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 and BA Connect have all disappeared and MyTravelLite & Excel no longer fly to any of our nearby airports. 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 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 and transfer information including driving directions, car hire, private transfers, bus & rail links etc check out the La Tania Transfer Page.
2008/2009 Flights On Sale Now!
Comparison Websites
cheapflights.co.uk - comparison site includes all published charter deals.
Openjet.com checks several low cost airlines - it can even route you from Birmingham to Geneva via Barcelona using easyJet and MyTravelLite (which is now FlyThomasCook)!
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.
The No Frills Operators
easyJet fly daily to Geneva from Bristol, Belfast, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Liverpool, Newcastle, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Edinburgh. Also to Glasgow (Sat/Sun). New for Winter 2007/8 were daily flights from Birmingham to Geneva.
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 and Rome.
They also fly to Grenoble from Luton (Sat/Sun), Gatwick (daily), Bournemouth (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun) and Bristol (Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun). New for Winter 2007/8 were flights from Birmingham to Grenoble (Sat/Sun).
Finally easyJet fly to Lyon from Stansted (daily), Rome and Madrid.
Ryan Air There is now a daily service to Grenoble from London Stansted with other flights to "Grenoble Lyon" (as they call it) from East Midlands (Sat), Liverpool (Sat), Glasgow (Sat), Dublin (Sat/Tue/Thu), Brussels Charleroi (Sat) and Stockholm (Sat).
Get in early and they still have those 1p each way flights (plus at least £30 of taxes, fuel supplements, additional insurance, security charges, airport upgrade fees etc etc then add on the hold baggage charges (only 15kg limit!), advanced boarding, manual check-in charges, credit (& debit) card charges, food & drink and ski, snowboard & boots carriage fees).
Turin could be an option if you're desperate - it's a 4 hour drive via the Frejus tunnel (about another £15 each way if I remember rightly).
The daily service to St Etienne from Stansted stopped on 5th June 2006.
BMI Baby fly to Geneva from Manchester (Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun), Cardiff (Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun), East Midlands (Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun) and Birmingham (daily).
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 Chambery 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 - read the small print!
Jet2 has daily flights to Geneva from Leeds/Bradford and Manchester.
For 2007/8 there were flights to Chambery from Leeds/Bradford (Mon/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun), Manchester (Mon/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun), Newcastle (Sat/Sun), Belfast (Sat) and Edinburgh (Sat/Sun).
Snowjet has Saturday flights to Chambery for 2008/9 on sale now from Gatwick (also Sunday), Stansted, Bristol and Manchester.
Save Time! Chambery 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.
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Thomson Flights
some charter options are available too along with they're scheduled ThomsonFly service for 2008/2009 on sale now which has Grenoble from Coventry and Bournemouth on Saturdays and to Geneva from Doncaster / Sheffield (Thu/Sun plus Wed/Fri/Sat at peak times).
FlyGlobespan Scotland's low cost airline fly to Geneva and Chambery most days from Edinburgh.
Virgin Express fly to Geneva from Brussels which they use as their European Hub. Many options to Brussels from Heathrow with BA, British Midland and SN Brussels Airways.
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!
Major Scheduled Airlines Options - Usually bookable about a year in advance
British Airways
- now only fly from London (should be renamed London Airways?), flying daily to Geneva
from Heathrow & Gatwick plus London City (Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sun). Also to Lyon from Heathrow (daily) and in Winter to Grenoble from London Gatwick (Sat/Sun/Mon/Thu/Fri). Flights on sale now for Winter 2008/9 with prices starting from Gatwick-Geneva at £82 return (inc all the extras). No news on Grenoble yet.
Can often be cheaper that the no frills lot when booking at short(ish) notice or Saturdays a year in advance. They don't charge for seat reservations, credit cards, advanced boarding, hold baggage, manual check-in, food and skis/boards (yet!).
Swiss Air Lines - fly to Geneva from Heathrow and London City.
BMI - fly to Lyon from Heathrow plus good deals on UK connecting flights sometimes available. This route can sometimes be booked via the BMIbaby web site for cheaper deals. New from May 2007 were daily flights from Manchester to Lyon (replacing the BA Connect route).
Air France UK
- fly to Lyon from Heathrow & Gatwick direct. Decent fares also available via Paris from many UK airports.
Can sometimes use a combined rail/air ticket using the fast Paris/Lyon connection. Also from London City direct to Geneva up to 3 times daily.
New from Sep 2007 were direct daily flights from Birmingham to Lyon up to twice a day from £99 return (replacing the BA Connect route).
Blue Islands - Fly direct to Geneva from Jersey (Mon/Wed/Fri).
Lufthansa - via Berlin, Munich or Frankfurt from Birmingham and London.
KLM - 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!
www.lastminute.com
- can be used
up to a year in advance despite the name and has discounted scheduled fares and great last minute Ski Holidays
.
www.thomascook.com
- major UK tour operator and travel agent. Package holiday specialist with late deals on ski holidays from several companies.
Thomson Holidays
- offering package ski holidays and low cost charter flights from local airports to all main ski resort destinations.
Charter Flight Only Deals
There are flight only deals with the holiday charter companies as well (nearly always on a Saturday - the main transfer day). The main holiday companies all come to La Tania. Transfers on their coaches are sometimes available for a surcharge too - bribing the reps for a lift doesn't seem to work however these days...
