What is the best way to purchase a surprise flight without losing money on the original trip?

Q In June 2023 we have a package holiday booked to Sorrento. As a surprise for my husband, I would love to do the following: abandon our planned return flights on 19 June and instead fly east across the Mediterranean to our favourite island, Crete. But flights seem to be thin on the ground and/or very expensive.

Name supplied

A What a lovely idea to make the most of midsummer and add an extra dimension to your holiday in southern Italy. The opportunity to make more of being in the Mediterranean is one that few people on package holidays take up, but in my opinion it is well worthwhile. For example, a holiday on the Portuguese Algarve could easily extend to a journey through the great cities of Andalucia: Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Malaga using buses and trains.

You are planning to go one better: combining southern Italy with the biggest and most beautiful Greek island. The question is how. Sorrento is served by Naples airport, and there are direct buses from Sorrento to the airport as well as the outstanding Circumvesuviana railway. The smart thing to do, though, would be to use the transfer portion included in the package holiday to take you to Naples airport – where you can let the travel firm know that you are heading elsewhere rather than home to the UK. That, of course, requires there to be an alternative flight at an appropriate time on Monday 19 May.

The morning option is early – 9.40am departure – and expensive, at £208 one way. But the trip from Naples via Athens to Heraklion will be on Aegean, a top-notch airline, with a swift 50-minute connection in the Greek capital. You should arrive in Heraklion at 2.05pm, in time for a late lunch.

The evening connection is much cheaper and faster: just £37 one way for the 6.30pm Ryanair flight from Naples to Chania in western Crete. It takes under two hours.

If neither of these suits, that is probably because you are heading for the eastern part of Crete (making an evening arrival in Chania unsuitable) and the morning departure is too early. In that case, I am afraid the best plan is probably to take the homeward bound plane and start your journey to Crete from the UK. All the flight options I can see involve laborious connections in places such as Stuttgart and Milan, at fairly high fares.

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Q I’ve always wanted to visit Egypt but have been concerned about terrorist attacks and general safety. I’ve recently seen an organised tour – three nights in Cairo with a visit to the new Grand Egyptian Museum, and a Nile cruise. I’m really keen to do it. What’s your opinion on how safe it is?

Anne H

A No nation has as deep and rich a history as Egypt, and the rewards of a visit are immense. The cities and archaeological sites along the Nile are extremely rewarding and the people are overwhelmingly friendly. This includes the vast capital, Cairo, and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria (which I hope you might also be able to visit).

Terrorism aimed at tourists in Egypt began three decades ago, with notable attacks at Sharm el-Sheikh, the main Red Sea resort; along the coast at Dahab; and at the Deir el-Bahari site opposite Luxor on the Nile, each with dozens of fatalities.

A threat remains, though a massive security operation has largely prevented further attacks. The Foreign Office warns: “Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Egypt. There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria.”

However, earlier this month the FCDO removed its warning against all but essential travel on the coast road along the Sinai peninsula from the Israeli border to Sharm el-Sheikh. My main concern along this road, or any other, is of the shocking standards of driving in Egypt. If you can travel overland by rail, or fly between major cities, you will be much safer.

The other worry has nothing to do with personal safety: it is about the likely open date of the Grand Egyptian Museum. This spectacular new complex, barely a mile from the Giza pyramids, will hold the world’s largest collection of Egyptian artefacts – including an 80-tonne statue of Ramses II. But the opening is woefully behind schedule, with successive promises from 2018 onwards being broken. Reports in the past couple of days indicate a soft opening of sorts for limited numbers of tour groups, but I would hold out little hope of a general opening before Easter 2023.

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Q Due to delays at baggage reclaim at London Gatwick, we missed a connecting flight to Guernsey. We then had to travel to Southampton, stay overnight and get the first flight out. Am I entitled to compensation from Gatwick airport or the airline?

Steve M

A European air passengers’ rights rules are specific about the traveller’s entitlement to care – and sometimes compensation – when flights are delayed. But they are maddeningly silent about how swiftly baggage should be delivered after a flight. This year many passengers have endured ridiculous waits for luggage. Who’s to blame? Often the airlines and airports say it is down to staff shortage among ground handlers. These are the companies that airlines engage to load and unload bags and provide many other services during an aircraft’s turnaround.

You have a contract with the airline to deliver you and your baggage to your destination. In the case of a really excessive delay that, as in your case, triggers significant costs, you could seek recompense from the airline under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. This law requires a company to exercise “reasonable care and skill” in fulfilling its obligation to you, which includes the performance of any other staff (in this case the ground handlers) that are subcontracted to provide services.

The airport is rarely to blame for the late delivery of luggage, unless the baggage system has failed. You do not have a contract with Gatwick, though in theory, if a system failure was responsible, you may be able to make a claim.

In either case, seeking compensation will be tricky. I infer that you had separate tickets – one to Gatwick, and a second to Guernsey – which sets a potential trap. Clearly you could not leave the arrivals area until the bag had appeared (or it had become clear that the luggage had gone missing). It must have been extremely frustrating to see your plane go without you. Had you booked a through ticket via Gatwick to Guernsey, then responsibility would have rested with the airline(s) involved to get your baggage to the Channel Islands and deliver it to your home.

I recognise, though, that many flights to and from Gatwick are “point to point” on airlines that do not market connecting tickets – partly to save on the extra expense involved when transfers go awry. Back to my traditional mantra: travel with only cabin baggage if you can.

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Q Can I ask how best to fly to Australia with shorter hops, say eight hours per flight, with stays in between? We’re just back from Sydney, seeing our daughter after a four-year gap due to the Covid situation. Awful flights with Qantas from Heathrow both ways. We want to go back but cannot face the usual change of plane in Singapore or Dubai again. Can you suggest an alternative? We cannot afford business class.

Denise D

A The journey between London Heathrow and Sydney is particularly arduous at present with the closure of Ukrainian and Russian airspace – extending the journey to roughly 11,000 miles each way. As you say, the London-Singapore or Dubai-Sydney legs are onerous, at 13-14 hours.

Yet stopping off at both cities – and recreating the traditional two-stop trip to Australia – is easy and (relatively) relaxing. The Emirates 9.10am departure from Heathrow arrives in Dubai at 8pm, a civilised time for some supper and a decent hotel for the night. The airport is close to the city centre, with the Metro taking you straight in within minutes.

Next morning, Emirates has a civilised 10am departure that reaches Singapore at 9.25pm. You could stay out at the airport. Better still, plan a stay for a couple of nights in the city-state to help your body clock readjust (the Hotel Boss is an affordable central option close to an MRT train station on the line from the airport). Singapore Airlines has a 7.05am departure for Sydney. But its well-regarded budget subsidiary, Scoot, has a less-onerous 10.15am flight, which is the one I would choose, for a 9pm arrival in Australia’s largest city.

Flying home using daytime flights is easier because the time zones work with you. Being able to sleep in a proper bed during the stops on your journey turns this into a better-than-business-class proposition, I believe. A good travel agent will create the itinerary that works best for you and, I hope, find an airfare that is competitive with the one-stop options.

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