Who is going to Symi 2017

[JeanW]

Olympic now have dates to book 2017. I have booked May 2017 and the prices are similar to same time this year. When I 'phoned Olympic to discuss my booking I was advised
I had the last booking for my preferred accommodation, so Symi continues to be popular.

[Gemma1]

I had a look at the prices for September a few weeks ago, but but it was quite a bit more than I've paid for September this year so I'll wait until after this year's holiday and decide what to do. I could go to Plakias - where I haven't been for a few years - for about £80 less than going to Symi and the flight times are more convenient so I might go back there for a change.

We went to Kefalonia with Olympic in June and the price of that holiday for next year is cheaper than we paid for this, so there are some good prices out there - just not for my September dates for Symi. Glad you got a good price Jean

[MrsMcS]

Findlay and I couldn't believe the hike in Olympic's prices for next year. Way more than we paid this year for the same holiday. Think they might be pricing themselves out of the market or jumping on the Brexit bandwagon!! It would seem that they are struggling to get holidays to Greece sold this year judging by the amount of emails Olympic sends offering deals to Greece this year, so hiking the prices up for next year certainly isn't going to help. We will certainly have to rethink our holidays at this rate as way too expensive .

[Kojak]

I'm booked for 10th May 2017 at the usual place. Just under £470, which for a single person isn't bad. My September2016 holiday was just over £500. Remember that even if part of your holiday fall into high season it can make a big difference in price.

[Kojak]

Just booked for September 2017 and the price difference is only £10

[Fullenglish]

How are people booking with Olympic. When I checked their website it said proces not available for 2017 yet?

[JeanW]

Just checked again on Olympic website and holidays to Symi are available to book right through to October 2017.

[Fullenglish]

Well I just went into the Olympic Website and put in from London to Rhodes from 8th June to 15th June and this was the exact comments, "Flight schedule for 26.03.2017 onwards is not yet available."

[JeanW]

I think you are looking at the Olympic Air site which only shows flights and not package holidays. Try olympicholidays.com and you will get the home page which gives you drop down menus to allow you to make your choice.

[Fullenglish]

Yes thanks. I think we have been talking at cross purposes. I have already booked my accomodation. I just need to arrange flights when available.
Phil

[Oor Willie]

Jet 2 have their Rhodes flights up for next June from Glasgow so I assume they will be available from the English airports as well

[JeanW]

Sorry if I misunderstood. However, your posting today at 17.13 asked 'how are people booking with Olympic'. Those of us who posted have booked with Olympic Holidays, which is the complete package including flights, transfers and accommodation. Other posters who were looking at prices for next year were also looking at packages with Olympic Holidays. I know there are pros and cons v travelling independently or on a package, but having done both Olympic suits my purse just now.

[Gemma1]

Just booked for September 2017 and the price difference is only £10

That's very good, you can't complain about that. Mine has gone up by £25, I was thinking it was £45, which is around 10%, but that was before I paid the extra £20 for luggage which wasn't available when I booked this year but I have just paid extra for after being embarrassed in Kefalonia by being 2kg over and having to take things out of my suitcase . I added the £20 on for next year when I was checking the prices. Of course mine is only for a week and Kojak's for 2 - maybe I need to go for longer

[Fullenglish]

No problem JeanW. I should have made myself clear.

[Fullenglish]

Thanks Oor Willie,
I'll keep that in mind.
Phil

[Fullenglish]

Just found out Jet2 don't fly from London airports. It caters for the North of UK.

[Allan]

Phil, have you checked Andy Ward's travel blog on the Symi Visitor Accommodation website? http://symivisitor-accommodation.com/blog/

Andy keeps us up to date with everything to do with travel to and from Symi. This includes lists of direct flights from the UK and many other European countries to Rhodes and Kos for onward travel to Symi.

The lists are usually produced over the winter months as flights become available and he keeps the UK list regularly updated. Obviously the lists for 2017 isn't published yet but the 2016 one should give you a good guide to what is likely to be available next year. It's a surprisingly extensive list!

http://symivisitor-accommodation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/summerflightsUK2016v3.pdf

[Jan]

Websites such as Kayak will give you a comprehensive view of flight possibilities.

[Fullenglish]

Thanks to Allan and also Jan. I'll look into it.
Phil

[Andy W]

You'll find that there are flights to Rhodes from most UK regional airports that are big enough to handle a plane loaded with enough fuel to get there. There are airports such as Belfast City (George Best), Southampton or London City which don't have runways long enough for a plane to take off with enough fuel for the journey, there are airports such as Prestwick, Durham Tees Valley and Blackpool which have had flights in the past but no longer do because the airport is in a spiral of decline, and ones such as Newuay or Inverness that don't have the catchment area to fill regular flights to Rhodes. There are no less than 16 UK airports with non-stop flights to Rhodes this year.
Then there are connections via Athens, connections via Amsterdam, and so on.

I'm a bit puzzled by the Olympic Holidays/Olympic Air confusion, because since Olympic Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aegean Airlines, and now flies only within Greece and to her immediate neighbours, when you look at Olympic Air's website, you're actually using Aegean's website with an Olympic logo added for effect, and any flights to or from the UK will be flown by Aegean. Why not use Aegean's website to start with?
And while you can book flight-only on Olympic Holidays website I'd very strongly advise against doing so, since while they do charter planes on their own account from Manchester and Gatwick to Rhodes, the chances of the flight you book there actually operating at the time you booked it for and with the airline you expected is very small indeed. The other flights they sell are available direct from the airlines operating them, usually cheaper.
I'd also advise against booking any flights with on-line travel agents. The recent Low Cost Holidays/Low Cost Beds situation has shown just how little protection you have, and in fact they can easily make a bad situation worse. Low Cost Holidays had sold flights on Ryanair, without being a Ryanair authorised booking agent. They just booked on the Ryanair website, which anyone who can use a computer in the first place could have done for themselves, and they charged a service fee for doing it. But the travellers weren't given the information necessary to check-in online, or to make changes such as adding baggage themselves, as it was claimed LowCost would do this for them. Of course they went bust instead, and the passengers got stuck with paying Ryanair's airport check-in and airport excess baggage charges.Low Cost are not the only company who do this, others are still trading, but for how long?
Just book directly with the airline that's going to operate your flight, and don't follow the booking links from Kayak or Skyscanner even if they look cheaper. By the time service fees are added on, or you find you have to pay more than the going rate for any baggage at all, the airline will always end up cheapest, at least on flights between the UK and Greece!