Flight Pass more expensive in the North!?
 

I regularly fly Manchester to London and am exploring the Flight Pass, however, it seems to be more expensive if I select a personalised zone of Manchester to London (£78) rather than just select Manchester (£58) as the place I want to travel?? Am I missing something?

Do I have to buy return tickets with the Flight Pass or can I just book single flights?


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Flight Pass cost selecting Man-LHR as personalised zone
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Flight Pass cost with just Manchester selected

I have emailed Optiontown Customer Care (who manage the scheme) and they have advised that Manchester to London is £78, but they have not advised what the £58 is for, I have asked twice. Any ideas??

£78 is no that great a deal, booking early I can often get a return for under £100.

I received a response from Optiontown that was not exactly helpful, they suggested clicking the buy button and that this will show the route. I am attaching the two options and am non the wiser??


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Flight Pass £78 option to Manchester
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5dd049592d.png
Flight Pass £58 option to Manchester

I have never used the service before, but from reading your posts is it simply that their IT systems are not good enough to realise that your personalised ticket is the same as one of their standard ones and by default they charge more for personalised tickets?

Regardless unless you have to book late on peak services, these remain in my view to be poor value and would recommend full Y Inflexible fares with the possibility of SDFC.

If the fare is £58 (whilst more expensive than an (advanced) economy basic fare at £46), the flexibility would be worth it for me as you can not often get the £46 fare one month ahead...

For those tied to standard weekly commuting times (Sun PM/Mon AM-Thurs/Fri PM), they certainly aren’t poor value IME and offer considerable savings, even when buying the book 1 month ahead + packages.

I weekly commute, I rarely Pt more than £100 flying on Friday and back Sunday evenings, better value than £156 in my opinion even if you are only booking a month out at the moment.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a61fc94eb8.png

Perhaps reflects the alternative rail options available from MAN. From DUB I used it for 3 years and saved a fortune, frequently €50+ per return flight.

This is almost certainly correct. I’ve used quite a few flight passes over the last few years and the IT is not great.

if you just want MAN-LHR and return then just book the cheaper one if it looks like good value compared to what you usually pay.

You can only book a return trip each time you use the pass, but it can be in either direction.