"PSmith" paulDOTsmith_UK@tiscaliDOTcoDOTuk wrote in
:

Outside of school holidays, I would wait for the operators to announce
the last minute deals (often released 6 weeks before departure).

Personally, I have booked flights (£700: LHR to GVA via FRA) and a
(small) apartment (£500) for Zermatt for the February half term. Great
deal for a family of four! Mind you, I booked it last April! I am
hoping that Lufthansa wont impose surcharges! It's worth pointing out
that some resorts (Zermatt included) offer free lift passes for young
children. I don't believe French resorts are so generous?


We normally wait till last minute too (family of 6) and have picked up some
great half-board Christmas deals in the past for around £400 per person
package.

This year we're going away New Year and it's more expensive (almost as
expeensive as half term). But we found some good flight-only prices on
Inghams' website - MAN-INN for £184 return. And we found a 3* hotel in the
Stubai for around 3000 euros for the family. All-in we're talking about
£550 per person which is more than we'd like to pay but still cheaper than
packages we could find. Always hard when there's 6 of you. Many last-
minute deals seem to be when hotels only have one or two rooms available.