Fuel those dreams in Caribbean

Jun 11 2008

ALTHOUGH fuel surcharges on British Airways tickets issued from June 3 add £126 return (£63 single) to the cost of long-haul flights of less than nine hours, there's still a good choice of off-peak Caribbean packages at bargain prices.

Rival airlines and some other operators, have ruled out surcharges - and kept prices at a level to compete with better quality short-haul European packages.

Steve Garley, of Tropical Sky, an online long-haul specialist operating to the Caribbean, Africa, Canada and US, says: "Despite the doom and gloom, many couples over-45 and better-off families readily pay a bit extra to go long-haul.

"Grenada might well offer better value than Granada this summer.

"And if they are booked with us on to charter flights with XL Airways, they can rest assured that they won't be hit by any surcharge this summer."

Garley says that in June and early July seven nights' all-inclusive at three-star Rex resorts on Grenada start at £699, with two weeks from £989.

Even in August, which tends to be busier because of school holidays, two-week all-inclusives start at less than £900.

"Everything in the Caribbean is purchased in dollars, so the mixture of dollars and fixed fuel prices gives the Caribbean quite an edge this year," Garley says.