If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)

Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

~ Our Travel Bargain Alerts *

JohnCleary · 2009-05-10 21:33:11

Hi folks, Does anyone know of a website that offers genuine last minute deals, no hassle? ie. Just log onto the website, they show you what they have and for what date (ie. as little as 2 days) Could do with a break after the exams, only requirement is that it's by the sea and hot (something simple like canaries/spain etc.…

Options

10-05-2009 10:33pm

#1

JohnCleary

Registered Users Posts: 10,208 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2003

Posts: 9264

Hi folks,
Does anyone know of a website that offers genuine last minute deals, no hassle? ie. Just log onto the website, they show you what they have and for what date (ie. as little as 2 days)

Could do with a break after the exams, only requirement is that it's by the sea and hot (something simple like canaries/spain etc. would be fine)

Generally, how do these systems work? Do you just get the accomodation and you book your own flight? Is it generally up to you to get from airport to the accomodation? Or is it generally a package? Or totally dependent on what has been cancelled?

Thanks in advance for any info/links!

0

Comments

Options
#2 10-05-2009 11:16pm
JohnCleary

Registered Users Posts: 10,208 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2003

Posts: 9264

BTW planning to get away with the GF so would happily avoid package destinations, last thing I want it to be living next to a group of 20 lads on the p1ss for the week (just back from one of those )

0
Options
#3 12-05-2009 5:00pm
stevood

Closed Accounts Posts: 210 ✭✭

Join Date: July 2007

Posts: 160

Hey John,

I would look at the Ryanair destinations and choose something within their travel log. I have been booking flights and accom separate for the last few years and with enough notice you get flights to central europe and the islands around for about 180. Accom would be no more than 100 for a week.

0
Options
#4 12-05-2009 5:28pm
JohnCleary

Registered Users Posts: 10,208 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2003

Posts: 9264

That's great thanks for the info. You reckon defo book accom/flights seperate yeah?

0
Options
#5 12-05-2009 8:12pm
dragonfly!

Registered Users Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2008

Posts: 1022

if your doing a city break or a short break id say do it seperately well thats what i did after my exams last year anyway went to paris and got flights a lot cheaper than i expected with airfrance and then booked a hotel on holidayinn's website and it worked out cheaper than any packages I had seen for paris.....
But if you wanna go on a sun holiday id say book a package just for convienance!

0
Options
#6 12-05-2009 8:21pm
JohnCleary

Registered Users Posts: 10,208 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2003

Posts: 9264

Thanks for the info. I'll try a package deal last minute. I just want to relax after the exams. Having said that, I don't just want to sit on a beach all day. Wouldn't mind doing a bit of exploring (ie. hire a car) or scuba diving. I'm nearly considering the likes of Tenerife, base myself in the like of Los Christeanious (spelling way off I know) and seeing the rest of the island by car... anything along the lines of that really

0
Advertisement
Options
#7 12-05-2009 8:24pm
dragonfly!

Registered Users Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2008

Posts: 1022

yeah if you arent fussy where ya go id say just pick a week and then get a last min deal to wherever has them on! its what im gonna do next year anyway theres some great deals there at the min!:)

0
Options
#8 12-05-2009 9:12pm
MonsterMob

Registered Users Posts: 252 ✭✭

Join Date: February 2008

Posts: 226

I'd recommend www.skyscanner.net. Type in your dates and departure airport. Leave the detonation empty and it will give you a list of country you can fly too starting with the cheapest. It includes ryanair flights so you will definitely get cheap flights to somewhere. It's quite handy. Enjoy

MM

0
Options
#9 13-05-2009 2:38pm
scout353

Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭

Join Date: September 2003

Posts: 1056

Marks Travel has Egypt for £199 this week and I think it is £225 next week - they are out of Gatwick but they are an excellent website and great to deal with. They always have specials!

www.markstravel.co.uk

0
Options
#10 13-05-2009 3:54pm
tipptop2008

Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭

Join Date: January 2009

Posts: 47

I just booked a holiday to a place a few miles away from salou with Direct Holidays. Booked it last Saturday and leaving this friday and got a package deal for a 4 star place for €180. Could have gotten a place in Salou for €160. Had a good look around on Saturday and found that these were the cheapest but might just depend on when you look.

0
Options
#11 13-05-2009 4:44pm
JohnCleary

Registered Users Posts: 10,208 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2003

Posts: 9264

tipptop2008 wrote: »

I just booked a holiday to a place a few miles away from salou with Direct Holidays. Booked it last Saturday and leaving this friday and got a package deal for a 4 star place for €180. Could have gotten a place in Salou for €160. Had a good look around on Saturday and found that these were the cheapest but might just depend on when you look.

Was that just general browsing or did you come accross an offer?

0
Advertisement
Options
#12 13-05-2009 5:21pm
tipptop2008

Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭

Join Date: January 2009

Posts: 47

JohnCleary wrote: »

Was that just general browsing or did you come accross an offer?

Was just general browsing. Was looking to go away this Friday / Saturday so went around to a few of the shops (budget travel and Cassidys) and looked up a good few websites and found that directholidays had the cheapest one.

0
Options
#13 13-05-2009 5:48pm
snubbleste

Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 31,117 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2004

Posts: 30596

pg 520 onwards on www.rte.ie/aertel have last minute offers advertised
Granted they are package deals including the one that tipptop2008 mentioned

0
Options
#14 01-09-2009 3:16pm
scout353

Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭

Join Date: September 2003

Posts: 1056

How about a new subsection for stand alone travel alerts - something along the lines of bargain alerts but purely for travel deals.

So often you come across something but it could be a little too late - if we had a travel bargain alert forum it could be a one stop shop!

0
Options
#15 01-09-2009 3:49pm
Gazza22

Registered Users Posts: 2,117 ✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2004

Posts: 2024

I think this is a good idea, a catch-all-areas thread for bargain alerts. There's plenty of bargains around lately in the travel industry worldwide. People come across travel deals intentionally/unintentionally all the time and for a variety of reasons can't travel but this could be a place for these little gems to be posted for others.

Pending the rest of the communities opinion on this and the mods, you would need to propose this in Forums, as a sub section request. But i reckon a stickied thread would suffice for now to see how it goes.

0
Options
#16 03-09-2009 5:24pm
pandamoanium

Closed Accounts Posts: 453 ✭✭

Join Date: October 2008

Posts: 313

Great idea!

Would love to see this also!

0
Options
#17 03-09-2009 6:22pm
xyz1

Registered Users Posts: 422 ✭✭

Join Date: March 2009

Posts: 404

That is a great idea, it is something that could really take off.:)

0
Options
#18 03-09-2009 7:02pm
atgate

Registered Users Posts: 584 ✭✭✭

Join Date: November 2001

Posts: 530

Two of my favorite things in life - travel & bargains so I'd be all on for this!!

0
Options
#19 04-09-2009 9:39am
brettmirl

Registered Users Posts: 2,429 ✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2003

Posts: 2273

Personally, I think threads get lost in sub-sections and stickies. I'd say let people post travel bargains in the main Travel Section.

0
Options
#20 04-09-2009 10:03am
Bluetonic

Registered Users Posts: 7,588 ✭✭✭

Join Date: April 2005

Posts: 7336

Bad idea, there are 100s of bargains in travel each and every day from flights to hotels to package holidays to weekend breaks.

I imagine the forum would soon be filled with rubbish. There is already a list of useful resources where people can search for said bargains, that should be enough.

0
Options
#21 04-09-2009 3:04pm
ciaramc

Closed Accounts Posts: 277 ✭✭

Join Date: January 2009

Posts: 238

I like it, good idea.

0
Advertisement
Options
#22 04-09-2009 3:56pm
buzz55

Registered Users Posts: 554 ✭✭✭

Join Date: September 2005

Posts: 375

Yes please, I think it sounds like a great idea.

Maybe if we could split it out in to hotel/accommodation bargains, holiday bargains and flight bargains, would that work?

0
Options
#23 04-09-2009 5:35pm
Pythia

Registered Users Posts: 7,469 ✭✭✭

Join Date: January 2004

Posts: 7133

brettmirl wrote: »

Personally, I think threads get lost in sub-sections and stickies. I'd say let people post travel bargains in the main Travel Section.

Agree.

0
Options
#24 27-07-2014 2:26pm
gaiscioch

Registered Users Posts: 1,530 ✭✭✭

Join Date: January 2014

Posts: 1291

A thread on money-saving tips would be very useful.

Avoid atm-offered conversion rates to euro: Many of you probably know this already, but when in a non-Euro country and withdrawing money from the atm, avoid the atm offer of a "guaranteed rate" currency conversion when withdrawing. I accepted it on my first day but later downloaded the XE currency convertor app and noticed there was an €8 difference. In another withdrawal, I checked my online account a moment account and my bank charged me €104.20 yesterday for what the atm offered to give me for a "guaranteed" €108.76.

Any others?

0
Options
#25 27-07-2014 2:36pm
gaiscioch

Registered Users Posts: 1,530 ✭✭✭

Join Date: January 2014

Posts: 1291

Use Trivago at the US flag setting, rather than the Irish flag setting: Just a moment ago, I searched for Muckross Park. It was €199 on Trivago's Irish setting, an incredible €73 on the US setting. It was for the same dates. Here's the search:

Muckross Park, tonight: €73 (Trivago, US setting)

Muckross Park, tonight: €199 (Trivago, Ireland setting)

0
Options
#26 24-02-2015 9:25pm
zagmund

Registered Users Posts: 2,501 ✭✭✭

Join Date: April 2007

Posts: 2053

Does anything think there might be value to be had in having a dedicated bargain alert thread in this forum?

I know that one persons bargain might be another persons rip-off price, so this one could be quite tricky.

I'm thinking of the likes of the €128 return fare from Dublin to Zurich that Swiss seem to mostly permanently have that includes luggage plus skis (if you have them). I think I would be happy enough paying that amount to most European capitals. I'm sure there are others that other people can mention.

It might be necessary to split it up into something like "Europe under €150 return", "UK under €70 return", "US under €350 return", "Long Haul bargains"

I don't think there's a *huge* need for a thread like this, but it could be useful for some folks who are flexible in their destinations.

What do others think?

z

0
Options
#27 24-02-2015 10:53pm
Layinghen

Registered Users Posts: 1,552 ✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2013

Posts: 1396

I for one would love it.

0
Options
#28 24-02-2015 11:09pm
zagmund

Registered Users Posts: 2,501 ✭✭✭

Join Date: April 2007

Posts: 2053

Actually, just to counter my own "bargain" . . . I checked back on the fare we actually paid and it ended up being €198, after they added €63 charges and €7 booking fee. I can't believe I fell for it and didn't notice.

Still, this doesn't take away from the principle of the bargain alert format. Another example (now expired) would have been the €35 single from Dublin to London City I got back in November. I had planned on getting the boat & train over but this was actually cheaper so I flew instead.

z

0
Options
#29 25-02-2015 12:21am
athtrasna

Closed Accounts Posts: 13,420 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: June 2005

Posts: 11353

Travel bargain alerts, like the recent bargain flights to Argentina, have always been a feature of the Bargain Alert forum

0
Options
#30 25-02-2015 12:31am
bittihuduga

Registered Users Posts: 1,872 ✭✭✭

Join Date: January 2007

Posts: 1460

not a real bargain for dubliners but still...
toronto to dublin in march/april for 253euros..

http://www.skyscanner.ie/transport/flights/yyz/dub/150331/150409/airfares-from-toronto-pearson-international-to-dublin-in-march-2015-and-april-2015.html?adults=1&children=0&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&preferdirects=false&rtn=1&outboundaltsenabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false

0
Advertisement
Options
#31 25-02-2015 12:58am
kerry4sam

Registered Users Posts: 15,127 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: November 2007

Posts: 11777

Interesting Idea.

As a Travel mod I'd be okay with leaving this open for a short while to gauge interests and comments on the idea.

Ordinarily to date, any threads relating to any bargains being offered or indeed requested would have been sent over to the relevant BA forum with this in the London mega-thread being an exception that I added in, in March of 2014.

I'd still like to leave this suggestive thread open though and see what peoples' thoughts and opinions are.

Thanks Everyone for your thoughts & input in here,
kerry4sam

0

~~**~ Our Travel Bargain Alerts **~~*

Comments

~ Our Travel Bargain Alerts *