London to Aruba advice needed

[amarg]

Well, just when all the details were coming together nicely (thanks to you guys), my other sister from London, UK has decided to join us for a week in Aruba. She needs to find the cheapest flight (school teacher's don't earn much anywhere alas so I'm paying for her too). I saw that Thomson Air flies a charter Saturday to Saturday but there's hidden costs and you must pay for any checked package. It looks like 40 pounds. Is this right? Can any Londoners out there give me advice and airline, flights, prices, etc., Or a good agency through London to help us? Our dates are Sept 18 to Oct 2, she can come anytime in there for 5 to 7 days. Thanks!

[monika]

yes it is £40 per person for one (up to 23kg)But any way they still have good deals for last minute.Now is high season because of school break but from september price will go down.

[amarg]

So is that the best airline to book with?

[monika]

and as I know only with direct flight.And yes it is the best for now.Just wait for last minute.

[Schnauzerjoy]

Dont know how much you have to pay with Thomson, but an option is to book with KLM or Martinair via Amsterdam. They have the direct frequent flight from Amsterdam and the connecting ticket London-Amsterdam is often virtually free.
Might be worth a try.

Carsten

[monika]

I checked that option too and price was OK but all together 19hrs from uk to aruba..

[Rainbow Villa]

Just curious as to how you got on with the booking from LONDON? Did you guys go ahead with ‘First Choice’ (Thompson) or did you opt for another route?

[amarg]

I booked her with Thomson. The seats didn't go much cheaper and we kept a daily eye on the site. One day the price went down 40£ to 608 and the available seats went from 83 to 4! I couldn't believe how quickly they went. At that point I knew we weren't going to get any better price so we booked it.
We kept checking other airlines too and prices were about the same or more.
What I didn't like about Thomson is all the extra charges like 40£ to check in one piece of luggage, 2% to use a credit card to pay or 3£ to use debit card, fees to choose a seat, and a premium package costing another 299£ if you want leg room, beverages and snacks. It's ridiculous. My sister is traveling alone so seating wasn't an issue but my travel agent told me of instances where Thomson/First Choice have seated moms and children separately and refused to change it unless they pay.
All in all we are ok with our choice and hope it goes ok. I've still been watching the prices and they're still ranging from 628-688 on any given day so I don't think waiting would have made a difference. I read on a couple of forums that people waited til last min and got fares as low as 340£ but Aruba is so popular now and the seats selling well at higher fares that I doubt they'll go that low again soon. However, I could be wrong and others could get very lucky.

[shariuno]

£499 is the price today via the first choice website - the flight is with Thomson airways and they have more leg room in their standard seats that British Airways & Virgin. I've been traveling to Aruba with them for the past 5 years. The good thing about this is that the fight is direct - who wants to have a 19 hour journey to Aruba!? 9 hours 45 minutes is way long enough for me.

[amarg]

499£ for the same dates? I wonder if they will refund the difference?