On holiday, every penny counts.
From parking to pints, airport costs can add up quickly, eating into your holiday budget before you’ve even left the country.
But according to experts, you can save thousands on a long-haul trip if you know one key piece of advice.
According to a new report by Which?, there could be an easy way for a family of four to save at least £1,000 on a trip to Sydney or Tokyo.
Instead of starting your trip at Heathrow or Gatwick, the consumer group recommends finding the cheapest flight you can to Istanbul.
Which? analysed price data from Skyscanner and saw that the average flight from London to Sydney costs £1,012, while Istanbul to Sydney is £653. That’s a difference of £359 per person.
For Tokyo, it was £350 cheaper per person.
Experts at Which? claim they have seen flights to Istanbul from Bristol, Manchester or London for less than £30.
Instead of starting your trip at Heathrow or Gatwick, consumer group Which? recommend finding the cheapest flight you can to Istanbul
The group also compared the price of flying from nine European airports to long-haul destinations such as New York, Los Angeles, Cape Town and Sydney.
On average, across all the destinations, it was £139 per person cheaper to fly from Istanbul than Amsterdam, and £137 per person cheaper than flying from London.
Oslo was the second cheapest airport at £612, then Paris and Stockholm (both £641), Madrid (£672), Copenhagen (£682) and Frankfurt (£705).
But there were big variations, depending on where you’re heading.
Unsurprisingly, Istanbul is not a good choice for westbound flights.
Copenhagen had the cheapest flights to New York (£355) and Oslo had the cheapest flights to LA (£401). Although, unlike if you fly from London, your flight would have to be indirect.
Paris had the cheapest flights to Mexico City.
London is the second most expensive city to fly from, after Amsterdam, for the selection of eight long-haul destinations.
London is an expensive place to start a long-haul trip – if you can, choose these airports instead
It’s nearly £200 per person cheaper to fly from Oslo to Bangkok than from London, £247 cheaper to fly to Tokyo from Stockholm, and £182 cheaper to fly to Cape Town from Oslo (despite it being a lot further away than the UK).
Part of the explanation is tax. The long-haul tax from the UK in economy class is £94.
Taxes from other countries range from zero – Turkey and Sweden – to around £40 from France.
It could also be that high demand for flights from the UK pushes the prices up.
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The airport trick that can save you thousands on long-haul flights
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