May flight fares surge in ‘half-term holiday rip-off'

Telegraph

2 days ago

Half-term holidaymakers are being ripped off by airlines, experts have said.
The cost of flights during school half-term holidays has tripled since 2000, a Telegraph analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures suggests.
While the summer months are consistently the most expensive period for air travel, May is now a close second. The problem is worsening every year, with half-term ticket prices now 14.9 per cent higher than they were last April. The cost of flights has substantially outpaced overall price rises, up some 84.2 per cent since the turn of the millennium.
This means that parents who used to rely on cheaper half-term fares in May and October because premium summer flights were so expensive now face record costs all year round.
Rory Boland, Which? travel editor, called the rise in holiday fares a 'rip-off'.
He said: 'Airlines may like to call it dynamic pricing or surge pricing, but if you're trying to take a trip during the school holidays you'll almost certainly call it what it is, a rip-off.'
Meanwhile, daily holiday costs, including three-course meals, drinks, sun cream and insect repellent, have also surged.
In Marmaris, Turkey, the cost of a 'package holiday bundle' has surged by 90.1 per cent from £45.23 in 2019 to £86 in 2025, according to a Post Office 2025 survey.
Nice in France (66.5 per cent), New York (57.2 per cent) and Spain's Costa del Sol (41.4 per cent) also saw significant rises in cost.
Industry experts put the rise in flight costs down to the debts airlines incurred during the pandemic, along with the spike in the price of jet fuel amid the global energy crisis. As of last week, it was trading at 225 per cent of the 2000 average.
A shortage of skilled labour and slow delivery times for new aircraft have also been blamed, following shortages in the supply of key manufacturing components, like semiconductors and finished castings.
However, consumer experts have questioned these reasons, suggesting holiday firms are taking advantage of families who normally choose to travel during half term.
Jane Hawkes, a consumer champion who specialises in travel, told The Telegraph that families are being 'held to ransom' by airlines.
She said: 'Families are being held to ransom – I think it's appalling and it needs to be addressed. Airlines can set their costs at whatever they want, and the dynamic pricing which exists is particularly unfair.
'It's like a calendar lottery, and it does present a very difficult decision for families with children.
'I've heard from people that are willing to take their children out of school because the fines are far lower than the cost of flights and accommodation.'
For many parents who face a fine of up to £160 for taking their children out of school during term time, the threat is rendered insignificant by the savings compared to a half-term break.
Absence data from the Department for Education (DfE) showed that 443,322 penalty notices were issued for unauthorised family holidays across England during the 2023-24 academic year.
More than nine in ten of the fines issued to parents were the result of them taking the children out of school for a holiday.
Paulomi Debnath, 45, a textile jewellery designer from London, said she often considers taking her 14-year-old son out of school the week before the May half term because of the difference in airline prices.
'May half term is so expensive, we have been tempted to skip school - who wouldn't be? Any parent is tempted,' she said.
'We have compared prices, and we could have saved 200 pounds just by skipping May half term and going a week before.
'We considered taking our son out of school in May 2023 because the prices were so high.'
Lavania Oluvan, 37, a food technology teacher from Birmingham, says she can now only afford to take short weekend breaks in school holidays with her 7-year-old son.
'I think airlines are taking advantage of parents; a lot of us don't have a choice.'
She added: 'We go away for weekends during term time. We finish school at 3pm and drive away to somewhere in the UK. I've done a weekend away for 100 pounds, when in the holidays, the same sorts of weekends away are 500 pounds.'
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said prices rising during school holidays was a function of supply and demand, insisting it is not a deliberate attempt to fleece hard-up parents and families.
An ABTA spokesman said: 'Prices in the travel industry are driven by supply and demand – and with school half terms being just one week, and falling at the same time across the UK, as well as often coinciding with breaks in Europe, demand is extremely high.
'It's also early in the season, meaning some resorts might not be fully open. This is where booking early really makes a difference, as people have a greater choice of holidays and price options.'