick – or, better still, break your journey in the Spanish capital for a day or two, reducing your liability for air passenger duty by about £70. Air France via Paris is another possibility, though the worst long-haul flights I have had in recent years were on the French airline between Paris and Havana: very dense seating on rather elderly aircraft, and disagreeable onboard service.

I am hearing better things about Turkish Airlines, which includes the Cuban capital in its global reach from Istanbul. This increases the journey time by many hours because you start by flying away from the UK (from Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham or one of the London airports) to Turkey’s largest city, and then fly back across Europe, possibly even traversing Cornwall along the way. You will be flying an extra 3,000 miles, which will clearly add to your carbon footprint.

Finally, I should warn you to expect high fares. Before Covid I considered £500 about right for a UK-Cuba flight but these days it is difficult to find anything under £900.

Delays mean I’ll likely miss my connecting flight to Vietnam in Doha (PA)

Q Advice please. I am at London Heathrow, booked to fly to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam via Doha in Qatar. The flight looks like being two hours late arriving in Doha. As we have only a two-hour connection, we will miss the connecting flight. The next one is a day later. Can I claim compensation or does it need to be a three-hour delay to get any cash?

P A Mason

A Looking at the schedules, the Heathrow-Doha link did not perform brilliantly on Friday – with your two-hour wait and an 80-minute delay on another flight. That adds up to hundreds of passengers who are likely to miss connections at the Qatari hub. You can be sure that airline staff are looking at the knock-on effects of the delays while you wait. If a significant number of people on your flight are heading for Ho Chi Minh City, it is feasible that the connection could be held. But let us work on the basis that you are likely to miss it. Ideally, you would have been rerouted for your entire journey from Heathrow – for example, transferred to Singapore Airlines to ensure that you reach Vietnam on the expected day with a quick connection in the southeast Asian hub.

As things stand, though, it is likely you will find yourself with around 22 hours in Doha. Assuming the airline does the right thing, and finds you a hotel, you can turn this into a positive. Don’t hang around at the airport: the city centre of Doha, and the superb new National Museum, are well worth visiting.

The test for deciding whether or not you qualify for any cash compensation is how late you arrive at your final ticketed destination. For example, in 2018 I flew on British Airways from Heathrow to Moscow for an onward connection to Volgograd. The plane was only an hour late leaving London, but I missed the connection and was five hours behind schedule at Volgograd. BA paid up.

Your arrival in Vietnam is almost certain to be over four hours late, potentially qualifying you for £520 in cash compensation (delays on long-haul flights of between three and four hours only get £260). But that will depend on the cause of the delay out of London. To avoid paying out, the airline will need to explain, with evidence, why it was not responsible for your delay. Otherwise, the money should be yours.

Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder