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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 EasyJet holidays and the country's leading brands knock knock will take me behind closed doors
01:03this is where the magic happens from hotels and holiday operators to airlines travel agencies
01:11and even cruise lines they're sharing their travel industry tricks to holidaying better for less
01:23this 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
01:56it has become a lucrative opportunity for airlines to generate more cash
02:03so how do we nab a bargain city break that won't blow the budget
02:13every year more than 28 million of us jet off on a city break
02:18so i'm in city of rome and i absolutely love it here
02:21you 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
02:31now taking several european breaks a year is completely normal
02:35city breaks may be short but if you get them right even just a weekend away can feel like a
02:41total
02:41reboot and they feel even better if they don't break the bank
02:48so step one location location location
02:52i'm john strickland i've been in the airline industry over 40 years i've specialized in network
02:57planning and revenue management and working for different kinds of airlines such as british airways
03:01and klm john's seen firsthand how budget airlines have increased the destinations available to british
03:08travelers over the years low-cost airlines have really democratized air travel by those ticket prices
03:14falling not only can more people travel there are more routes available we've seen low-cost airlines
03:20better than any other really exploring new markets ryan airs opened up hundreds of airports around europe
03:26which are small airports maybe never heard of in the past labeled them with familiar names of big cities
03:33even though the airport may be some distance away they've found a way that has appealed to customers
03:39and generated millions of journeys because of it sounds like good news right but here's why you might hang
03:47fire before you book your city break based solely on those ever so tempting cheap fares
03:54from sightseeing wow to coffee over together 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 an average filter
04:13coffee costs less than one pound 25 that sure beats vienna where it's closer to six quid that's a latte
04:21extra coffee you're getting in lisbon the cost of booze can also make you gulp oslo has some of the
04:29most
04:30expensive local beer and wine whereas lisbon has some of the cheapest cheers at an average cost of nine
04:38pounds 86 for a small glass of wine in oslo versus a tiny one pound 93 in lisbon it's nearly
04:46five times as
04:47expensive i know where i'd rather be am i off duty now can i drink the rest of this
04:57it really pays to do your research the capital city of portugal has all the charm you could ask for
05:04but it's also one of the cheapest city breaks out there although it may not be your ideal destination
05:12so how can you find out what the cheapest city is for your tastes my name is chelsea dickinson i'm
05:19obsessed with all things to do with holidays and getting the best value for money it can get really
05:26confusing about how much money you need to take on that trip especially if it's somewhere brand new you've
05:31never been before there is a website called numbio which is a cost of living index it's got over 12
05:38000 cities across the world on it and it will tell you the average price of everything from a beer
05:43a cappuccino and even your taxi home added up the cost difference between cities can be staggering
05:52helpfully the post office has put together a handy guide for some of our favorite cities if we look at
06:00oslo in norway a two-person two-night stay in a three-star hotel comes in at around 640 pounds
06:10including overall costs so if we compare that to riga in latvia it's less than half the price
06:18with that city break coming in at around 250 pounds the best thing to do is to do a bit
06:25of research
06:25before you go and the wonderful thing about the internet is that people have been posting in the
06:31reviews photos of the menu so not only can you plan what you're going to eat that night you can
06:36also
06:36cost it up and know how much money you need to take on your trip so you found the perfect
06:42city where
06:43you can afford to live it up in style next you need the flights when it comes to your ticket
06:50it's highly
06:51likely that the person sitting next to you on the plane hasn't paid the same price you might be
06:57feeling smug or not but why do airlines change their prices and how do they decide when to do it
07:06running an airline is not surprisingly incredibly expensive so to get a plane full is critically
07:12important sure any airline can give everything away for nothing and fill the plane up but of course
07:16they're there to make money so ticket prices tend to be really fluid so how do you get the best
07:23price
07:23ask any of our insiders and they'll give you a very familiar answer the best time to book a flight
07:32is
07:32that no one else is going there avoid peak season outside of school holidays those are obviously the
07:38peak times and the other annoying one book early book early get a bargain early early book as early as
07:44you
07:44can you're better booking sooner rather than later but there is good reason the airlines generally put
07:52their flights on sale up to a year in advance because they know they need to fill up with a
07:57certain
07:57number of lower prices and at the last minute they know they can pretty confidently grip their teeth
08:02and fill those last seats up at high high profit margins once an airline has sold enough cheaper seats
08:09and covered enough costs they'll start to hike the price to maximize their profits so if you didn't
08:16book a year in advance does that mean you can't get a good deal i'm meeting a very high-flying
08:23insider
08:25Yvonne Moynihan is the managing director of wizair uk and she's agreed to share some pricing secrets
08:32would it be possible that the more times you look at a flight and don't book it the next time
08:38you go and
08:38have a look at it it always seems to go up in price that's a i think more of a
08:42paranoia that people
08:43have it depends if maybe somebody else booked a flight a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes
08:48before and that will also change the dynamics so it could change from one minute to the next absolutely
08:56that's one myth busted it's not wizair tracking you that changes your price it's what's called dynamic
09:02pricing something you might be more familiar with if you're booking tickets to see your favorite band
09:09on an airplane itself you will have 239 different passengers who will have paid probably 239
09:15different prices really yes is there that much variation in the prices yes can you offer someone
09:22one price and someone else a different price because sometimes you know i might go and have a look at
09:27something from my husband's phone or from my friend's phone and see if it's the same price that
09:32i'm getting everybody will be offered the same price so if we're sitting here in london and somebody
09:38is sitting in paris looking at the same flight and the same time they will be offered the same price
09:44that's another myth squashed if you're looking at a flight at exactly the same time as someone else you
09:51will be shown the same price now how about bagsying a cheap fare if we didn't book early so is
09:58there
09:59a secret to getting best price i'm here for the hack pricing is never static in aviation we are
10:07responding essentially to demand the usual trajectory of of a route and the pricing on it it's a zigzag
10:14journey so if we see sales slowing down and demand dropping we will try to stimulate more demand and
10:23more bookings by reducing the price so that more people will start to book again so that's that sweet
10:29spots that we all dream of finding exactly halfway through the booking curve if you can catch it on that
10:36day or that period then exactly you'll get the best price but you never know when that dip in prices
10:41is going to be no oh do you you don't are you sure yes you can tell me i won't
10:47tell anyone unfortunately
10:49there is no magic wand so if you want to bargain and didn't book early you've got to keep logging
10:57in
10:58and monitoring prices fortunately 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
11:49on your journey suggesting whether you should book now or wait that's trick number one if you can't
11:57book early 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 it
12:12should be and a good place to see these fares they do all the hard work for you is jack's
12:17flight club and
12:18secret flying these sites use tech to scour thousands of flights a day looking for deals and error fares
12:25however there's a big alert sign when you see one of these which is please please please please wait
12:31before you book your accommodation or at least make sure it's got free cancellation because there is
12:37every chance that the airline could get back to you and say it was an error we've cancelled the flight
12:42airlines are allowed to do so so book accommodation with a free cancellation policy and be aware
12:48it's a risk next the secrets of airline extras it has become a lucrative opportunity for airlines to
12:59generate more cash and how to pack to the max for your city break without paying an extra penny
13:05i'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
13:24and downs of dynamic pricing and how it impacts the cost of booking your budget flights now what about
13:31all those 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 ryan air's business quite the opposite in the years
14:24since they've stripped back the service ryan air's revenue has soared just under a third of their
14:31income comes from selling extras like priority boarding luggage and food and drink on board
14:37ancillary revenues are one of the fastest growing revenue streams in the aviation industry accounting
14:45for billions of pounds of revenue it has become a lucrative opportunity for airlines to generate more
14:53cash in some cases the revenues can account for maybe a quarter of the total earnings that an
14:59airline receives from getting a passenger in some cases it's even more than 50 percent indeed michael o'leary
15:04the chief executive of ryanair suggested that he would offer free travel to passengers and sell
15:12them the ancillary revenues because it was a greater opportunity low-cost airlines tempt us in with low
15:19prices on fares because they know that we compare these headline fare prices with their rivals once we
15:27start to book the extra costs appear and they also know that many of us don't compare these prices with
15:34other airlines it's not just easy jet and ryanair last year wiz air passengers spent 2.4 billion pounds on
15:43these extras how do you determine how much to charge for all those ancillaries uh depends on the the
15:51particular route and again there's dynamic pricing so whatever ancillary costs you might choose to add
15:56on to your basic fare might not necessarily cost the same depending on when you buy it exactly so that
16:03similar to the airline ticket the ancillary price has changed as well like with your ticket your extras can
16:10go up or down in price depending on when you book them and which route you're flying but do you
16:16also
16:16see the 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
16:49so is it kind of a myth then that it's ultra low cost because you end up paying the same
16:54price that you
16:54would pay anyway but you pay for your bag and you pay for your seat and your boarding and stuff
16:58well
16:59passengers can choose and that's the beauty of it right what we see at the moment is that a lot
17:03of
17:04passengers are traveling just with a backpack because people want to travel light so actually
17:08it's it's a benefit to the customer and we again we can keep the prices low if we're not including
17:14luggage in that price just remember to get the best price for your ancillary extras make sure you clear
17:21your cookies compare the price between your laptop or in a mobile app and have a look at what your
17:28mate'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
17:50holder indeed giving space to put one in the cabin other elements are more nebulous such as a desire to
17:57get
17:57on board more quickly or choose a particular seat they have an 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 the
18:26plane up they offer the price at that level because they're hoping that the customer will buy something
18:31on board the passenger can just take advantage of the fact that deal is available and i know many
18:35passengers treat it like a bus they see that deal they book it and then they make sure their wallet
18:40stays zipped for the whole flight and don't give you another penny whilst we can get around these charges by
18:48bringing on a sandwich not booking priority boarding or using it like a bus sometimes you have to have
18:56luggage 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 massive
19:24bone of contention for travelers part of the different strategies that you see being deployed by airlines
19:31is constant changes to their baggage rules and requirements and some airlines do this quite frequently
19:40this is just so confusing i have already paid for my ticket but this is like an additional fee so
19:47i can
19:47only bring one bag so what are the airline policies what can actually be taken on board for free
19:58here to help me unpack the rules is chelsea hi chelsea hi jasmine you may have noticed the bags in
20:06front of us all different sizes all cabin bags the question i have for you is which airlines can you
20:12take these cabin bags on without paying a penny extra on the table the smallest is this bag followed by
20:20this rucksack then this one and on the outside we've got two very generous wheelies lined up it's
20:28striking how different each airline's free baggage policy is so we've got wizard jet 2 easy jet
20:372e british airways and ryanair
20:41the question is which bag matches which airline's policy first up ryanair no hesitation it's going to
20:50be the smallest one this is the smallest bag we have on the table but this is the bag size
20:56you can take
20:56on ryanair and it's the same baggage allowance as wizard that's a draw what about rival easy jet
21:04i'm gonna go for that one and that's correct easy jet offer a much roomier under seat
21:11rucksack option than wiz and ryanair imagine all the summer dresses you could fit in there
21:18next up the package holiday titans 2e and jet 2. i'm gonna go for this one okay so yeah with
21:252e
21:26not only can you take a trolley case that fits overhead but you can take a bag around this size
21:33as well that's amazing for free brilliant yeah and jet 2 that has got to be jet 2 then and
21:40that's
21:40correct but you also get the largest suitcase no way that's huge isn't it it's actually quite a big
21:48suitcase jet 2 lets you bring on the largest wheelie suitcase plus a small rucksack last up british airways
21:56british airways you can take this larger suitcase and you also get the small bag whilst you might think
22:03ba is the most generous ba's second bag allowance is five centimeters smaller meaning jet 2 bags the
22:11top spot followed by 2e and ba then easy jets and in joint last with the least generous offering
22:18wizair and ryanair that's why it's always worth if you're looking at the other competitors that are
22:26coming up in the search results it may be that they're an extra tenner but you will save that money
22:31yeah by the fact you don't have to buy the baggage like these easy jets and jet 2 flights both
22:37leaving
22:38glasgow for malaga on the same day almost at the same time easy jet looks cheaper at first just under
22:4530 pounds jet 2 a couple of pounds more but with the bonus of that extra wheelie case add one
22:52to your
22:52easy jet fare and the price almost triples to just under 85 pounds it really pays to know your allowance
23:01and there's something else to be mindful of another thing to consider is how much weight you're
23:08allowed in these bags almost quite bizarrely british airways not only for the smaller bag but for the
23:15large suitcase as well 23 kilograms each each are you joking so definitely you can take 46 kilograms on
23:24board with you are you joking how could you what could you possibly put in here to make it weigh
23:31that
23:32much gold bars incredibly jet 2 and 2i also let you take on a heavy small bag in fact there's
23:40no weight
23:40limit at all though they do limit the wheelie to 10 kilograms what about the budget airlines
23:48wizards up to 10 kilograms in this bag for easy jet it's 15 kilos but for ryanair there's no weight
23:56limit on their small under seat bag so technically you could take something that's two ton that means
24:04it's wiz air who have the most restrictive free baggage allowance not ryanair who'd have thought it
24:10so it really does just remind you to double check the allowance not only the size of it but also
24:17the
24:18weight of it so you do not get caught out on your next flight that's checklist one for avoiding those
24:23extra baggage charges or worse fines know what the airline baggage policy is they are different and
24:31change from time to time the second know the tricks to beat the system and get even more on for
24:38free
24:39inside this bag i've got some of my absolute favorite hacks for packing more than you think you can
24:47okay when you're traveling and don't want to pay an extra penny right okay so it doesn't look like it
24:53right now but this is a neck pillow you pack it full of clothes and once this is full to
25:00the brim
25:01it will be in the shape of a neck pillow comfy and cheap brilliant let me present to you the
25:08fishing
25:09vest i mean that's got a lot of pockets so stylish so it looks great on you oh my goodness
25:17look at that
25:18look you can put all your pens in here the airlines don't care about what's on you you've got to
25:24be
25:24prepared to walk through the airport wearing it last up two options for the less extrovert among us
25:31this is oh a vac bag i just realized what it is it takes all the air out and so
25:38you have more space
25:39to pack with next up do you know what this is that's like a duty-free shopping bag that's right
25:48because most airlines will allow you to take a duty-free shopping bag on the plane with you so if
25:54you've only got a backpack you could you know have one of these plenty little extra bits that you have
25:59no one's ever going to know oh my god four creative hacks but will they work in practice
26:07chelsea's not seen my bag this is stuffed and it's super heavy oh my god jasmine my bag is way
26:18too big
26:19for wiz air and ryanair it just keeps going on and on but can chelsea's tips help me squeeze it
26:25on for
26:25free now do you know what i'm going to do this first yes i mean this is going to be
26:31great there's
26:32two dresses in there already look you've packed that to perfection neck pillow utilized now you are
26:38ready to roll now for the vac bag start pushing the air out pushing the air out i'll help you
26:44come on
26:48it's like the bag was breaking wind i think that's as good as it's gonna get
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
27:16i 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 state to you no
27:29it
27:29doesn't our insiders reveal how to bag a five-star city hotel for a three-star price plus the bait
27:37price trick 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 check
28:14the 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
28:40it looks a lovely hotel but how would you know before you got there whether it was the same
28:48standard as a star you'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've had 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
29:19has its 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
30:04tourist boards and the aa yes that's the same aa that looks after our cars they rank hotels from one
30:11to five stars with a heavy emphasis on service but it's not the same abroad the rating systems overseas
30:18are a minefield very different to the uk every country has a slightly different system
30:27take spain it's one of our favorite countries for a city break whether it's sunny seville the museums
30:34of madrid the lure of dali in barcelona millions of us brits flock to a spanish city each year how
30:42comparable are the hotel stars to home i'm diego fernandez i'm the ceo of port hotels diego oversees
30:5111 hotels in the costa blanca region in spain including city break favorites valencia and alicante
30:59start rating in spain they look after the facilities if you want to have a four-star superior
31:04a hotel you need to have an spa for example to be a five-star hotel you need to get
31:11some specific
31:12square meters and you can have the best room in the world but if you don't have these specific
31:18meters you don't have the five stars it's not just spain other european countries give stars based on
31:24the facilities a hotel has rather than focusing on the service like the uk it varies depending on the
31:31country so some five stars in greece are not going to be a touch on a five-star in london
31:37you could be
31:38booking a five-star hotel with amazing facilities and it has five star for that reason however you
31:45would potentially be paying more money for a five-star hotel that you could pay three or four
31:52star prices in the uk for i stayed at a five star all-inclusive hotel in turkey last year and
31:59it was
32:00350 quid for the week now does that sound like a luxury stay to you no it doesn't and that's
32:05because
32:06it was not it was simply because that hotel was able to tick off all the list of requirements
32:11that they needed to say yes we have five stars facilities however when it came to the customer
32:16service and the food and the drink i would say it was definitely not luxury was a bargain though
32:24when 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
32:37to have 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 is
32:52given to five star hotels that go above and beyond then there are the very luxurious sounding seven
32:59star hotels in dubai seven star hotels to me are very much a marketing ploy i have done some work
33:08training in dubai very impressive in terms of the standards however the rest of the world considers
33:18star 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 take expedia they give this hotel in barcelona 3.5 stars
33:51but check the same hotel out on booking.com and it gets a less shiny three so what can we
33:58do to get the best
33:59stay for less look for brand new hotels and because it's new they've probably not booked up i would say
34:09i've probably saved 25 on some of my hotel stays by choosing a new property hotels often announce
34:17opening dates months ahead just google the city you want to visit also do not settle on the first price
34:24that you see when i am looking for a hotel i'm checking on a comparison website and i'm also contacting
34:30the hotel direct to say hey can you match this price and also can you throw in a little extra
34:35something
34:36for free such as a free breakfast and if you want a five-star experience at a three-star price
34:42one of
34:42my favorite things to do is to go onto google hotels you put in the name of the hotel and
34:47you click on
34:48the calendar and what happens is it will pop up with all the prices for every single date so you
34:54can
34:54scroll through and simply be on the lookout for the cheapest dates so that you know you're getting an
35:00absolute bargain and if you want to be really low budget on your city break why not see if a
35:08nearby
35:08five-star hotel does day passes to their pool and spa it might cost you a small fee for the
35:14day but it
35:15will be much cheaper than staying the night hotels can offer spa day passes for as little as 30 pounds
35:23that might sound a lot but it's far cheaper than a hefty five-star room rate hotels don't just use
35:30star ratings 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
36:13price 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
38:14of pocket but 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
38:30they'll actually rather perhaps pay a higher price than yet waste the time and effort that they've
38:37already spent unfortunately bait pricing is not limited to hotels some of the worst offenders for
38:43this can be airlines and also train companies they will say seats from and a certain price you click
38:50through and that price is nowhere to be seen maybe they've had four seats at that price and then everyone
38:56else is just paying the normal amount that they would be paying for these seats next time you're lured
39:03onto a site and you can't find the deal you wanted just leave the website you're likely to pay more
39:10with
39:10better deals to be found elsewhere remember this is the law in the uk but you could be buying directly
39:17from other countries where it's not regulated at all so be alert coming up i go airside to uncover
39:26the secrets of low-cost city break fares this is designed to fly and and the more you fly it
39:32the lower the 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
39:53anyone tries to tell you spain isn't a day trip from the uk send them this video immediately it's
39:59when you take 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 how's it looking over
40:14there have you got my best side finished oh let me see oh wow big teeth and all i love
40:21it and then
40:22it's a case of how much you can cram into your city break in the time you have at least
40:29with a drive
40:30by you can say you've been before you head back home it's all been made possible by the low-cost
40:39airlines
40:39the kind of like anti-social flight times because it's usually the 6am flights and like the 11pm
40:46flights to come home where someone else's pain is your gain these are usually the cheaper flights
40:52to take because nobody really wants to take them that often but why are flights even operating at
40:59anti-social hours airlines have to operate to schedules those schedules are at very busy airports
41:08driven by the slots that they have available so british airways for example have more than 50
41:15of the slots at london heathrow which gives them great flexibility as to how they operate but
41:21flexibility comes at a cost airline slots are a commodity they can trade up to 30 million pounds in
41:29value at an airport such as heathrow slots at less convenient times in less convenient airports are
41:37much cheaper and budget airlines go even further low-cost airlines will go through the airport's
41:43rate card and say i don't want this i don't need that so for example jetties you know the air
41:48bridge
41:49which goes onto the side of a plane many low-cost airlines say we don't need that we're not going
41:53to pay for it we don't mind if our passengers walk even if it's out in the rain or if
41:57that gate is
41:57further away than another airline might accept that's part of a deal and we're reflecting that
42:02in our pricing one airport that is home to a myriad of budget airlines is london luton airport
42:10when the low-cost revolution began in the 1990s luton transformed from a small travel hub into one of
42:16britain's biggest airports today jetting millions of passengers to their city breaks each year i've been
42:24on more planes than i can even count today is going to be different as i'm getting to go behind
42:31the
42:31scenes to see how it works we're an ultra low-cost carrier so cost is really a significant driver in
42:41how we operate our business from a business perspective the lowest cost always wins one of
42:47the key drivers of being a low-cost airline is utilization of our aircraft okay so aircraft are
42:52our most expensive assets so the more we use it the better in terms of spreading the cost over the
42:57the aircraft so we want to have a full schedule from very early in the morning uh on until midnight
43:03so we need a very efficient turnaround time we have a target that each aircraft should fly 12 and a
43:10half
43:10hours a day because i guess if the plane's on the ground they're not making money so anytime it's on
43:15the ground you're like come on we're gonna get you back up there we want our planes in the air
43:20meaning there are more city break flight options for us at low prices
43:25yvonne 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 much
43:39work to do i'm going to help turn around a plane hello are you my crew today i'm an honorary
43:48cabin
43:49crew member let's 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
44:10compartment
44:10okay no wonder they want you off the plane as quickly as possible oh you won't believe what i've
44:17found chocolate that's for you there you go i found gold chewing gum lovely time wise we've done seven
44:25minutes few still loads of my 35 minutes left or so i thought we have 35 minutes from the moment
44:32we land
44:33and until the moment we take off back after the last passenger is out until the first passenger
44:39is in we have actually six minutes to finish the whole cabin six minutes it's impossible surely it's
44:46like an olympic sport we have the safety demo kit so this is the light first a light and a
44:52whistle
44:52for attracting attention pass the safety tapes around your waist luckily for me a seven strong speedy
45:00team are also whizzing through the other tasks pha let's get cracking but it's not just cabin crew
45:07who have to act fast to offer the likes of you and i a budget break knock knock can i
45:14come in of course
45:15you can captain philip cullen has worked in aviation for over 30 years so what's involved in your
45:21turnaround process so we'll decide on the amount of fuel that we need and as soon as we're ready
45:26we 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 um 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
46:27to the to the passenger i better get off this plane and let you get cracking have a safe flight
46:33lovely
46:34to meet you thank you
46:38that was incredible to see how they all work together as a team the process is so streamlined to get
46:44the
46:44aircraft turned around so quickly look at that no messing around the minute they finished checking all
46:51the cabin and making sure it's clean they're already boarding the passengers my tip if you want to
46:57keep being offered budget flights maybe take your chewing gum with you next time you get off the plane
47:13the fastest fast food chains going head to head for our cash the new series kicks off next tuesday
47:20from eight 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
47:33you
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