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00:01is there anything more satisfying and exciting than being on holiday well yes a bargain holiday
00:12of course getting champagne tastes for your beer budget but is that possible when even the average
00:20UK holiday costs more than 1200 quid for just five days from all-inclusive to long-haul or
00:29short breaks i want the inside track on the best way to find a bargain to do that i've persuaded
00:38a
00:38crap squad of experts to spill their secrets insiders who've worked at the heart of the holiday
00:44industry at some of the biggest companies in the business i've spent more than 20 years working for
00:51different airlines such as british airways and klm i work for companies including thomas cook
00:56tui and easy share holidays and the country's leading brands knock knock will take me behind
01:02closed doors this is where the magic happens from hotels and holiday operators to airlines
01:09travel agencies and even cruise lines they're sharing their travel industry tricks to holidaying better
01:22for less this time city breaks viewpoint check we'll be busting myths about ticket prices
01:30tell me i won't tell anyone to show you how to get the cheapest flights direct from the airlines
01:37so that's that sweet spot we're shining a light on star ratings does that sound like a luxury
01:43say to you no it doesn't with the best hack so you can bring more luggage on board for free
01:48no way and find out whether we all pay the same price for our baggage and other ticket extras it
01:57has
01:57become a lucrative opportunity for airlines to generate more cash so how do we nab a bargain city
02:06break that won't blow the budget
02:13every year more than 28 million of us jet off on a city break so i'm in the city of
02:19rome and i absolutely
02:20love it here you wouldn't find this in england they've become one of our favorite types of holiday
02:27there's really been a huge increase in people experiencing city breaks now taking several
02:33european breaks a year is completely normal city breaks may be short but if you get them right
02:38even just a weekend away can feel like a total reboot and they feel even better if they don't break
02:46the bank
02:48so step one location location location i'm john strickland i've been in the airline industry over
02:5540 years i've specialized in network planning and revenue management and working for different kinds
02:59of airlines such as british airways and klm john's seen firsthand how budget airlines have increased the
03:06destinations available to british travelers over the years low-cost airlines have really democratized
03:12air travel by those ticket prices falling not only can more people travel there are more routes
03:17available we've seen low-cost airlines better than any other really exploring new markets ryanair's
03:24opened up hundreds of airports around europe which are small airports maybe never heard of in the past
03:30labeled them with familiar names of big cities even though the airport may be some distance away
03:35they've found a way that has appealed to customers and generated millions of journeys because of it
03:43sounds like good news right but here's why you might hang fire before you book your city break
03:49based solely on those ever so tempting cheap fares
03:54from sightseeing wow to coffee probably gather food booze excursions i love it how you get around
04:05these costs vary massively depending on the city take your caffeine fix here in lisbon and
04:12average filter coffee costs less than one pound 25 that sure beats vienna where it's closer to six
04:19quid that's a latte extra coffee you're getting in lisbon the cost of booze can also make you gulp
04:28oslo has some of the most expensive local beer and wine whereas lisbon has some of the cheapest cheers
04:36at an average cost of nine pounds 86 for a small glass of wine in oslo versus a tiny one
04:44pound 93 in
04:45lisbon it's nearly five times as expensive i know where i'd rather be am i off duty now can i
04:54drink the
04:54rest of this it really pays to do your research the capital city of portugal has all the charm you
05:04could ask for but it's also one of the cheapest city breaks out there although it may not be your
05:10ideal destination so how can you find out what the cheapest city is for your tastes my name is
05:18chelsea dickinson i'm obsessed with all things to do with holidays and getting the best value for money
05:24it can get really confusing about how much money you need to take on that trip especially if it's
05:30somewhere brand new you've never been before there is a website called numbio which is a cost of living
05:36index it's got over 12 000 cities across the world on it and it will tell you the average price
05:42of
05:42everything from a beer a cappuccino and even your taxi home added up the cost difference between cities
05:50can be staggering helpfully the post office has put together a handy guide for some of our favorite cities
05:58if we look at oslo in norway a two-person two-night stay in a three-star hotel comes in
06:07at around 640
06:09pounds including overall costs so if we compare that to riga in latvia it's less than half the price
06:18with that city breaker coming in at around 250 pounds the best thing to do is to do a bit
06:25of research
06:25before you go the wonderful thing about the internet is that people have been posting in
06:31the reviews photos of the menu so not only can you plan what you're going to eat that night you
06:35can
06:36also cost it up and know how much money you need to take on your trip so you found the
06:42perfect city
06:43where you can afford to live it up in style next you need the flights when it comes to your
06:49ticket
06:50it's highly likely that the person sitting next to you on the plane hasn't paid the same price
06:57you might be feeling smug or not but why do airlines change their prices and how do they decide when
07:04to
07:04do it running an airline is not surprisingly incredibly expensive so to get a plane full is
07:11critically important sure any airline can give everything away for nothing and fill the plane up
07:16but of course they're there to make money so ticket prices tend to be really fluid
07:21so how do you get the best price ask any of our insiders and they'll give you a very familiar
07:28answer
07:30the best time to book a flight is that no one else is going there avoid peak season outside of
07:36school holidays those are obviously the peak times and the other annoying one book early book
07:41early get a bargain early early book as early as you can you're better booking sooner rather than
07:47later but there is good reason airlines generally put their flights on sale up to a year in advance
07:55because they know they need to fill up with a certain number of lower prices and at the last minute
07:59they
08:00know they can pretty confidently grip their teeth and fill those last seats up at high high profit margins
08:06once an airline has sold enough cheaper seats and covered enough costs they'll start to hike the
08:12price to maximize their profits so if you didn't book a year in advance does that mean you can't get
08:19a
08:19good deal i'm meeting a very high-flying insider hello yvonne moynahan is the managing director of
08:27wizair uk and she's agreed to share some pricing secrets would it be possible that the more times
08:35you look at a flight and don't book it the next time you go and have a look at it
08:39always seems to go
08:40up in price that's a i think more of a paranoia that people have it depends if maybe somebody else
08:46booked a flight a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes before and that will also change the dynamics
08:51so it could change from one minute to the next absolutely that's one myth busted it's not wizair
08:58tracking you that changes your price it's what's called dynamic pricing something you might be more
09:04familiar with if you're booking tickets to see your favorite band on an airplane itself you will have
09:11239 different passengers who will have paid probably 239 different prices really yes is there that much
09:19variation in the prices yes can you offer someone one price and someone else a different price
09:24because sometimes you know i might go and have a look at something from my husband's phone or from
09:29my friend's phone and see if it's the same price that i'm getting everybody will be offered the same
09:35price so if we're sitting here in london and somebody is sitting in paris looking at the same flight
09:40and the same time they will be offered the same price that's another myth squashed if you're looking at
09:47a flight at exactly the same time as someone else you will be shown the same price now how about
09:54bagsying a cheap fare if we didn't book early so is there a secret to getting best price i'm here
10:02for
10:02the hack pricing is never static in aviation we are responding essentially to demand the usual trajectory
10:10of of a route and the pricing on it it's a zigzag journey so if we see sales slowing down
10:17and demand
10:19dropping we will try to stimulate more demand and more bookings by reducing the price so that more
10:26people will start to book again so that's that sweet spot so that we all dream of finding exactly
10:33halfway through the booking curve if you can catch it on that day or that period then exactly you'll get
10:39the
10:39best price but you never know when that dip in prices is going to be no oh do you you
10:44don't are
10:45you sure yes you can tell me i won't tell anyone unfortunately there is no magic wand
10:53so if you want to bargain and didn't book early you've got to keep logging in and monitoring prices
10:59fortunately my insiders know all the tech that does the hard work for you
11:05there's some really clever websites out there that can help us and they use data to predict whether
11:11they think the price is going to go up or down so i like to use google flights and there's
11:16also a great
11:17website called hopper that does this too google flights shows the price history for your planned
11:24journey so how cheap it's been how expensive and how the current price compares helpfully it also
11:34predicts how long before a flight you should book to get the cheapest price in this case around one to
11:42three months beforehand then there are sites like air hint which give a likelihood of a future price drop on
11:49your journey suggesting whether you should book now or wait that's trick number one if you can't book
11:57early use these tools to find the sweet spot dip in the booking curve although it's not guaranteed
12:04next find an error fare error flights are when a flight is accidentally listed at a price lower than
12:11it should be and a good place to see these fares they do all the hard work for you
12:16is jack's flight club and secret flying these sites use tech to scour thousands of flights a day
12:23looking for deals and error fares however there's a big alert sign when you see one of these which is
12:30please please please please wait before you book your accommodation or at least make sure it's got free
12:35cancellation because there is every chance that the airline could get back to you and say it was an error
12:40we've cancelled the flight airlines are allowed to do so so book accommodation with a free cancellation
12:47policy and be aware it's a risk next the secrets of airline extras it has become a lucrative opportunity
12:57for airlines to generate more cash and how to pack to the max for your city break without paying an
13:04extra
13:04penny i'm ready to go to the airport
13:17i'm on a mission to bring you the best tips to get you a bargain city break we've discovered the
13:24ups and
13:24downs of dynamic pricing and how it impacts the cost of booking your budget flights now what about all
13:31those hidden extras in the past airlines only thought about selling tickets to us nothing more
13:37but we've certainly seen particularly with the advent of low-cost airlines the rise of what are called
13:40ancillary revenues and that can be anything from buying a sandwich a coffee a g and tea on board the
13:47plane choosing a particular seat a window seat an aisle seat carrying a bag on board checking a bag in
13:53some airlines charge us for absolutely everything on top of that basic fare like 25 pounds to sit at the
14:00front of the plane or 30 pounds to bring on your bag it was ryanair of course who started this
14:06and
14:07that's why they're quite commonly known as a low frills no frills airline it was badly received very
14:15unpopular etc etc but it ultimately didn't damage ryanair's business quite the opposite in the years since
14:24they've stripped back the service ryanair's revenue has soared just under a third of their income comes
14:31from selling extras like priority boarding luggage and food and drink on board ancillary revenues are
14:39one of the fastest growing revenue streams in the aviation industry accounting for billions of pounds of
14:47revenue it has become a lucrative opportunity for airlines to generate more cash in some cases the
14:54revenues can account for maybe a quarter of the total earnings for an airline receives from getting a
15:00passenger in some cases it's even more than 50 percent indeed michael o'leary the chief executive of
15:06ryanair suggested that he would offer free travel to passengers and sell them the ancillary revenues
15:13because it was a greater opportunity low-cost airlines tempt us in with low prices on fares
15:20because they know that we compare these headline fare prices with their rivals once we start to book
15:28the extra costs appear and they also know that many of us don't compare these prices with other airlines
15:36it's not just easy jet and ryanair last year whiz air passengers spent 2.4 billion pounds on these extras
15:44how do you determine how much to charge for all those ancillaries depends on the the particular route
15:51and again there's dynamic pricing so whatever ancillary costs you might choose to add on to your
15:56basic fare might not necessarily cost the same depending on when you buy it exactly so the similar
16:03to the airline ticket the ancillary prices change as well like with your tickets your extras can go
16:10up or down in price depending on when you book them and which route you're flying but do you also
16:16see
16:16the same price as someone else we don't discriminate between different types of passengers
16:25however some passengers depending on the time of booking and their particular profile whether they
16:30have booked with us in the past they might see other offerings that other passengers might not see
16:38those offerings could include what you pay for your luggage or where you sit meaning that people
16:43who buy tickets at the same time might pay different prices for their luggage so is it kind of a
16:50myth
16:50then that it's ultra low cost because you end up paying the same price that you would pay anyway
16:55but you pay for your bag and you pay for your seat and your boarding and stuff well passengers can
16:59choose and that's the beauty of it right what we see at the moment is that a lot of passengers
17:04are
17:04traveling just with a backpack because people want to travel light so actually it's it's a benefit to
17:09the customer and we again we can keep the prices low if we're not including luggage in that price
17:16just remember to get the best price for your ancillary extras make sure you clear your cookies
17:23compare the price between your laptop or in a mobile app and have a look at what your mate's
17:28been offered it might be cheaper than you
17:33lastly ask yourself do you really need it you see the airlines know that we will pay more based on
17:40what we value ancillary revenues covers a multitude of sins you could say there are those elements
17:45which we can understand incur a cost for an airline like providing a drink a meal loading a bag in
17:50the
17:50hold or indeed giving space to put one in the cabin other elements are more nebulous such as a desire
17:57to
17:57get on board more quickly or choose a particular seat they have a implicit value to customers and
18:03airlines recognize that and given that the pressure on them is to keep ticket prices low but at the same
18:08time survive and prosper as a business they have to attach a revenue value to those just like i would
18:14argue any other service business knowing this there are ways to make it work for you there can be
18:20occasions theoretically where an airline is offering a seat to a customer below cost they need to fill
18:25the plane up they offer the price at that level because they're hoping that the customer will buy
18:31something on board the passenger can just take advantage of the fact that deal is available and i know
18:35many passengers treat it like a bus they see that deal they book it and then they make sure their
18:40wallet stays zipped for the whole flight and don't give the element another penny whilst we can get around
18:47these charges by bringing on a sandwich not booking priority boarding or using it like a bus sometimes
18:55you have to have luggage even for a city break gotta have outfit options right
19:07with some costs ranging from £5.99 to over £130 per bag it's a lucrative extra for the airlines
19:16and even more so if we get our allowance wrong and a find it's easy profit for the airlines and
19:24a
19:24massive bone of contention for travelers part of the different strategies that you see being deployed
19:30by airlines is constant changes to their baggage rules and requirements and some airlines do this
19:38quite frequently this is just so confusing i have already paid for my ticket but this is like an
19:46additional fee so i can only bring one bag so what are the airline policies what can actually be taken
19:53on board for free here to help me unpack the rules is chelsea hi chelsea hi jasmine you may have
20:05noticed the bags in front of us all different sizes all cabin bags the question i have for you is
20:11which
20:11airlines can you take these cabin bags on without paying a penny extra on the table the smallest is this
20:19bag followed by this rucksack then this one and on the outside we've got two very generous wheelies
20:27lined up it's striking how different each airline's free baggage policy is
20:32so we've got wizard jet 2 easy jet 2e british airways and ryanair the question is which bag matches which
20:45airlines policy first up ryanair no hesitation it's going to be the smallest one this is the smallest bag
20:53we have on the table but this is the bag size you can take on ryanair and it's the same
20:58baggage
20:59allowance as wizard that's a draw what about rival easy jet i'm gonna go for that one and that's
21:07correct easy jet offer a much roomier under seat rucksack option than wiz and ryanair imagine all the
21:15summer dresses you could fit in there next up the package holiday titans 2e and jet 2 2e i'm gonna
21:23go for
21:24this one okay so yeah with 2e not only can you take a trolley case that fits overhead but you
21:31can
21:31take a bag around this size as well that's amazing for free brilliant yeah and jet 2 that has got
21:38to be
21:39jet 2 then and that's correct but you also get the largest suitcase no way that's huge isn't it it's
21:46actually quite a big suitcase jet 2 lets you bring on the largest wheelie suitcase plus a small rucksack
21:53last up british airways british airways you can take this larger suitcase and you also get the small bag
22:01whilst you might think ba is the most generous be a second bag allowance is five centimeters smaller
22:08meaning jet 2 bags the top spot followed by 2e and b8 then easy jets and in joint last with
22:16the least
22:17generous offering wiz air and ryanair that's why it's always worth if you're looking at the other
22:24competitors that are coming up in the search results it may be that they're an extra tenner but you will
22:30save that money by the fact you don't have to buy the baggage like these easy jets and jet 2
22:36flights
22:37both leaving glasgow for malaga on the same day almost at the same time easy jet looks cheaper at
22:44first just under 30 pounds jet 2 a couple of pounds more but with the bonus of that extra wheelie
22:50case
22:51add one to your easy jet fare and the price almost triples to just under 85 pounds it really pays
22:59to know
23:00your allowance and there's something else to be mindful of another thing to consider
23:07is how much weight you're allowed in these bags almost quite bizarrely british airways not only for
23:14the smaller bag but for the large suitcase as well 23 kilograms each each are you joking so definitely
23:22you could take 46 kilograms on board with you are you joking no how could you what could you possibly
23:29put in here to make it weigh that much gold bars incredibly jet 2 and 2i also let you take
23:37on a heavy
23:38small bag in fact there's no weight limit at all though they do limit the wheelie to 10 kilograms
23:44what about the budget airlines with us up to 10 kilograms in this bag for easy jet it's 15 kilos
23:54but
23:55for ryanair there's no weight limit on their small under seat bag so technically you could take something
24:01that's two ton that means it's wiz air who have the most restrictive free baggage allowance not ryanair
24:09who'd have thought it so it really does just remind you to double check the allowance not only the size
24:16of it but also the weight of it so you do not get caught out on your next flight that's
24:21checklist
24:22one for avoiding those extra baggage charges or worse fines know what the airline baggage policy
24:29is they are different and change from time to time the second know the tricks to beat the system and
24:37get
24:37even more on for free inside this bag i've got some of my absolute favorite hacks for packing more
24:45than you think you can okay you're traveling and don't want to pay an extra penny right okay so it
24:53doesn't look like it right now but this is a neck pillow you pack it full of clothes
24:58and once this is full to the brim it will be in the shape of a neck pillow comfy and
25:04cheap brilliant
25:06let me present to you the fishing vest i mean that's got a lot of pockets so stylish so it
25:14looks great
25:15on you oh my goodness look at that look you can put all your pens in here the airlines don't
25:22care
25:22about what's on you you've got to be prepared to walk through the airport wearing it
25:27last up two options for the less extrovert among us this is oh a vac bag just realized what it
25:36is
25:36it takes all the air out and so you have more space to pack with next up do you know
25:42what this is
25:44that's like a duty-free shopping bag that's right because most airlines will allow you to take
25:50a duty-free shopping bag on the plane with you so if you've only got a backpack you could you
25:56know
25:56have one of these plenty little extra bits that you have no one's ever going to know
26:01oh my god four creative hacks but will they work in practice chelsea's not seen my bag
26:10this is stuffed and it's super heavy oh my god jasmine
26:17my bag is way too big for wiz air and ryanair it just keeps going on and on but can
26:23chelsea's tips
26:24help me squeeze it on for free hey do you know what i'm going to do this first yeah i
26:29mean this is
26:30going to be great there's two dresses in there already look you've packed that to perfection
26:35neck pillow utilized now you are ready to roll now for the vac bag start pushing the air out
26:43i'll help you come on it's like the bag was breaking wind i think that's as good as it's gonna
26:52get
26:54unless my duty-free bag trumps it we're nearly there and the fishing vest come on let's utilize
27:00every pocket that we can look at this i'm ready to go to the airport i am so proud honestly
27:10at least
27:11you know with this look you've saved yourself a fortune the money that i've saved on that extra bag
27:17i can probably go and buy something nice for myself in the airport coming up are the ratings
27:23of your city break hotel as shiny as they seem does that sound like a luxury stay to you no
27:29it doesn't
27:29our insiders reveal how to bag a five-star city hotel for a three-star price plus the bait price
27:37trick designed to make you spend more on your city break it's actually a band practice
27:51we love a city break almost half of us grab a quick getaway each year with hot spots paris
27:57madrid and berlin often topping the list and key to a successful trip is finding accommodation that lives
28:05up to expectations i personally like a bit of luxury and to help me choose where i'm going to stay
28:13i'll
28:14check the star ratings they're a helpful guide so i'll know what standard of accommodation i'm getting
28:22but did you know not all stars are created equally different countries hotel booking sites even airlines
28:32all have their own five-star rating systems this for example is a five-star hotel in madrid it looks
28:41a
28:41lovely hotel but how would you know before you got there whether it was the same standard as a star
28:49you'd get in the uk or in another country
28:56luckily i've a highly rated expert who can help i'm giovanna grossi i'd have the most amazing career
29:03inspecting fabulous hotels all over the country giovanna's worked as a top hotel inspector for over 19
29:11years i've done over 3 000 hotel nights in my career and her key tip is to understand that each
29:19country has
29:20its own unique and sometimes quirky rating systems in the uk the grading scheme is about assessing
29:27quality across all areas of a hotel so the quality of the housekeeping how clean it is the service
29:36hospitality the quality of the bedrooms and the bathrooms the public areas of the hotel and standard
29:44of food and quality of food facilities play a less important role in the uk you would have a number
29:50of five-star hotels that don't necessarily have spas or swimming pools but the quality of everything
29:57else in the hotel is very high there's a clear standardized rating system in the uk run by our tourist
30:05boards and the aa yes that's the same aa that looks after our cars they rank hotels from one to
30:11five
30:11stars with a heavy emphasis on service but it's not the same abroad the rating systems overseas are a
30:19minefield very different to the uk every country has a slightly different system take spain it's one of
30:29our favorite countries for a city break whether it's sunny seville the museums of madrid the lure of dali
30:36in barcelona millions of us brits flock to a spanish city each year how comparable are the hotel stars to
30:44home i'm diego fernandez i'm the ceo of port hotels diego oversees 11 hotels in the costa blanca region
30:53in spain including city break favorites valencia and alicante start rating in spain they look after
31:01the facilities if you want to have a four star superior hotel you need to have an spa for example
31:07to be a five-star hotel you need to get some specific square meters you can have the best room
31:15in the world but if you don't have these specific meters you don't have the five stars it's not just
31:21spain other european countries give stars based on the facilities a hotel has rather than focusing on
31:28the service like the uk it varies depending on the country so some five stars in greece are not going
31:34to be a touch on a five-star in london you could be booking a five-star hotel with amazing
31:41facilities
31:41and it has five star for that reason however you would potentially be paying more money for a five-star
31:49hotel that you could pay three or four star prices in the uk for i stayed at a five-star
31:56all-inclusive hotel in turkey last year and it was 350 quid for the week now does that sound like
32:03a
32:03luxury stay to you no it doesn't and that's because it was not it was simply because that hotel was
32:09able
32:09to tick off all the list of requirements that they needed to say yes we have five stars facilities however
32:15when it came to the customer service and the food and the drink i would say it was definitely not
32:20luxury
32:20what's a bargain though when you look into it there are some quite funny differences in criteria
32:30in the uk a five-star hotel has to have some kind of shoe shining service whereas in turkey it
32:37needs to
32:37have a turkish bath and some countries go even further than a simple one to five star rating france
32:45takes the crown with their palatial rating for exceptional hotels this special government award
32:51is given to five-star hotels that go above and beyond then there are the very luxurious sounding
32:58seven-star hotels in dubai seven-star hotels to me are very much a marketing ploy i have done some
33:07work
33:08training in dubai very impressive in terms of the standards however the rest of the world considers
33:19star ratings from one to five so i think it's to get the conversation going and it does we're talking
33:26about it seven star ratings are also appearing in city break destinations like beijing and abu dhabi
33:35then to make things more confusing it's not just the countries that have differing star rating systems
33:41hotel booking websites have their own version too
33:45take expedia they give this hotel in barcelona 3.5 stars but check the same hotel out on booking.com
33:54and it gets a less shiny three so what can we do to get the best stay for less look
34:02for brand new hotels
34:04and because it's new they've probably not booked up i would say i've probably saved 25 on some of my
34:13hotel stays by choosing a new property hotels often announce opening dates months ahead just google the
34:20city you want to visit also do not settle on the first price that you see when i am looking
34:26for a
34:26hotel i'm checking on a comparison website and i'm also contacting the hotel direct to say hey
34:31can you match this price and also can you throw in a little extra something for free such as a
34:37free
34:37breakfast and if you want a five-star experience at a three-star price one of my favorite things to
34:43do is to go onto google hotels you put in the name of the hotel and you click on the
34:48calendar and what
34:49happens is it will pop up with all the prices for every single date so you can scroll through and
34:55simply be on the lookout for the cheapest dates so that you know you're getting an absolute bargain
35:02and if you want to be really low budget on your city break why not see if a nearby five
35:08-star hotel
35:09does day passes to their pool and spa it might cost you a small fee for the day but it
35:15will be much
35:15cheaper than staying the night hotels can offer spa day passes for as little as 30 pounds that might
35:24sound a lot but it's far cheaper than a hefty five-star room rate hotels don't just use star
35:30ratings to get us to book our city break some websites resort to a really frustrating tactic
35:36promoting unbelievably low prices it's all well and good if these deals are legit but with some of them
35:46if you click onto the site and search for the same offer it's impossible to find that bargain price
35:54this hook line and stinker of a sales tactic is more commonly known as bait pricing bait pricing is
36:04an advertising strategy so it's basically putting a price out there um often a too good to be true
36:12price but essentially when you look that's just not available and you're being quoted a whole lot more
36:21joe rhodes is a travel investigator for consumer champions which she's been holding companies to
36:26account for over eight years we did an investigation into bait pricing we actually collected lots of
36:36adverts for many of the big hotel chains and it was a case of checking them in real time and
36:43seeing if
36:43those prices were actually available to see if we could book a room at the price that was offered
36:50joe and her team checked multiple different hotel adverts across different chains checking
36:56thousands of different nights they found that the price of the rooms in some adverts were only available
37:03in very small quantities we had to check from july up until january until we could find a single night
37:11and we only found 1.7 of stays over that six months that seems like a very small amount to
37:19me so what is
37:21the law when it comes to bait pricing bait pricing is actually a banned practice under consumer law
37:29the problem is actually proving when it's happened the rule book kind of refers to a reasonable amount
37:38it's unhelpfully vague we can only say we don't think this is fair or we think this is misleading and
37:45then it's up to the asa which regulate advertising to agree or disagree and then take action where necessary
37:56that's part of the problem the asa can't investigate everything and when it does
38:00it takes time so sometimes these illegal adverts stay up much longer than they should
38:08you might be thinking what's the big deal if the room's not available i can't book it so i'm not
38:14out of pocket the advertisers know something about us time is money it's known as the commitment and
38:23consistency principle once a buyer has put time and energy basically into that purchase they'll
38:31actually rather perhaps pay a higher price than yet waste the time and effort that they've already spent
38:37unfortunately bait pricing is not limited to hotels some of the worst offenders for this can be
38:43airlines and also train companies they will say seats from and a certain price you click through
38:50and that price is nowhere to be seen maybe they've had four seats at that price and then everyone else
38:56is just paying the normal amount that they would be paying for these seats next time you're lured onto a
39:03site and you can't find the deal you wanted just leave the website you're likely to pay more with better
39:11deals to be found elsewhere remember this is the law in the uk but you could be buying directly from
39:17other countries where it's not regulated at all so be alert coming up i go airside to uncover the secrets
39:27of low cost city break fares this is designed to fly and and the more you fly it the lower
39:33the cost
39:40it might not be the most eco-friendly but it is one of the year's big city break trends
39:46it is 9 30 in the morning and we now have all day to explore it's called the extreme day
39:52trip anyone
39:53tries to tell you spain isn't a day trip from the uk send them this video immediately it's when you
40:00take a day trip yes a day trip to a foreign city i'm going home now
40:08no luggage no hotel check-in means you can get stuck straight into the fun stuff
40:13how's it looking over there have you got my best side finished oh let me see oh wow
40:19big teeth and all i love it and then it's a case of how much you can cram into your
40:25city break
40:27in the time you have at least with a drive-by you can say you've been before you head back
40:33home
40:36it's all been made possible by the low-cost airlines they're kind of like anti-social flight
40:42times because it's usually the 6 a.m flights and like the 11 p.m flights to come home where
40:47someone
40:48else's pain is your gain these are usually the cheaper flights to take because nobody really wants
40:54to take them that often but why are flights even operating at anti-social hours airlines
41:02have to operate to schedules those schedules are at very busy airports driven by the slots that they
41:10have available so british airways for example have more than 50 of the slots at london heathrow which
41:17gives them great flexibility as to how they operate but flexibility comes at a cost airline slots are a
41:26commodity they can trade up to 30 million pounds in value at an airport such as heathrow slots at
41:34less convenient times in less convenient airports are much cheaper and budget airlines go even further
41:41low-cost airlines they'll go through the airport's rate card and say i don't want this i don't need
41:45that so for example jetties you know the air bridge which goes onto the side of a plane many low
41:51-cost airlines
41:51say we don't need that we're not going to pay for it we don't mind if our passengers walk even
41:55if it's
41:55out in the rain or if that gate is further away then another airline might accept that's part of
42:01a deal and we're reflecting that in our pricing one airport that is home to a myriad of budget airlines
42:08is london luton airport when the low-cost revolution began in the 1990s luton transformed from a small
42:15travel hub into one of britain's biggest airports today jetting millions of passengers to their city
42:21breaks each year i've been on more planes than i can even count today is going to be different as
42:29i'm
42:29getting to go behind the scenes to see how it all works we're an ultra low-cost carrier so cost
42:39is
42:40really a significant driver in how we operate our business from a business perspective the lowest cost
42:45always wins one of the key drivers of being a low-cost airline is utilization of our aircraft
42:51okay so aircraft are our most expensive assets so the more we use it the better in terms of spreading
42:56the cost over the the aircraft so we want to have a full schedule from very early in the morning
43:02uh on until midnight so we need a very efficient turnaround time we have a target that each aircraft
43:08should fly 12 and a half hours a day because i guess if the plane's on the ground that's not
43:14making
43:14money so anytime it's on the ground you're like come on we're gonna get you back up there we want
43:18our
43:18planes in the air meaning there are more city brake flight options for us at low prices
43:25ivan has invited me to experience firsthand how they do it how many people are coming off
43:32i'm hoping all those passengers disembarking have left it nice and tidy on board so i won't have so
43:38much work to do i'm going to help turn around a plane hello are you my crew today i'm an
43:48honorary cabin
43:49crew member here we go let's go oh what have i got myself into my mentor is senior cabin attendant
43:57denisa bavoy we have 35 minutes from now let's go
44:03i'm going to start this so we know how much time we've got we have to look into the overhead
44:10compartments
44:11okay no wonder they want you off the plane as quickly as possible oh you won't believe what i
44:16found found a part of chocolate that's for you there you go i found gold chewing gum lovely time-wise
44:24we've done seven minutes phew still loads of my 35 minutes left or so i thought we have 35 minutes
44:31from the moment we land and until the moment we take off back after the last passenger is out until
44:38the
44:38first passenger is in we have actually six minutes to finish the whole cabin six minutes it's impossible
44:45surely it's like an olympic sport i have the safety demo kit so this is the light verse a light
44:52and a
44:52whistle for attracting attention pass the safety tape surround your waist luckily for me a seven strong
44:59speedy team are also whizzing through the other tasks pha let's get cracking but it's not just cabin
45:07crew who have to act fast to offer the likes of you and i a budget break knock knock can
45:14i come in
45:14of course you can captain philip cullen has worked in aviation for over 30 years so what's involved
45:21in your turnaround process so we'll decide on the amount of fuel that we need and as soon as we're
45:26ready we really want the passengers on board on board we have to coordinate it with air traffic control
45:31so we get a specific time to get airborne and that's when the pressure really happens for us
45:37because we have to occupy that space in the air exactly at the time they give us what happens if
45:42you miss your slots well that's that's when people start getting the delays we have to apply for a new
45:47slot now depending how busy the airspace is that can be anything from it is a new slot in 15
45:53minutes or
45:54by the way you're going to have to wait three hours and then you've got all the concertina effect
45:58throughout the day so this aircraft will typically do six or eight flights in a day wow are there
46:03financial implications if you do miss that slot if we miss it around about 100 euros per minute it will
46:10cost us yeah if we're sat here waiting for a new slot we'll still be burning fuel because we need
46:16air
46:16conditioning for the cabin i mean we get paid all the crew get paid so there's lots of cost elements
46:21to
46:22this this is designed to fly and and the more you fly it the lower the cost and the lower
46:26the first to
46:27the to the passenger i better get off this plane and let you get cracking have a safe flight lovely
46:34to meet you thank you that was incredible to see how they all work together as a team the process
46:43is
46:43so streamlined to get the aircraft turned around so quickly look at that no messing around the minute
46:49they finished checking all the cabin and making sure it's clean they're already boarding the passengers
46:55my tip if you want to keep being offered budget flights maybe take your chewing gum with you next
47:01time you get off the plane
47:14the fastest fast food chains going head to head for our cash the new series kicks off next tuesday from
47:21eight nando's vkfc battle of the brands next tonight it's raw emotional compelling and absolutely
47:28heartbreaking our factual drama dirty business continues in just a moment
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