easyJet’s £695 advent calendar is back – but it has tightened up on the benefits

Whilst my children have been badgering me for a cheap chocolate-filled advent calendar from the supermarket, you may want to splash out on something a little more luxurious for yourself.

easyJet may have the answer. Take a look here. It has brought back the charity advent calendar that it originally launched in 2021.

easyJet learned lessons from 2021 and has put small print in place to stop the 2023 version being effectively free money. The 2021 version got you up to £3,000 of flights with no date restrictions.

EDIT: due to a rush of orders from HfP readers, all 150 calendars were sold out by 11am. There are confusing and contradictory comments below – some readers are being told that another 120 have been added and have been able to buy one, whilst others are being told that this is not true.

easyJet has launched what it is calling an ‘Advent(ure) Calendar’. There are 12 drawers, each containing special travel treats.

The project will raise funds for UNICEF. 50% of your purchase will go to the charity.

Whilst costing £695, the contents SHOULD be worth a lot more than this despite the small print.

You will receive:

• four pairs of return easyJet flights, including 23kg hold luggage per person

• £50 towards an easyJet holidays package holiday

• £75 of vouchers to spend on car hire through CarTrawler

• £20 of vouchers to spend on the onboard SHOP. range, plus EAT.DRINK. vouchers to enjoy a meal deal onboard

• one visit for one person to a No1 or Aspire airport lounge across selected airports

Four boxes – out of the 150 to be sold – will also contain a voucher for an easyJet holidays package trip to an Iberostar resort.

What is the small print on the flight redemptions?

Back in 2022 there were no restrictions on the flights you could book, except that each pair had a value cap of £750. Remember that flight price inflation in the last two years has been substantial.

Here are the rules for 2024:

• each pair of tickets cannot have a cash value of more than £600 (compare this to £750 in 2022, which would probably be equivalent to £900+ now)

• £600 is a cap – you cannot book flights costing more than £600 per pair and receive a £600 discount

• you can gift pairs of flights so presumably a family of four could book using two pairs

• there are LOTS of blackout dates covering school holidays – you cannot depart between 10 – 18 February, 29 March – 14 April, 25 May – 2 June, 20 July – 1 September, 26 October – 3 November, 21 – 31 December (in 2022 there were NO blackout dates)

• flights to Dalaman, Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada and Rovaniemi are excluded

• you cannot split a pair of flights – each booking must be for two people who travel together (ie a solo traveller cannot have eight free flights)

• you must book at least 28 days before departure

All vouchers must be redeemed by 31st December 2024.

EDIT: there is some confusion over the blackout dates. The exact wording is that your flight cannot ‘depart’ during those dates. I assumed this meant ‘outbound’ but I accept easyJet may have been sloppy.

Can you do OK out of this?

Clearly, yes, you can.

It’s going to be hard to use the four pairs of flights if you are tied to school holidays. For anyone else, as long as you have someone to travel with, you should do OK.

If your children are at a private school then you will also have more flexibility. Many private schools finish for summer 2024 on 5 July, for example, whilst the easyJet blackout dates don’t kick in until 20 July.

In theory you could book flights worth up to £2,400 (four pairs of flights with a price cap of £600 per pair). You are paying (£695/4) £174 per pair. If you can get a better deal than this, you will make a decent return on your £695 – and remember that 50% of this goes to charity.

The calendar is on sale now via this link where you can also find full terms and conditions. There are only 150 calendars available. Only UK residents can purchase.