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What price a bit of sun?
THE prospect of cheap flights – and holidays – becoming a thing of the past is not a cheery one.
We have become used to picking up a flight for as little as a tenner, maybe less, and jetting off to some exotic location.
In the past few days we have seen the country's third largest tour operator, XL Leisure, come to grief and the fallout that has ensued – thousands stranded at holiday resorts, wondering how on earth they are going to get home.
The future of other airlines and holiday companies is hanging in the balance.
If the trend continues then when it comes to holiday time our cash is going to be heading into the pockets of the big-hitters like Richard Branson and his Virgin empire or British Airways.
And that's only if we can afford to pay their top prices.
Okay, so Mr Branson has been doing his bit to help abandoned holidaymakers affected by XL get home.
But if you were to look at the prices he charges for a Virgin trip, you might realise why airlines such as Ryanair, Jet 2, easyJet and so on, are popular.
Why pay 800 for a return flight to Florida when you could undertake the same journey with XL?
A colleague pointed out that the upshot would be that foreign travel would become outside the reach of many people.
A gloomy prospect since the alternative means spending holidays in the UK.
Now before you start putting pen to paper and lambasting me for a lack of patriotism, allow me to defend myself.
Yes, we have some of the most beautiful places in the world right here within our own coastline. But British holidays are not cheap.
We often can't compete with our European cousins and we certainly cannot match the value offered by our American neighbours.
And there's the question of weather.
Admit it. What summer have we had on British shores this year?
It saddens me to say it but staying out in England for my main summer holiday would fill me with a sense of doom and dread. I have too many memories of rain-soaked weeks in Cornwall, dragging the kids from donkey sanctuary to indoor play-area, cinema to bowling alley, instead of just being able to let them loose on a beach with a bucket and spade.
It's not relaxing and it's not cheap.
The thought of boarding a plane and jetting off to some sunny weather and a seafront where you don't need an anorak or a cagoule is, quite frankly, one of the things that keeps me going.
And I suspect I am not alone in this.
Something has to be done to protect these enterprising individuals who are trying to do their best to offer holidaymakers a competitive deal and equally something has to be done to stop the big boys like British Airways monopolising the skies.
Why should we have to pay their rip-off prices?
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Weather for Halifax
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
