Hello, it's Sunday the 17th of October and thanks to joining me, Simon Calder, for the latest on travel and destinations from the Green List and the travel desk of the Independent, currently still located somewhere in the Middle East. Today I want to talk about the airline flight schedule changes coming up two weeks today.

What's happening and why?

Of course, this podcast is completely free, as is my weekly travel email.

Do feel free to sign up at independent.co.uk forward slash newsletters.

I get asked every year at around this time, help. I'm hoping to travel to X, Y and Z. And I can get a flight out there, no trouble at all very cheaply in the

last week of October, but coming back, I can't find anything. What am I going to do?

And I've actually been in the very difficult position myself, going out to Spain, to my Yorker,

actually, to see the last ever Club 1830 holiday. And I went out and uh reported on it there and then i had to find

some way back and ended up paying for several hundred pounds to get the last seat on the last

plane anyway what is happening is that it's the end of the official iata summer season what does that mean well

the international air transport association deems the world to have two seasons winter and summer

and they change generally at the same time as the clock.

So it's the last Sunday in October coming up and then the last Sunday in March.

And that means that actually summer is a little bit longer than winter, which is probably a good thing.

It is in my world and it coincides with the clock change and so it makes

sense if you're going to be messing around with the schedules, you might as well get it all done at

the same time but of course some places don't change times and other places have really odd time

changes. Yes, I'm looking at you America now when the season changes you get a very

very different kind of schedule typically summer schedules and I'm looking here

particularly in Europe are all to do with having a very good range of flights

going to all over the Mediterranean typically.

But by the time you get to the end of October, that is really it.

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