Word of warning - Flight to Murcia airport

Just a word of warning to anyone booking flights into Murcia airport for 2010 from the Midlands in particular.

Monarch have just cancelled all of their service to Murcia from Birmingham and transfered all passengers to Alicante.

The person I spoke to at Monarch stated that she believed that in the current economic climate all the low cost airlines would be forced to cancel any un-economic flights. (Easyjet are currently looking at pulling out of East Midlands airport.)

While flying to Alicante instead of Murcia is not too much of a problem the flight times have changed dramatically.

More importantly, following last years car hire problems, I have now had to change all my car hire. As I booked directly this was not a problem but may be if you book through an agent.

I understand the same has happened on the Manchester to Murcia flights with Monarch!!

I think the main reason these routes are being cancelled is because monarch are more expensive than the others.

Hello

We had a couple of flights booked with Monarch for mid May from LGW to Murcia, this has now been changed to Alicante, flight times are slightly different yet more favorable with us.

Hi ya

We found that Monarch didnt fly to Murcia from B`ham during the winter months last year, so we now use Ryan Air.

Having been out with them three times during November  & early December of last year & february the year previous I dont bother looking at Monarch any more. The plane is always full so I hope this will not change. We intend to go out again early March and as I  have not booked our flight yet I will be keeping my fingers well & truly crossed 

Jan

Worth looking at flying from east mids to Murcia, it's cheaper than B'ham. Booked for whit week and very cheap.

Thanks Andy.

To be honest, with traffic conjestion locally I would imagine it would be as quick to go to East Mids.

Cant think why I didnt think of it.

will have a look at it

Jan

Hello again

Just looked up East Mids for the dates we want & East Mids is £10.00 dearer each way.

So it looks like it`s  B`Ham for us

Jan

Oh well, worth a try, but thank god for good old ryanair, still nice and cheap, even in the summer holidays

Hi

Last time we flew (Oct 09) we booked 2 separate flights with Ryanair - Birmingham - Murcia and then Alicante to East Mids. Worked out cheaper and you can choose best flight times too. Only thing was we had to pay 2 lots of booking charges. It was still cheaper though.

We're out again in 3 weeks, but this time Birmingham - Murcia return was cheapest. Certainly best to book in advance. Last minute deals don't happen anymore.

It is frustrating that every time we see Ryanair advertising these cheap seats, they never apply to our flights, but we have spent a lot of time looking at other companies, Monarch, Jet2 and Bmi and Ryanair are ALWAYS cheapest.

They have changed their booking costs recently (no longer do you get free booking fee with an Electron card, you now need a pre paid Mastercard to get free booking cost (they are free to apply for) so worth getting online and ordering one.

Rachel

Hi Rachel.

I noticed your advise re the free prepaid mastercard.

Went onto a site but am rather confused. ( does`nt take much)

there were a number of different cards to choose from

I noticed tat the Virgin one was £9.99

Others wre either slightly  more or slightly less & those that were free seamed to have other charges that worked out more expensive than those who charged an initial fee??????????????

Can I be cheeky & ask which one you used

Another question to those of you that use Ryan Air frequently. I have always been lucky in the past & have found that at the time off booking our flight, the seats have either been free or as little as £5.99. As we intend to go out in March, do I need to hold on a while or have I missed the good deals .

Jan

 jAN

   I am looking for March with ryan air from bournemouth it pays to keep checking i find i get the deals about 1 or 2 months from going.

nick naranjos 8 and fareham hants

Thanks Nick

We hope to be over around the 2nd - 13th.

When are you over

Jan

For those of us in the North, it's worth having a look at Leeds Bradford to Murcia with Ryanair

We got flights for May Day bank holiday weekend and both legs of the journey were no taxes

Hi

The prepaid Mastercard I have applied for is the Barclays FairFX card. My brother-in-law is a frequent flyer with Ryanair and did some research and this is the best one he found.

This is some info off the Money Saving website: Ryanair: To avoid payment fees with Ryanair, the prepaid card must be issued by Mastercard. The best is the FairFx* Anywhere card, where the only charge is 1.5% of the transaction amount each time you spend on it. If you use a debit card to top it up online or by the phone there's no charge.

It is free to apply for, but you have to pay £10.00 minimum (which is money put on your card to spend towards your first purchase). Where it says minimum £100, just change this to £10.00 - it does work, I did it.

They charge about 1.5% each time you use it, so still works out much cheaper than giving that cheeky Irish git your money!

To apply go to Fairfx.com and follow "apply now" tab. Under "select delivery method" press "New FairFX card". Make sure you do the one in pounds, not euros or dollars.

One you've applied you need to pay the £10 straight away, and you should get the card in around 10 days, my brother-in-law had he's in 5 days.

Their notes on fees: "We do not charge any monthly or quarterly fees or any fees for foreign exchange transactions, checking your on-line balance and statements or for purchase transactions. Please refer to your terms and conditions for detailed information regarding fees".

Any more questions, I'll do my best to help.

Rachel