Wallet Friendly Stop Over Routes

TRAVELLERS who have the flexibility to fly indirect to their #holiday hotspot can half the price of their airfare and double the #destinations they visit by incorporating a city #stopover along the way.

Cheapflights has found that a direct, return, flight from London to Hong Kong with British Airways, in June, would set a couple back more than £2,350, yet opting to fly indirectly, via Helsinki, with Finnair, on the same dates, would cost just £1,233 for two people, return, including overnight hotel accommodation in Helsinki. The London to Helsinki leg of the journey lands at 12.20 on 24 June and the onward connection to Hong Kong departs at 23.35 the following day, enabling travellers to spend an evening and a full day in Finland’s capital.

The London to Cape Town route also offers some interesting stopover options and hefty savings versus flying direct. A non-stop, return flight for two passengers with British Airways in November is an eye-watering £2,033 but, if a couple were to fly via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, on the same dates, they could net two return tickets and a hotel stay in Istanbul for just £1,029, saving a staggering 46 per cent (£928). 

When booking one-way flights, the savings can be even greater2, for example London to Los Angeles, stopping in Amsterdam; London to Rio de Janeiro via New York; London to St Lucia, via Paris and London to Johannesburg, via Abu Dhabi.

Phil Bloomfield, Global Head of Communications & PR for Cheapflights, comments: “Another reason that fares are often lower when flying long-haul via a short-haul hub such as Paris, Istanbul, Helsinki, Amsterdam or Reykjavik is that the Air Passenger Duty liability is reduced from £75 per person or £150 per couple (band B – long-haul) to just £13 per person or £26 per couple (band A – short-haul), as long as the traveller spends at least 24 hours in the stopover destination.

To search for the best flights and the most competitive prices, visit www.cheapflights.co.uk

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On the runway . . .

GLOBAL flight comparison website, Cheapflights.co.uk, comments in advance of next week’s autumn statement as MPs lobby government to halve APD. The measure is being encouraged to help families by reducing the cost of flying and boost trade post Brexit. The move follows legislation earlier this year, which saw under 16s being exempted from APD.

Andrew Shelton, Managing Director of Cheapflights, said: "There is no doubt that the decision to leave the EU has impacted flight search Pre-Brexit vote. Three Eurozone countries – Spain, France and Greece – were in Cheapflights’ top-five most-searched-for destinations, ranking two, three and four respectively. Following the Brexit decision, Spain remains second on the list, but demand for the destination has dropped by 22%. France has dropped from third place to number five on the list, with searches down 28%, and Greece has fallen from number four to number seven, with demand dropping by 34%.

“If this reduction is granted, we’d expect to see a significant increase in long-haul flight searches on our website over the next month as families seek to make the most of the potential cost savings.”

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

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