Group needing help - best time for booking?

Hi All,

Begging for a small bit of help here...

I'm involved in an Irish Scout Group. We're planning on travelling to Switzerland during next summer for 2 weeks.

Our preferred route is DUB - BSL.


Can anyone advise when might prove the cheapest to book these flights? My instinct suggests as early as possible, but some of what I've seen here would suggest waiting a bit. We're talking about July so the flights aren't even available yet anyhow.


Many thanks,

Enda.

Well as soon as the flights are bookable, Ryanair will have a low price for that period ready. It's always very hard to say how long you should wait to book concerning high season flights in July/August.

As a Ryanair frequent flyer from Switzerland I would at least wait until February and not book before that! The best deals for high season flights normally come up around April or early May. However this always depends on how well the advance bookings look and you're date could cost a lot more than others. That's the risk of waiting.

In February you might be able to get a deal for July around 80 to 100 € return p.P.
By the way, how big is your group?

Thanks a million for your advice. The group will be about 35 pax I'd say. Also, seeing as you're a "Swiss Regular", would you have any advice on cheap options for car hire? Strangely enough, we're finding Hertz seem very good value out of Basel! (I'd have always thought them expensive up to this!)

Kind Regards,

Enda.

Well as I have my own car to drive around Switzerland I am not an expert on our car hire possibilities. However as you say, Hertz has good deals at Basel airport! And if you come in on Ryanair you can maybe even scoop up a small discount on top of that.

Hi Again!

Thanks for the advice to wait - prices now seem quite low.

Problem is.....

The group size is about 40. With 15 people maximum booking "per transaction", is it likely that the prices will go up with "each 15"?

Or should I ring the reservation centre & talk to them?


Thanks again,

E.

Yes it is possible, it's even expected. The company is giving some small amount of "cheap seat places" in aircraft, so if it'll be booked, then the offer is no longer active. Even more, if for example there is only 10 seats with this offer and you want to book 15 places with one reservation, the price for all of them will be higher. So you'll need to book 10 tickets first, and then more as you need.

As amnesia has just mentioned, there is only ever a certain few (around 10 - as amnesia says) seats which they reserve for "special offer" prices, once they have been sold then you go to the next level of price etc etc etc. Although, saying that, a day trip I went on to Girona from Stansted we had 17 people fly for 1p each way.

PURELY MY SUGGESTION............. (it maybe wrong, but hey this is what I would do!)

Book as many as you can for the "bargain" fare, especially those you 100% know that will travel (organisers etc), then call Ryanair once you have booked them all up.

Give them a call on +353 12497791 (I'm guessing in Ireland that would be (01) 2497791) saves calling the premium rate number and you get through to the same people. Found on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Explain your circumstances (i.e. Scout group etc), you might be lucky. Then at the end of it all, calculate the total cost and didvide it equally amongst everyone travelling.

Second option would be to look at the prices they are quoting on the web-site, then call them to find out what they can offer a scout group and if it's better book it through them, if it's not as good, go back to my option one.........

Best wishes and good luck on getting a good price for your flights.

Hi All,

Thank you for all your help and advice.


We have booked our flights - and did pretty well I think.

Our group of 39 pax, is now booked at an average price of €133 per head. This includes taxes, charges, airport check-in & one bag per person checked in.

We ended up doing 3 seperate bookings (15 & 15 & 9) and were very happy to see that from the first to the last, the price didn't change all that much.


Thanks again for your help,

Enda.

BRILLIANT!

If you break that down a little and deduct the bag and check-in fee that looks to work out at €73 (or €63 if you didn't use a Visa Electron card) for the return flight in about July (as you have previously mentioned). I think for the size of the group, that's a superb result.

Well Done.
Steve

Best time for booking?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Well thank you all for your help. It was really great. BUT.....

Yesterday, Ryanair pulled our route!! They announced that the route would go "during July" but the flights seem unavailable at any stage during July.

Can anyone advise me on what happens now? Do we contact the reservations centre to ask regarding change of flights to an alternative route or what?

We haven't heard anything from Ryanair about this - no emails etc.

Thanks in advance,

Enda.

Enda,

After all that! I'm sorry to hear about that. Give them a quick call on the above Irish number, to save from the premium rate and ask them to confirm or deny, what you've heard. That would be my best suggestion, until you get an email from them.

Steve

Hi Steve & all,

Thanks you so much for all your help so far.

Now I'm really confused!!

2 days ago, flights from dub to bsl were still very cheap (suggesting to me that there were still lots of seats on the plane).

MOL announced pulling the flight during July. After that, I went on & found that I couldn't book flights on this route during the month of july - any date. (suggesting to me that the flights were gone!)

This morning, as per Steves advice above, I rang the reservation centre and a very helpful girl there assured me that the flights were still flying.

I'm suspicious AND confused!!!

Thanks in advance,

Enda.

Follow up on my last post:

I rang reserevations again. Really nice person again.

He explained to me that until the flight is officially cancelled, we'll get no refunds etc. While he thought it would be cancelled - it hadn't been yet.

I explained to him that it was on the news page of the Ryanair website. He explained to me that that did not suggest that it was official.

I wait in anticipation....

Enda.

information at the site is unofficial.... lol

Well it will probably take some time to get the refunds processed, but it's definite, Basel-Dublin will be scrapped from the beginning of July! Give them a few more days and you will probably be getting a standard route cancellation e-mail. After that you can fill out the refund application form and then wait up to 14 days to receive your refund.

It's a shame and a stupid situation for your group, as you have to start booking flight all over again (and probably at a higher price).

Well, today we received emails confirming that the flights are cancelled and we would automatically receive our refunds to the credit card(s) used to book the flights initially.

Would we now be safe to assue we will get the refunds? i.e. Are we safe to go ahead and book again do you think? I would presume so.....

Thanks as ever for your ongoing help,

Enda.

Your definately on the safe side with the refund. It could take up to 14 days, but it's in progress and will be on your bank account soon.

Well you'll have to book again of course. The question is just to where. Karlsruhe Baden Airport?

Hi Again,

Baden would be a bit far north for where we're heading (Kandersteg). We'll probably fly into Bergamo & travel north. It won't be THAT much further than the journey south from Basel would have been!

Thanks as ever,

Enda.

Don't underestimate the distance Bergamo to Kandersteg. You do have the alps to practically cross completely, compared to Basel that would send you straight into the Bernese Alps via Bern. But the Bergamo option is certainly worth looking into.