Cobalt Airlines: NOT cheap

[gogetemgirl]

This week it has been possible to book flights on Cobalt to Manchester for next summer online.
Their website says €39 each way.
Between 24th March and 31st October 2017 there is not a single flight either way at that price,
and in July for example LCA>Man is €116 and Man>LCA €220.22; to which must be added €9.31
booking fee (only credit cards are accepted, not debit cards).
I am not impressed!
Anne.

[trevnhil]

According to the Cobalt Website the following cards can be used for payment.,

Payment Methods

What types of payment options are there?
There are many ways to pay for your flights.
Cobalt accepts the following cards for online booking:
Visa and MasterCard credit cards and the following debit cards; Visa Connect, Visa Electron, MasterCard Prepaid & Visa Delta. All cards incur a fee of 2.5% of the total transaction value.

Trev..

[gogetemgirl]

According to the Cobalt Website the following cards can be used for payment.,

Payment Methods

What types of payment options are there?
There are many ways to pay for your flights.
Cobalt accepts the following cards for online booking:
Visa and MasterCard credit cards and the following debit cards; Visa Connect, Visa Electron, MasterCard Prepaid & Visa Delta. All cards incur a fee of 2.5% of the total transaction value.

Trev..

Thank you Trev; point is they charge a fee for all the cards, usually many debit cards
would not attract such a fee.
What about their fares though? In July cheaper to fly on a scheduled airline or a budget one.
I don't think they should, under EU regs, be allowed to advertise cheap flights when in fact there are none.
Anne.

[Happy in Cyprus]

My hairdresser flew with them a month or so ago. Only because he had a funeral to attend in the UK and fares with the usual crowd were sky-high, booking at very short notice. His words to me were: "never again".

[gogetemgirl]

My hairdresser flew with them a month or so ago. Only because he had a funeral to attend in the UK and fares with the usual crowd were sky-high, booking at very short notice. His words to me were: "never again".

Did he/she say why?
The "usual crowd" do not fly to Manchester. You can get sleezy jet to Manchester and Liverpool but they
always arrive too late to travel on by train, like 2.00 am, and from Paphos (no good for me).
I can look after myself, but an airport for several hours on your own is no joke/risky, plus to go to the loo
you can hardly leave your case on the platform.
Plenty of cheap flights to London, but then like £100+ train fare to the North (York). Were hoping for good
things with Cobalt - but it has not worked out like we hoped.
Maybe the "new" Cyprus Airways might offer something better?
Anne.

[Brenmar]

Have you considered flying somewhere cheap and hiring a car? Car hire prices can often work out cheaper than train fares and, if it means that you can get a cheap(er) flight, the overall cost should be less.

[Steve - SJD]

Well the prices certainly have gone up - but that was likely anyway given how much tickets were
selling for this year. Unfortunate when that happens but they have to make a profit and there has
been little margin left so far. I've recently had a return flight using Cobalt for £75 and over the long
term that's just not sustainable.

Just checked on a one way flight in June Man > LCA is £108 + card fee which is not that
unreasonable given that a large part of that price will be airport landing fees & the various taxes.

Whilst there were some initial teething problems with Cobalt as you might expect - personally
not had any issues with them and have booked 14 flights with them so far.

I'll keep them in the mix when looking for flights and welcome the increased choice and competition.

Cheers

Steve

[gogetemgirl]

Well the prices certainly have gone up - but that was likely anyway given how much tickets were
selling for this year. Unfortunate when that happens but they have to make a profit and there has
been little margin left so far. I've recently had a return flight using Cobalt for £75 and over the long
term that's just not sustainable.

Just checked on a one way flight in June Man > LCA is £108 + card fee which is not that
unreasonable given that a large part of that price will be airport landing fees & the various taxes.

Whilst there were some initial teething problems with Cobalt as you might expect - personally
not had any issues with them and have booked 14 flights with them so far.

I'll keep them in the mix when looking for flights and welcome the increased choice and competition.

Cheers

Steve

Thank you Steve. Well £108 LCA>Man in June is what I said, €116. But the return is €220.22
Add in card fee and checked in luggage (say 15 Kg) + seat reservation, and it no longer a cheap fare.
In any case their website comes up when you connect to it with: LCA>Man €39
There are no flights after March at that price!
So for me it is back to plan 'B' Hi Hi
Anne.