It was interesting to read the Sunday Mirror's so-called 'exclusive' on school holiday price rip-offs last weekend, following The Observer 's three-week campaign on the subject.
After a letter from Malcolm Bruce, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on trade and industry, the Office of Fair Trading has declined to investigate the prices of trips taken in the school holidays, which are up to 100 per cent more than in termtime.
OFT chairman John Vickers wrote to Bruce: 'It is an inescapable economic reality that in a market with limited supply, such as the holiday market, price will be higher when demand is higher.'
Vickers said the OFT needed evidence of price fixing or anti-competitive behaviour to look into the matter further.
So here is an appeal to Observer readers. If you have any suspicions about a company's prices, please let us hear about them and we will pass your information to the OFT.
For example, do you have an inkling that two companies on a particular airline route are deliberately agreeing to keep prices high and the supply of seats low, despite big demand in school holidays?
Do you suspect that two rival tour operators offering similar products have agreed between them to offer a limited number of packages so they can hike rates overdramatically? Do you know of a particular company that abuses its position? Perhaps it is a vir tual monopoly and charges what it likes?
Talking informally, some people in the travel industry admit that, yes, they do make a killing in the school holidays by charging more than is ethical.
But companies are tempted to be greedy by the fact that the Government locks most of the country into similar school holiday dates. This means that demand for holidays at half-term, for instance, far outweighs the number available.
If you are really sick of being ripped off, write a letter to your local MP calling for a staggered holiday calendar, like the one in France.
That country is split into three zones, and the school holidays differ between the three so that the whole nation isn't on the ski slopes or heading for the sun in the same half-term week. Which is better for congestion as well as people's pockets.
For instance, if England was split into three zones, it is unlikely that you would have children in different schools with different holidays (that is unless you send one child to school in Durham and another in Bristol).
Please let us know of any holiday companies which are really family-friendly. We're not talking about offering a kids' club or fish fingers on the menu - we mean firms that offer both families and non-family customers a fair deal.
Meanwhile, Bruce is compiling evidence from his Scottish constituents in Gordon to pass to the OFT and working with the Consumers' Association to encourage better practice.
Contact Escape, The Observer , 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER.
What about when the oil runs out?
Forget holidaying on the Moon. That's so old hat in the world of holiday crystal-ball gazing. The most recent predictions from the travel industry say we'll be taking mini-breaks to Rio and Cape Town for under £100.
Apparently, a new generation of supersonic planes that will be flying by 2024 will get us to the other side of the globe fast at very little expense.
Sorry to be the party pooper here, but isn't it predicted that oil will run out in the next 30 years, consigning plane travel to the dustbin? Unlike cars and other travel methods, no alternative fuel has been developed for planes.
The cheap breaks idea sounds like a lot of wishful thinking to me. The prediction comes from the Future Forum, a panel of 'experts' gathered by the UK's biggest tour operator Thomson.
You'd hardly find the travel industry talking itself out of a job. But if you take the worst-case scenario of aviation fuel running out, our children can expect only a few long-haul trips and the UK's holiday delights will become de rigueur.
