XL - Payments Upfront

[Paul Tallet]

Hi everyone

I have just been trying to book some flights to Tobago through XL and I was a little miffed to find out that they want the full price of the tickets to be paid up front as Virgin and BA do.

This will obviously affect those that save regularly on a shoestring budget for their holidays to Tobago.

Regards

[Jo B]

Paul

Have you tried booking through an agent like Golden Caribbean, or my personal recommendation, Newmont Travel? They are often just as cheap as going direct to the airline, and just take £100 or so deposit.

Jo x

[Paul Tallet]

Thanks Jo ... I will give them a try.

Regards

[Paul Williams]

Hello Paul

I am really glad you are in the process of going back, I know it will do you good.

I am not sure when you are going and if its fairly soon most of the companies will require the full amount, I have checked on the Travel Republic website and they are still only asking for £100 deposit for each person and their prices still look good to me (£315 in Sept and Oct).

Hope this helps.

Best regards

Paul

[Paul Tallet]

Hi Paul

I am trying to get back for 3 weeks in February 2009.

I will check that site out as well ... waiting for the quotes back off XL then will try all the recommendations ... thanks everyone for your help.

Regards

[Paul Tallet]

Thanks everybody

Here is some feedback.

I have given up on 3 weeks for various reasons such as accommodation dates and the fact that the flight prices go up. I could not get any accommodation (where I wanted to stay) in February so it came down to January or over Easter period in March/April.

Newmont provided quotes but they charge about £150 more per person than XL which is fair enough as they need a commission for their work. They could not get 3 weeks for me though over Easter and the prices were much higher for this period.

Golden Caribbean don't yet have dates for 2009 yet but they are expecting to have them by July.

I went back to XL who could give me 3 weeks in March/April ... but I had to wait for a quote.

So I have ended up opting for 2 weeks in January 2009 ... trying to book 3 weeks is alot of hassle so I would rather go for less and take it easy

Regards

[Tony G]

Three weeks is tricky. We went for three weeks last year but flew with Virgin because it turned out to be considerably cheaper than XL.

Tony

[Ronald]

Tony, as you mention Virgin..

Did you know that if one want to buy a ticket with Virgin you must have an English Bankcard connected to an English bank account? That happend a Swedish friend of my, Virgin didn´t even accept International Cards as VISA, Mastercard or Eurocard!?

I´ve made reservations for four weeks tickets before over the phone with Golden Caribbean/XL, but I had to pay all at once! This year I go with BA, bought via a travel agency, and than I don´t have to pay the whole amount at once.
Ronald