News: easyJet adds Cape Verde, IHG and Marriott sales, Heathrow Parking deal

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• Ryan says:

  20 Nov20 November 09:34

  Any news on the advent calendar from Easyjet that we’ve seen in previous years? Clearly not happening this year!

• redlilly says:

  20 Nov20 November 09:42

  Agree that Cape Verde is supposed to be unmissable. There are a few hikes that draw me there. Weighing up if it is just worth waiting to tag it on to a trip to see in laws/friends in Portugal, so trip doesn’t feel so long on a LCC.

  Guess these EJ flights are to draw in the fly and flop/all inclusive audience.

  Rimini is a really interesting one, and a part of Italy that gets rave reviews from friends who have been. Makes a long weekend much easier than heading to Bologna and getting a train/car.

• ankomonkey says:

  20 Nov20 November 09:58

  I haven’t looked into it, but it will be interesting to see the easyjet pricing to Cape Verde. I think the main routes from the UK are direct with TUI (at high prices) or via Portugal with TAP and/or Azores Airlines.

  The Marriott deal for stays until 20th Jan! Doesn’t leave much for those with no plans to travel around Xmas/New Year!

  • ADS says:

    20 Nov20 November 11:52

    I looked into going to CV last month – but was put off by £800 flights!
    Even one stop flights were very expensive.

    Just looked up next October and TUI are still charging £800 … whilst Easyjet are more like £300 (plus bag fees).

    • Michael Jennings says:

      20 Nov20 November 12:38

      You can sometimes find cheapish (£200 or so return) flights on TUI at short notice. They do drop flight only prices if they have seats left after selling as many package holidays as they can.

      The tourist resorts are on Sal and Boa Vista. These are perfectly nice, but the most interesting and most spectacular things to see are on other islands.

• Nick says:

  20 Nov20 November 10:00

  The poor crew! Cape Verde is being run as a T&B, it’ll be a horrendously long day for them (albeit legal of course). And means BA will never fly it because the unions wouldn’t let them do it competitively.

  • Alan says:

    20 Nov20 November 10:44

    Do crew have max weekly hours as well as daily?

    If so do they prefer a longer day with less days or multiple short hop flights? I guess a longer flight has less stress on getting the trolley done quickly etc.

    • 787driver says:

      20 Nov20 November 10:54

      Yes they do. The TUI Sal is quite often done on the 787 but is still a very long hard day, especially for the cabin as there is insane demand for food and drink(on a 5-30 hour flight-who would have guessed).

      • Michael Jennings says:

        20 Nov20 November 12:43

        When I did it, I flew out LGW-SID on TUI UK (on a 787) and then I came back VXE-AMS on TUI Netherlands (via SID) on a 737MAX, and I then did an Avios redemption AMD-LCY to get home. There was no meal included on the TUI UK leg, so lots of people were buying stuff from the trolley, yes. A meal was included on the TUI Netherlands leg. Whether this made it easier or harder for the crew I am not sure.

    • Nick says:

      20 Nov20 November 11:24

      It depends. Some crew prefer multi-sector days because they seem to go quicker, but yes many do like longer sectors. But there’s long and then there’s long. Athens or Canaries, just about manageable. Sharm or Cape Verde, most absolutely hate it. Particularly if they have more than a 10 min drive home at the end.

  • Michael Jennings says:

    20 Nov20 November 12:35

    I flew to Cape Verde on Tui a couple of years back. I spoke to a crew member, and they told me that they had a second flight crew on board as out and back was too long for a single crew. I am not sure about the cabin crew.

    • 787driver says:

      20 Nov20 November 16:56

      It doesn’t have a second crew as such, just an extra pilot so 3 in the flightdeck. With 3 pilots the duty day can be up to 17 hours. The Cabin crew on a Sal and back have to have at least 90 mins in the rest area to make it legal in terms of duty hours.
      The difference in TUI UK and TUI NL is down to management, not the crews.

  • mkcol says:

    20 Nov20 November 22:07

    When we did Tui to Boa Vista last November (glad we ticked off, would not return) both the LGW & MAN crews were on 2/3 night trips.

    • 787driver says:

      21 Nov21 November 07:02

      That’s because BVC is just that bit further south and unable to take the 787, just the 737s which don’t have a crew rest area so that’s why they get off.

• Qrfan says:

  20 Nov20 November 10:03

  Just saved £20 on parking for next week via cancel and rebook and use of this offer. Thanks team.

• Johnny5a says:

  20 Nov20 November 11:32

  Cape Verde, the days have been loaded but no times or fares yet. Any idea of prices? I wouldn’t mind a quick hop, to tick off another country on my list

  • Niall says:

    20 Nov20 November 11:49

    The prices were showing just fine yesterday when I checked. Seemed to be I think a min of £139 out and £110 return. Made it slightly more than the cheapest I’ve seen on Tui! Not a good start. I’d like to try Cape Verde but not when you can get to the Canaries for a fraction of that price.

    • Johnny5a says:

      20 Nov20 November 12:25

      thanks. about the similar pricing as TAP and TUI

• ffwd says:

  20 Nov20 November 13:22

  Been to Cape Verde 4 times. Its not the Canaries as the weather is better in winter! However, February a bit windy.
  There is nothing to do.
  Just choose an all inclusive and flop for a week.

  • Michael Jennings says:

    20 Nov20 November 22:13

    There’s a great deal to do. It’s just that most of it is not in Sal or Boa Vista.

• ToonFlyer says:

  20 Nov20 November 13:39

  Strangely, the EJ announcement did not mention that EJ will recommence flights to Malaga from NCL commencing 31 March 2025 (Mon & Thurs). Was notified of this by NCL Airport last night. Apparently, flights are now available to book from £34.99! Was on the last EJ flight FOA-NCL in August 2020 (Pandemic restrictions’ having just been reinstated), a sad day for the crew and those of us who preferred EJ for that routing as the flight times were excellent. Got to say NCL needs this and other former EJ destinations from there to be reinstated. Just got to take my hat off to the airport management and staff who are doing their best to improve connectivity and the whole airport experience ( as Rob’s recent review of the Aspire Lounge there will testify).

  • NorthernLass says:

    20 Nov20 November 16:43

    I was at NCL a couple of months ago. What a lovely little airport! I was seriously tempted to move further north, lol. The lounge ladies with their headsets were priceless as well.

    • Charlie says:

      20 Nov20 November 19:33

      Apart from the border security if you don’t arrive on a domestic. The Border Force at Newcastle are the absolute definition of jobsworths and take great pleasure watching all the passengers walk in a maze up and down getting to the automatic gates. If you are a Brit and go to one of the (usually three) Border Force agents on the rest-of-the-world side, who are typically doing absolutely nothing, you just get redirected to the automatic gates. If the lanes are empty and you decide you don’t want to walk up and down nine times, and go underneath in a straight line to the gates, the threaten you with jail. I swear the last time I did that one of them said to me ‘U vil be shot’. Also, the Aspire lounge is nice, but the old BA lounge was far superior in many regards.

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