I’ve never quite understood why a one way long haul flight costs the same, or more, than a return ticket. Or at least, I’ve never heard a rational explanation as to why. Flights from the UK, thanks to excessive taxation, have become prohibitively expensive. To the point that to get to Mexico City, it’s cheaper to catch a bus to Paris and fly from Charles de Gaulle. In case you’re wondering, the Paris route, including a bus there, costs about £565 versus the £700 plus it costs from London. Ridiculous.
I do search long and hard for flights though, and start well in advance. And I may have stumbled across a potential bargain. It does seem possible to get a one way ticket to Mexico from London. There are two companies offering the fare. The first is Budgetair.co.uk, a shady looking company based in the Netherlands who are not ATOL members. I wouldn’t touch them with a very long stick.
The other is Travel Up, who look a bit more professional, are ATOL members and are based in the UK. They get mixed reviews, and I’m the positive ones aren’t convincingly genuine. It has to be said, people tend to leave reviews when they have something negative to say. I also understand what I’d be buying, and the consequences. Not a ticket from London to Mexico City with a connection in Madrid. I’m getting two single tickets, London to Madrid and Madrid to Mexico. The flight to Madrid is with Air Europa, a Spanish airline, owned largely by Spanish banks. Which is further reason to pause. How will they be doing in September/October? Rest assured, I’d be paying with a credit card, not debit card. One would want the protection.
Normally, I’d probably steer clear. But it’s a one way ticket with a one way price. Plus, I need two tickets – that’s £780 instead of £1,400. It’s a big saving, to say the least. I’m going to keep checking them out, and monitor prices before I commit myself. I’ve been through the booking process as far as one can without typing in card details. It seems fine, and there was no sudden last minute jump in the price. We’ll see. And I’ll let you know. Travel Up will be getting either a rave review or a dose of literary wrath on these pages at some stage!
