I’ve flown with Spanair now enough times to know that I’m not thrilled by their customer service.  But at the end of the day they are still one of the most convenient ways to fly from Germany to Lanzarote, via Madrid, without entering the world of budget or charter flights, which either leave from airports much further away or quite simply cost more.

So when booking flights recently, I still took them into consideration on the grounds that I at least know what I’m getting.

Except that they have now gone to new lengths to persuade me not to do it again, by moving my flight by one whole day!

“Please contact us to help you find an alternative flight, we will be pleased to help you” said the e-mail.  So I did. (more…)

Over the past few months I’ve been reading about the number of visitors travelling to Lanzarote this year – and it appears that they have been dropping.

Why is that?

I have a theory – and it is only partly to do with the economic climate.

Earlier this year, I tried to book flights from Frankfurt to Lanzarote.  This was not easy, as although there were plenty of places available on flights to Spain, the was a distinct lack of places on direct flights between Madrid and Arrecife, with Iberia offering my flights to Las Palmas instead (following by a short island hop on Binter Canarias).  Other options included spending a night on Madrid, or flying via Amsterdam!

So what is my theory?  Well, I am wondering if the lack of visitors is due to the lack of flights.  It is not because people don’t want to go, but because they can’t get there.

I feel that my suspicions were also confirmed by the news that Ryan Air was receiving a 100% discount on airport tax in Arrecife, encouraging them to take up Lanzarote as a new destination.

Did the major airlines decided at the beginning of the year, that people would not want to fly and so cut back the number of flights to the island?  Is that causing the problem?

What do you think?

Last week Ryanair announced that they will start flying to Lanzarote this winter from two airports in Germany.

Starting in October there will two flights per week to and from both Frankfurt-Hahn and Düsseldorf-Weeze, and Ryanair are promising low prices on the routes thanks to a 100% discount on airport tax from AENA, who operate the airport in Arrecife.

There are, however, two big “buts” to consider.  Firstly, the flights are currently only available until the end of March 2010.  Deputy CEO of Ryanair Michael Crawley is quoted as saying that the continuation of flights beyond that point is dependent on that discount being extended.

The other consideration that potential travellers should consider is the location of the airports in Germany.   Düsseldorf-Weeze is 75km from Düsseldorf, and Frankfurt-Hahn is a staggering 126km from Frankfurt itself.  It remains to be seen if the additional expense of getting to those airports outweighs the savings of the flight, or whether tourists will remain loyal to existing carriers.