Exceptional savings can be made by booking a very long time in advance. For example, disregarding for the moment airport taxes and fuel surcharges, this month it is possible to book peak Saturday flights for August 2005 from Heathrow to Nice for just £66, at £33 each way. The same itinerary for August 2004, booked on peak Saturday flights but much closer to departure, would have cost £394, that is, six times as much. Including taxes, a family of four would have paid £1,728 for their August 2004 flights. Despite higher fuel surcharges, the same booking made now for August 2005 would cost £417, a saving of more than £1,300.

 

Many families are reluctant to commit themselves so far in advance, fearing that some unpredictable event will affect their holiday arrangements. In practise, however, holidaymakers with children succeed in taking their summer vacation at more or less the same time each year, determined by school term times. Most unforeseeable problems such as illness will be covered by insurance, and if an airline unexpectedly goes bust, provided the fares have been paid by credit card, the card company will be jointly liable. Accordingly the risk of booking early is very small.

 

Moving the booking by even a single week can also result in significant savings. All schools know their complete annual calendar at least a year ahead and are often much more receptive to requests for children to miss the last few days of the summer term that are made long in advance.

 

Another way of reducing the cost is by lateral thinking. British Airways, for example, flies to six airports in southern France: Bordeaux, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice, Toulon and Toulouse, and flights on the same Saturday to destinations that are no more than an extra hour or two to your villa often have better availability and lower fares. By being prepared to change in Paris, travellers gain access to the more extensive range of Air France destinations, which include Avignon, Pau and Perpignan. This need not necessarily involve a coach transfer from Charles de Gaulle to Orly, the outgoing airport for many French domestic flights. For example, there are flights from London City Airport direct to Orly that connect with the Avignon route. 

 

As a result of travellers switching to the TGV on long-distance journeys between city centres, domestic French air fares have become extremely competitive. Eurostar has had the same effect on flights between London and Paris. Accordingly it is often cheaper to book the two legs of the journey as distinct transactions with separate airlines, rather than as a single booking out of London with Air France.