Travel Tales

Rugby nuts were booking flights on the web as soon as details of the France-Ireland match in next year’s 6 Nations tournament, in Paris on February 13th, was announced on Thursday.

One friend got on to the Aer Lingus site at 1.20pm, shortly after the timing of the match was released, and booked three return flights to Paris for about €640, or €213 each.

The seats – leaving Dublin on February 11th and returning on St Valentine’s Day – rose in price to €253 within minutes. Then, at 2pm, all availability disappeared not only for those dates but for dates on either side as well.

Did the seats sell out that fast? Or was there another reason why the flights seemed to have been blocked out?

We asked Aer Lingus on Thursday evening, but by the time we went to press yesterday afternoon its public relations department had not come up with an answer.

Aerlingus.com had flights to Paris for the rugby international again when we checked yesterday, but at the significantly higher price of €373 (or €353 if you didn’t mind leaving before dawn) – €160 more than Thursday’s best price.

Another canny friend booked with easyJet from Belfast, travelling on the same dates, for £91.99 (€102) – great value – although by yesterday afternoon the price of remaining seats had doubled.

Air France’s seats for those dates were selling yesterday at €422.56 return.

At this rate, it might be worth waiting to see if it’s better value to find a cheap flight to London, then catch the Eurostar to Paris.