Flights and Package Deals
Most people fly to Tenerife (though rarely La Gomera) as part of a package deal . The variety of deals available ranges from simply self-catering apartments - usually the cheapest option - to luxury hotels. Though most of the accommodation on offer is concentrated in vast, rather soulless hotel or apartment blocks, package holidays do represent good value for money and can offer access to sports facilities and provide entertainment for children that would be hard to organize independently. There is generally little to be saved by getting a flight-only deal - except for those travelling alone, who will be faced with exorbitant single-occupancy supplements on most package deals. Of course, you will have the extra hassle of organizing your own accommodation, but this may well be worth it to avoid the brasher complexes and to gain more flexibility in touring around the island. The cost of a scheduled flight out of the UK is likely to be double that of the best charter deals, most of which fly out of the London airports. Monarch, who fly out of Luton, have the best deals, starting from as little as GBP170 return, while British Airways fly from Gatwick and Go fly from Stansted, both for around GBP200. You can often cut costs by going through a specialist flight agent - either a consolidator, who buys up blocks of tickets from the airlines and sells them at a discount, or a discount agent, who in addition to dealing with discounted flights may also offer special student and youth fares and a range of other travel-related services such as travel insurance, rail passes, car rentals, tours and the like. Don't automatically assume that tickets purchased through a travel specialist will be cheapest, however - once you get a quote, check with the airlines and you may turn up an even better deal. As tour operators rely on flight availability to sell more profitable package holidays, flight-only deals are kept artificially high until the last minute. This means that if you try to buy a seat on a charter flight as little as a couple of weeks in advance you are often looking at around GBP300 return in high season - but you should be able to get something for closer to GBP100 if you can book a day or two before travelling. From the Spanish mainland there are three airlines that fly direct to Tenerife. The Mallorca-based Spanair has scheduled flights to Tenerife from Madrid, Barcelona, Santiago de Compostela and Palma de Mallorca; Air Europa flies to Tenerife from numerous airports including Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga; while Iberia flies from eight mainland destinations, which can be linked with the company's UK services via Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester. Ticket prices can be as low as ?120 return outside the busiest summer months. The standard fare is, however, much closer to that of a one-year open return ticket with Air Europa which costs around ?310 from Madrid and ?390 from Barcelona. The Internet is a good place to find some of the best deals around. Sites such as www.cheapflights.com , to which numerous travel agents send in their best flight prices, and www.centralholidays.com are an invaluable resource, as is Teletext, which can be accessed via the Internet at www.teletext.co.uk . In addition, newspaper travel sections and magazines such as Time Out and TNT are a good source of information on cheap deals.
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