Holidays in the sun will be on the horizon for many people in the weeks ahead, and while the accommodation and flight parts of most of these holidays will probably have been paid for already, there are still ways to save and ways to spend over the odds as the countdown continues – which is where we come in with our last-minute guide to saving, not spending.
Before you leave home
1. You have choices when it comes to packing – you can approach the task like a lean Sherpa heading up Mount Everest, or like a wealthy dowager aunt crossing the Atlantic on a luxurious liner at the turn of the 20th century. The choice is entirely yours, but if you go with the latter approach, it will cost you dearly. The key is to always pack less than you want to.
2. The golden rule of laying out everything you think you will need while on your holidays on the bed and packing half of it really does work. But it only works if you are absolutely ruthless. Look at everything with deep scepticism and ask yourself will you wear it, and whether you might get multiple wears of out it. If the answer to both questions is yes (with some obvious exceptions) then it goes into the case. If the answer is no, it gets left behind.
3. We have said it before and we will say it again – roll your own. If you tightly roll rather than fold all the clothes you are packing, you will be better off. The benefits are – wait for it now – twofold. Rolling your clothes will give you far more space in your case, while ensuring your clothes will come out far less creased than they otherwise might be.
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4. Give yourself time and space to pack, and whatever you do, don’t leave it until hours before you are heading off. There is no doubting the fact that a rushed packer is not a smart one. So, what you need to do is pack your cases several days before you are due to depart - or at the very least start the process then. This will give you the time to approach your folding (we mean rolling) logically.
5. What do we mean by logically? Well, there are all manner of Instagram accounts that will school you in how to pack, but to save you the effort of looking them up, we will give you a whistle-stop tour of the best advice. Big items – jeans and dresses – should be rolled first, followed by T-shirts and tops. Underwear comes next and will be squeezed into the gaps left by the bulkier items, and then, after that, socks – if you are bringing such things – should be packed into shoes which can be placed in a plastic bag (the large Ziplock bags sold by Ikea are ideal for this) – and placed on top of everything.
6. Make sure to wear the heaviest, bulkiest clothes you want to bring on your outward journey. Yes, we know it is tempting to wear nothing more than flip-flops, shorts, a T-shirt and a sun hat on your way to the airport just so you can make the taxi driver jealous of your good fortune, but resist that temptation. Instead, layer up and wear the jacket, jumper, jeans and the bulkiest shoes. You won’t be as carefree and comfortable as you plod through the airport, but you can disrobe – at least so some extent – on the plane, happy in the knowledge that the minor discomfort you have just endured has meant you will have more nice things to wear while on holidays. You will also be glad of those bulky clothes when on the way home to Ireland - if past “summers” we have endured are anything to go by.
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7. Liquids are a perennial danger for the light packer, so only bring what you absolutely need and – if at all possible – decant what you are bringing into lightweight plastic bottles. Doing this means you can bring only what you need while dispensing with the sometimes heavier receptacles the products came in. Contact lens cases can make for excellent liquid and cream holders if you are only going away for a short break, and while they are small they carry a surprising amount. If you don’t have any, you can buy 25 cases on amazon.ie for less than a tenner.
8. Do a quick google to see if you’d be better off buying bulkier and heavier items – towels, shower gels, sun creams – while on holidays, rather than bringing them with you. Some canny shopping can save you space and money.
Navigating the airport
9. Airports might seem like glass and chrome palaces of chaos, but they are actually very well organised cash generators aimed at getting us to spend money - as well as getting us from A to B. In an airport, we are all susceptible to spending - we’re a captive, bored and impulsive audience, and oftentimes quite excited at the prospect of a holiday. We might of course have a few bob burning a hole in our pockets.
10. Remember the “golden hour in the dwell zone”. What is that? It’s the 60 minutes we have in the airside shops before we even consider heading towards boarding gates. It’s when we spend the most money, and it’s this hour when you need to be on your guard.
11. Before you buy anything on the pricey side, spend two minutes on your phone googling how much it costs either in your destination or closer to home. Only buy if it’s good value.
12. Remember the golden rule in that golden hour - almost everything from electronics and neck pillows to toys and Toblerones generally cost more in airports, while the souvenirs on offer, generally speaking, are spectacularly bad value for money as well as being mostly useless.
13. Bring stuff to keep you entertained while you wait for your plane to take off. That way you won’t be tempted to spend over the odds on magazines or books that you might otherwise not look twice at. Get your reading material ready and download fun things to keep you entertained on your phone or tablet.
14. We have in times past suggested people bring a packed lunch to the airport. Truth be told, the idea of decanting a few wilted, sweaty ham sandwiches from a clingfilm coat in the Departures hall does seem a bit miserly and unlikely to spark joy in anyone. Maybe pack a few snacks in your hand-luggage, as we do tend to eat in airports and on planes to pass the time rather than because we are starving.
15. Before buying cologne, make-up, sunglasses, silly shorts or anything else, ask whether you really need it, is it good value, and will it make your life better? If that answer is “no”, or even “I don’t know”, walk away.
Boarding planes
16. Regular readers of the Pricewatch page may recall that we have highlighted the experiences of many Ryanair passengers who have been hit with unexpected charges of up to €75 at boarding gates in recent months after their bags - often bags they have used many times without issue - were deemed to be too big for the airlines sizers.
Ryanair has insisted - quite vociferously we must say - that there has been no changes to how it polices carry-on luggage in recent months, and says that while “new stickers have been fitted to the front and sides of our sizers to show the exact permitted dimensions of our two bag sizes (40 x 20 x 25cm) and (55 x 40 x 20cm), [the] stickers show that our permitted dimensions are smaller than our sizers. Our sizers are, therefore, bigger than our permitted/agreed bag sizes. Only bags that do not fit within our sizers (and so considerably exceed our agreed bag sizes) get charged for.”
It has said that its “bag policy is simple: if it fits in our bag sizer (which is bigger than our agreed dimensions), it gets on free of charge. If it doesn’t fit within our sizers, it will be charged. There has been no change in this policy for many years.” It may be worth bearing that in mind as you approach boarding gates in the weeks ahead.
Sizing does work both ways mind you, and we would well advise you to make sure your carry-on luggage isn’t overly big.
17. Carry-on luggage palaver aside, make sure you know the rules when it comes to bags irrespective of the airline you are travelling on. Anyone looking to bring a 10kg bag on board a short-haul Aer Lingus flight must book “carry-on bag with priority boarding” at a cost of €9.99.
But 10kg bags can be checked in for free. If you show up at the boarding gate with your bag without paying in advance you will be charged a €35 fee. Checking in a 20kg bag is between €25 and €55 depending on the length of a flight. Checking in 40kg spread over two bags costs between €65 and €85. The excess baggage rate charged by the airline is €10 per kilo over your allowance.
Priority boarding with Ryanair gets you your 10kg on board bag for “free” - although remember, if it is deemed too big, you will pay through the nose for that. If you check it in, it can cost between €9.49 and €44.99, depending on the time and distance of the flight.
A 20kg checked-in bag with Ryanair costs between €18.99 and €59.99. The pricing for excess baggage is €13.99 per each added kilogramme.
18. It is worth noting that customers can pool or share their purchased baggage allowance with other passengers included in the same flight reservation when checking in together. So if a reservation has two checked bags of 20kg, one of the bags could weigh 15kg and the other 25kg.
Before, during and after your holiday
19. As we have said before on many occasions, things can go wrong when you are travelling, which is why it is important to know the rules and understand the terms and conditions of all your bookings. If an airline has rules around baggage and you break them, you will be penalised. If you book a non-refundable hotel room and you can’t go, don’t expect a refund, and if you agree to an excess when hiring a car and are involved in a tip, you will pay the price.
20. Do some research before you spend money on any travel-related product. If you are planning a trip or want to visit a water park, spend five minutes on google, trip advisor and Trustpilot looking at what others have to say. You don’t have to take the views of the internet as gospel, but if almost every single review of a place or an experience is negative, you might consider that a red flag, and look at spending your money elsewhere.
21. Make sure you have ready access to all the documentation you need – when you need it. A few years back, Pricewatch needed to bring someone to an A&E in Spain following a trampoline-related incident. We arrived in the hospital with no passports, no European Health Insurance Cards and no travel insurance documentation. It ended up costing €120 - which to be fair is probably a lot less than it would have cost at home - but we might have saved ourselves the money had we been more organised and had our wits - and our paperwork - closer to hand.
22. One of the easiest things to do is to create a dedicated travel folder. Make sure to have all booking details, travel-related emails, itineraries, booking references and pictures of your passport and copies of your travel insurance policy there. Hopefully you will rarely if ever have to access the folder, but if things do go wrong with any aspect of your trip at any point, you will know right away where to find the info you need.
23. Try to stay calm. Travel can be stressful – and no more so than when things go wrong. But it rarely helps to lose your temper at a check-in desk. Make your case, and if it is falling on deaf ears, make a plan to lodge a more formal complaint possibly when you get home.
24. Know your rights. If a flight has been cancelled due to weather or a strike, you have the right to a refund, a rebooking or a rerouting at the next available opportunity. The airline has a legal responsibility to look after you until they can get you home. You will most likely have to cover costs up-front and claim them back, so make sure to keep all receipts.
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25. Craft any complaint you have carefully, and remember the words you use can have a huge impact on how your case is handled. If a flight is cancelled or delayed and the circumstances are beyond the airline’s control, you have a right to be looked after, but you don’t have the right to compensation, and if you try and make a claim for compo it will be rejected. If, however, you seek reimbursement under EU Directive 261, you should get your money back in double-quick time. Contact the right people. The Irish Aviation Authority is the place to go if you have an issue with a flight, or if an airline is dragging its heels over reimbursing you or paying you compensation if that applies. The authority also has oversight of the package holiday sector. If you have an issue with a ferry, the National Transport Authority is the contact point. If you are looking for redress for things that have gone wrong within Ireland, you might be able to go to the Small Claims Court, while the European Consumer Centre is there to help with cross-border issues.
