La Tania Flying Guide
All the Ski Flights information you need
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Carriers and routes change all the time - Go, Buzz, Duo, EUJet, BA Connect, MyTravelLite, Excel and FlyGlobespan have all disappeared. Note that many routes only operate in peak Winter season too.
You're all old enough to realise that schedules change frequently. This is just a guide to assist you and focuses on flights during the main part of the Winter season - many routes don't run in Summer at all and some don't get going fully until January with additional flights at peak holiday times.
Usually you're going to arrive in either Geneva, Lyon, Chambéry, or Grenoble airports. Turin Airport is also possible but at 4 hours and through the expensive Fréjus tunnel it's not really an option. There is also Annecy Airport where you can fly from Paris Orly Ouest and the option of flying in to the Altiport at Courchevel 1850 or Méribel if you're loaded! St. Etienne airport is no longer user by Ryanair from the UK but maybe used again in the future and there are occasionally flights to/from Paris Orly Ouest with TwinJet.
For further details of all the airports, their locations, travel times and transfer information including driving directions, car hire, private transfers, bus & rail links etc check out the La Tania Transfer Page.
Comparison Websites
- comparison site includes all published charter deals.
Openjet.com checks several low cost airlines - it may route you from Birmingham to Geneva via Barcelona using to save a few pence though!
skyscanner.net to compare the cheap flights on offer. It includes most of the low cost airlines and the map page is very useful in seeing where you can fly from.
traveljungle.co.uk checks the low cost operators and the established scheduled operators.
travelsupermarket.com cheap flights finder has it's One Search technology to check multiple agents and airlines at the same time.
flightmapping.com displays all routes to everywhere from the UK.
The No Frills Operators - First 2011 flights went on sale from BMIbaby on 20 March 2010
easyJet fly daily to Geneva from Bristol, Belfast, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Also from Glasgow on Sat/Sun.
Also flights to Geneva from all over Europe such as Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Hamburg, Ibiza, Madrid, Nice, Malaga, Lisbon, Olbia, Paris, Palma, Prague Sharm El Sheikh, Copenhagen, Toulouse and Rome.
They also fly to Grenoble from Luton (Sat/Sun), Gatwick (daily), Bournemouth (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun) , Bristol (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun). and Birmingham (Sat/Sun).
Finally easyJet fly to Lyon from Stansted (daily), Gatwick and loads of European destinations including Biarritz plus new for 2009/10 were flights to Lyon from Edinburgh.
New for Winter 2010/11 are flights to Lyon from Bristol and Liverpool
easyJet flights flights for Winter 2010 went on sale on 30 March 2009 - some 4 months earlier than the previous year. For 2011 they went on sale at the beginning of May 2010.
*Note that easyJet ended their East Midlands base from the end of 2009.
12 Nov 2009 easyJet announced IATA sized hand baggage (56x45x25cm which is up from 55x40x20cm) and on-line check-in for those with hold baggage too.
Winter 2010/2011 NOW ON SALE
Ryan Air fly to Grenoble (or Grenoble Lyon as they often call it) from Stansted (Mo,Tu,Th,Fr,Sa,Su) with other flights from Birmingham (Sat), Liverpool (Sat), Edinburgh (Sat), Dublin (Sat) & Stockholm (Sat).
East Midlands, Bristol, Glasgow and Brussels dropped for 2010.
Get in early and they still have those 1p each way flights plus at least £35 of taxes, charges, fuel supplements, additional insurance, security charges, airport upgrade fees etc etc then add on the hold baggage charges (15kg limit!), advanced boarding, manual check-in charges, ridiculous credit & debit card charges (£10 per return flight), food & drink and ski, snowboard & boots carriage fees.
Hand baggage has a 7kg limit last time we checked and they do get stroppy about exact bag size quite often, which is the odd cm shorter than standard cabin baggage in BA etc. We did manage a GBL - EMA on the No Taxes promotion. €3.75 ALL IN (hand baggage only, on-line check-in, Visa Electron card payment and no other extras) on a Saturday in March 2009.
Sep 2009: Ryanair have increased their hold baggage and ski carriage charges again - if a couple just turned up at the airport without pre-booking a hold bag and boot bag each (with only 15kg allowance) plus 2 pairs of skis they'd be charged £320 !!!
Turin could be an option if you're desperate - it's a 4 hour drive via the Fréjus tunnel (about another £20 each way if I remember rightly).
News of Winter 2010/2011 still awaited
bmibaby fly to Geneva from Manchester (Fri/Sat/Sun), Cardiff, East Midlands and Birmingham on Fri/Sat/Sun plus some Mondays in Feb. New flights to Grenoble from Birmingham (Sat/Sun), East Midlands & Cardiff (Fri/Sat) and Manchester (Sat).
Winter 2010/2011 NOW ON SALE
Flybe
(was British European)
fly to Geneva from Southampton (Thu/Sat/Sun) and from Norwich, Exeter, Newquay, Jersey and the Isle of Man (all Saturdays only).
Also to Chambéry from Southampton (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun), Birmingham (Wed/Sat/Sun), Exeter (Wed/Sat) and Norwich (Sat). Can be competitive on their mid week flights.
Beware of their ski length restrictions on certain flights:
Flybe use Bombardier Q400 (78-seat, twin-turboprops) and Embraer 195 planes (118-seat, twin-jet engine) so read the small print - they are limited in the number of sets of skis they can carry too so always pre-pook sports equipment.
Winter 2010/2011 NOW ON SALE
Jet2 fly daily to Geneva from Leeds/Bradford & Manchester plus Blackpool (Sat).
Also to Chambéry from Leeds/Bradford (Mon/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun), Manchester (Mon/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun), Newcastle (Sat/Sun), Belfast (Sat) and Edinburgh (Sat/Sun).
New for Winter 2011 is Geneva from Edingburth & Newcastle - only peak times though (26 Dec to 9 Jan and 20 Feb to 27 Mar)
Winter 2010/2011 NOW ON SALE
Snowjet has Saturday flights to Chambéry from Gatwick (also Sunday), Stansted, Bristol and Manchester.
Save Time! Chambéry is by far the closest airport to La Tania, so you could slice up to an hour and a half off your transfer to resort.
Save Money! Snowjet prices start at £29 and are inclusive of all taxes, a 20kg baggage allowance and free ski or snowboard carriage.
Winter 2010/2011 NOW ON SALE
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Thomson Flights
which merged with First Choice Flights now really focus on charter flights. They had scheduled ThomsonFly services to Grenoble from Bournemouth and to Geneva from Doncaster and Coventry but basically they only fly to the Med, Canaries and Red Sea.
Baboo fly from London City to Geneva generally twice a day Mon to Fri and once on a Sunday. Plenty of flights from £6 + taxes and charges = £78 return all in with free ski carriage. Business class and flexible ticket options too. Fly to Geneva from other useful places around Europe too, including Nice, Rome, Athens, St Tropez, Ibiza and Biarritz. Baboo flights are bookable 330 days in advance.
New for Winter 2010 is a route from Oxford Airport (just off the A34 to the North of Oxford) to Geneva (Sat only). Prices from £180 return including taxes, charges, baggage and skis - note that like Flybe they use Bombardier Q400 planes (78-seat, twin-turboprops) so there may be limits on number of skis carried or ski length restrictions. Route confirmed for Winter 2011 with Saturday departures from OXF 14:30 and GVA 13:00.
Winter 2010/2011 NOW ON SALE
Hapag-Lloyd Express - fly to Geneva from Cologne/Bonn. They fly to Cologne/Bonn from Manchester or possibilities exist to use in conjunction with GermanWings from Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh or Air Berlin from other parts of Europe.
With all of the budget airlines you've got to get in quick to get the cheap fares! Occasionally there are sales but easyJet will refund (with a voucher) any difference if their fare gets cheaper.
Major Scheduled Airlines Options - Usually bookable about a year in advance
fly from London several times a day to Geneva from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airport. Also to Lyon from Heathrow (daily). Winter 2010 prices started from Gatwick-Geneva at £82 return (inc all the extras).
Can often be cheaper that the no frills lot when booking at short notice or for flights on Saturdays a year in advance. They don't charge for seat reservations, credit cards, advanced boarding, hold baggage, manual check-in, snacks and skis / boards / sports equipment.
New for Winter 2011 are flights from London City direct to Chambery.
SWISS International Air Lines UK - fly to Geneva from London City (6 daily - 4 daily from 10 Jan 2010)) and Manchester (Sat/Sun) with prices from under £100 return if booked early enough. From 10 January 2010 Swiss will operate daily Heathrow - Geneva flights up to 6 times a day. Also from London City, Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham & Dublin daily via Zurich.
Always worth checking out their prices.
BMI UK
- fly to Lyon from
Heathrow and Manchester - daily flights available but sometimes via Frankfurt (or the Manchester flight via London). Weekend London - Lyon flights can very occasionally be under £80 return when booked well in advanced and linked from the bmibaby website.
Air France UK
- fly to Lyon from Heathrow & Gatwick direct. Decent fares also available via Paris from many regional UK airports.
Can sometimes use a combined rail/air ticket using the fast Paris/Lyon connection. Note the London City direct to Geneva has been dropped but replaced by Baboo.
Birmingham to Lyon direct up to twice a day is also often a cheap option - January 2009 deals from £7 + tax each way (around £38). Old School airline with no bag or check-in charges, good hold baggage allowance, free seat reservations and free alcoholic drinks too!
Blue Islands - Fly direct to Geneva from Jersey (Mon/Wed/Fri).
Lufthansa - via Berlin, Munich or Frankfurt from Birmingham and London.
KLM UK - via Amsterdam from some regional airports.
Etihad Airways - the national carrier for the UAE have started flying from Sydney to Geneva via Abu Dhabi. Very useful for all those Aussies who don't have to make that extra European connecting flight.
Matair used to fly (very small planes!) direct from South End to Courchevel 1850 Altiport in 2000/2001 - Their London type taxi is still in 1850 but the service isn't advertised anymore.
Holiday / Travel Agent Sites
- massive travel site with special offers on scheduled airlines and now searches charter deals too.
- travel site owned by the airlines, often cheaper than going direct.
- consolidator with more offers on scheduled flights.
deckchair.com - often has different airlines and some good deals - they got us to Japan for the 2002 World Cup for £350 return on Aeroflot via Moscow!