THOMSON Holidays has reintroduced a £5 fuel supplement on
2005 holidays and rivals are reviewing the situation as oil prices
hit record highs.
Thomson reintroduced the supplement on holiday payments from
Wednesday.
The operator originally started charging an extra £5 on all
sales in June, but the fee was scrapped recently for summer 2005
when holidays were repriced for the second-edition brochures.
But TUI commercial director Derek Jones said fuel prices had
risen so much since brochure repricing six weeks ago the operator
had been forced to bring the supplement back.
He added: “As long as we are overt about it holidaymakers
understand the need for the supplement. People almost prefer it
because they can see there is extra to pay and relate it to paying
more for petrol at Tesco.”
Thomas Cook ditched the fee for summer 2005 at second-edition
launches, but admitted it is reviewing the situation in light of
recent fuel price hikes.
First Choice dropped its supplement, which only applied to this
summer’s sales, and currently has no supplements. Product
director Tim Williamson said its prices were more up to date as
2005 second editions have only just come out, some weeks later than
rivals.
But he added: “We priced brochures three or four weeks ago and
oil has continued to hit record highs so we’ll keep our
options open. We are reviewing our position.”
Airtours Holidays kept the £5 supplement on all forward
bookings, claiming it remained a “variable cost” but the amount
remains under “ongoing review”.
Meanwhile, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic – which
both increased long-haul fuel surcharges this week – have
been attacked by the Flight Centre for not including the charge in
air fares.