If you are in the fortunate position of being able to go on holidays this year – and assuming you’re not a Collison brother – you are probably looking to squeeze every last euro out of your trip away.
Enter Pricewatch editor Conor Pope with the latest on the jet fuel situation, whether airlines might start adding surcharges and how the resulting slump in demand for overseas holidays might offer better value for those of us hunting for a bargain.
Conor also reveals the common holiday spending traps to avoid and what you should look out for when taking out insurance. (He’ll have your guts for garters if you don’t take out insurance.)
“A handy trick is if you copy and paste the terms and conditions of a particular travel insurance document and paste it into Microsoft Word. You just go ‘Control F’ and search for ‘excluded’, ‘not covered’, because they’re the only things you really care about,” Conor says.
Some of the most unpleasant financial surprises can arise out of car hire, or a chance encounter with a pickpocket on a crowded promenade, but in all likelihood it will be an unforeseen event before the holiday even starts like an illness or a bereavement that forces you to move your dates.
Then there’s the other less serious but very sneaky stuff like the airport “golden hour” – Conor reveals this is industry speak for the 60 minutes after you go through security and before you have to head for your plane.
Rather than inform you what departure gate you’ll be boarding from, airports get you to wait longer in their shopping hall.
“They know that you’re bored. They know that you’ve time on your hands, and they know that you probably have a few bob in your pocket. You’re in holiday mode. So it’s like, ‘yeah, I will buy those extra pair of sunglasses’.”
There’s no travel insurance that covers you for that. But maybe you’ll look cooler.
As the Baz Lurhmann song goes, “everybody’s free to wear sunscreen” – but trust us on the travel insurance.
Presented by Aideen Finnegan.
