A flight to London for $99: How much does it really cost?
Planning to fly to London? The billboards announcing Thomson flights for $99 are not what they seem to be
Is it really possible to fly to London for less than $100, as billboards throughout Israel have recently been proclaiming? Yes indeed. However the return flight won't be cheap. Next month the British airline Thomson Fly will commence flights to Israel from Luton Airport. The flights will be low-cost flights expected to prompt British Airways and El Al - the two major players on the Tel Aviv – London route - to lower their costs as well.
Although the competition between the three airlines has yet to begin, we decided to check the cost of airline tickets on various dates during November. We asked to depart from Israel to London on November 8th and return on November 13th. The cost charged by Thomson Fly (including taxes) came to $931.92 for two, or $465.96 per person. This price does not include meals and there is no commitment that a couple will be seated together.
Although there is no reimbursement in case of cancellations, dates can be changed (if available) at an additional cost.
An El Al booking on the same date came to $1,157.80 for two or $578.90 per person. The cost includes meals, one piece of luggage weighing 20kg per person and seating together. The drawback is that you will have to pay a $50 fine for a cancellation or a no show.
The cheapest price offered was by British Airways for the same date at $1,111.96 for two, or $555.98 per person. The drawback is that changes can be made in exchange for $50 up until the departure date. There is no reimbursement for cancellations.
So what about the promise of a $99 flight to London?
We tried looking for such a price in November, December and January; however we only succeeded on one occasion. Where we were able to find a flight to Israel for $88, the
ticket to London came to $317 and with taxes reached $529 per person. When we were able to find an outgoing flight for $317 and a return flight for $55, the total amount including taxes came to $446, and this is without the extra charge of $20 for a single piece of 20 kg luggage.
After two hours of surfing the company's site, the cheapest price we were able to find with Thomson was $99.99 including taxes. The return flight from Israel to London, however, came to $160 including taxes bringing this to a grand total of $280 (with an extra $20 charge for a single piece of luggage).
