The end of 2017 is looming and I really want to get my bum on the plane seat for the JY tour to Nepal in November 2018. What is preventing me from doing this is huge uncertainty about being able to do the Everest Flight independently as it is no longer an optional excursion.

From what I've read on the forum is, that once in Nepal, the TM can take your request to be put in touch with a local agent to arrange the flight with the likely need to juggle the itinerary. This just seems a bit too uncertain for my liking. What if they say nah it cant be arranged?!

I'm desperate for some help. Is there any way therefore you could convey to a potential TM well in advance that there is an expectation they will be asked to help put customers in touch with the local agent to arrange the flight? This would mean the TM would have the advance warning, be able to think things through and not have the matter sprung on them.

Also, is there any way that contact can be made with all the customers on the tour advising that another customer on the tour (i.e. me) wants to do the Everest Flight and this could be arranged independently if they too want to do the flight (with JY disclaiming any connection to it if it makes you feel better). Once again, less stress when on holiday by not having the offer sprung on folks giving them time to think about it plus people would be allowed to budget for it in advance.

I know all this seems pretty selfish on my part but once again, from my reading on the forum, the take up of the independently arranged flight seems particularly high and enjoyed by all that do it. Oh, and I do appreciate it is weather permitting.

Any help JY can give would be hugely appreciated and I look forward to hearing from you on your thoughts.  What do others think - am I asking too much of JY?  Perhaps I am.

Angie

PS I would intend doing the add-on

I have spoken to the relevant Product Manager for this tour who has informed me that you will have to arrange the Everest flight independently.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Best wishes,

Bob

If customers do still wish to participate in this quite risky excursion then there will be some  local excursion operators in resort who will be able to arrange this for you, This will however entail a very early start on the day of your flight and it may be that you would have to miss part of the included itinerary of the tour as we are unable to amend the itinerary to fit in with the customers doing an Everest flight.

James

I can almost see my screen steaming with your frustration re this flight no longer being offered as an official excursion and the answers you are being given.

 If you re read my initial review of my March 2017 departure I very carefully made no mention of the fact I had been able to do this in order not to raise any hopes/expectations for future departures. Unfortunately a fellow guest who had not done the add on came back and reported on another thread that they had done the flight and so then I got into a discussion with Bob!

When I booked my holiday circa April 2016 for March 2017 the excursion was on offer ( The tour details matched those of the pre earthquake departures). I rarely book excursions until nearly the last opportunity in the UK or sometimes in resort, wasn't at the time 100% sure that I really wanted to do it and so I did not book it.  Shortly after I had paid my balance I received a letter from JY telling me the excursion was no longer available. Decision made for me so I went to Nepal believing I wouldn't be seeing Everest and in retrospect that was the best way.  I would have been far more disappointed if I had gone expecting to see Everest and then the weather refused to cooperate!  On the eve of the long uphill walk in the Kathmandu valley it was mentioned that the weather might be cooperative enough to permit a flight if anyone wanted to do it, on my departure most did and the rest was history. I obviously cannot speak for numbers on other departures.

I am obviously not privy to why the flight has been dropped. It may be insufficient numbers on the earliest departures.  As you fly on the same tiny planes with the same  airline back from Pokara to Kathmandu I don't believe it is 100% H&S as some have suggested. I think it may have much more to do with the difficulties in getting out of and around Kathmandu due to traffic congestion and infrastructure works unless you start at the crack of dawn and doing this excursion means a mid morning start for the included activities and a very late lunch.

Was it the highlight of my holiday ? Actually I dont think it was and I'm not sure I would have felt deprived if I hadn't done it . It was nice to do, don't get me wrong. Its not everyday you can fly Yeti, see Everest and drink champagne before breakfast and get a certificate to prove you did it . I was on the wrong side of the plane going out for the best views but I think I enjoyed my commercial window seat views of the Andes on my recent Chile trip more.  Everest itself - as it is surrounded by peaks nearly as high as it, didnt seem quite so iconic as say Mt Fuji or Orsino in Chile. My highlight was actually the adhoc excursion to view the sunrise over the Annapurna's - That truly was magical and I would be pressing my TM to offer that.

Glad you are considering the add on-, very laidback and the adhoc walks here were some of the nicest of the trip where you really do get to meet the people

 I obviously can't influence your decision but don't write off Nepal just because JY no longer offer the excursion, you may be lucky.  Alternatively look at TS Bhutan - you get Kathmandu plus Everest twice but without the champagne.

Trish

Hope you don't mind, I am going to make a few comments about the Everest sightseeing flight.

A friend and I did this sightseeing flight alongside Everest in March 2010. We were on a TS tour. Yes, we enjoyed it. All the group did it and we were in a 22 seater Buddha Air plane, the plane being full with TS travellers. We all had long maps placed in front of us with the Everest range on so that we could identify the mountains, in truth we only knew which was Everest when the cabin crew (just one lady) came and pointed it out to us all individually as she walked through the cabin.

I could hardly believe it the following year one of these planes crashed, killing everyone. There was a full page report on it in the local free paper (Metro). The plane was the same type as ours. I have just googled it to make sure I had the date of the crash correct. So in some ways I can understand JY.

http://aviaclubnepal.com . possible opportunity for you. These flights were better than the Everest flight, fun but a bit scary, we were even allowed to take control of the yellow plane (sort of anyway).

I loved Nepal, have been back since and would like to go again because I haven't been to Chitwan. On my 2nd trip with a different company we went overland to Nepal from India and went to Bardia Natiional park in the western part.

All the best

Di

I really appreciate you taking, which would've been quite a bit of your own time, to let me know your thoughts, being someone who has done this tour. It has given me some valuable food for thought and I thank you again.

Angie

Is there any way this thread can be removed editor?  I just want to forget I even asked.

Many thanks for your post - I appreciate it.  It is somewhat reassuring to hear that the Everest flight wasn't the highlight of your holiday.  And having just returned from Chile, I agree the views of the Andes were utterly spectacular and it would be very hard to beat that!  I was lucky enough to have window seats on a couple of the flights and took enough decent photos to put a few into my album - family and friends cannot believe I took them through a plane window!  Osorno is indeed a spectacular snow-capped mountain.

Your other comment, in the light of what James has said, is very enlightening.  If JY use the same airline and planes for the connecting flights, then why the problem with the Everest flight?  The health and safety justification doesn't stand up!  Anyhow, Nepal isn't top of my wish list just at the moment (although it is certainly on it) but I do feel for Angie who clearly wants to do this tour very much and isn't receiving much to encourage her from the powers that be.

All the best,

Bob

I am very pleased to hear that you enjoyed the Nepal trip so much and that you have taken the time to share your experiences with fellow travellers.

I would like to assure all customers that the reason for the withdrawal of the Everest flights is 100% due to health and safety and from a commercial and financial viewpoint there would be an advantage in offering this excursion to our customers but the risk far outweighs the benefits.

It is not the safety record of Yeti Airways of whom we also use for the internal flights on this tour from Pokara to Katmandu, It is more due to the fact that fog and mist that can quickly descend upon Mt Everest very quickly sometimes visibility can drop from thousands of metres to just being able to see a hand in front of you. It is during these situations that the last 3 tragic air crashes have happened in Nepal on the Everest sightseeing flights.

If as a company we was to sell customers one of these flights and we were unfortunate enough to be involved in one of these incidents as the supplier of the excursion Just You would be liable to any claims and legal actions from the affected families which could run into many millions of pounds worth of claims.

So for this reason our Executive management team are not prepared to put the long term future of the business at risk for what is known to be a possible hazardous excursion involving conditions that we have no direct control over.

I do hope this has explained our position on this matter a little further and we are aware that some tour operators do still continue to sell this excursion directly to their customers, but as a responsible tour operator it is not something that we are prepared to do.

James

Thanks for your reply.  I now understand where the company is coming from on this issue.  However, were I to do this tour I would hope that we would have the option and the time available to do the flight independently.  

Best wishes,

Bob

Regards

Jaya

Trish

Nice to hear from you. Like Trish, thank you for taking the time to also give me your thoughts - it is appreciated. Your Chile trip will not be long now, lucky you.

I also appreciate James giving more detail. I don't think my family would sue if anything happened to me knowing it was my choice but working in insurance myself, I know where you are coming from. Like Bob, I would still, however, like to be given the chance. 

Any way, I've sat down tonight and thought about things and I think I'm going to book this trip - unless I change my mind again! I can always ask the chap who will give us a talk on summiting Everest how he got there :-)

This will be my main travel holiday this year. I'm on a cruise in July taking in Portugal, Gibraltar, Spain ... and Ceuta, a Spanish enclave to what should be part of Morocco. Quite sedate compared to flights around Nepal but its with my family so I'm looking forward to it.

Dina I will have a look at the website you suggest. It sounds like a lot of fun. It reminds me when I done a light aircraft trip where I live. The pilot done a loop the loop and some other fancy manoeuvres ... boy was I ill!

All the best,

Angie

It was actually a tiny little Nepalese lady who spoke to my group about climing the "mountain" and she certainly was one of the most inspirational speakers I have heard in a very long time

Regards

Trish

Am getting excited about my Chile trip next month, my appetite has been whetted by loads of photos which have been emailed to me by a couple of people on the nov. tour.

 I hope that you enjoy your family holiday but getting back to Nepal, We only stayed one night I think in Dhulikhel but I remember it being really beautiful with individual lodges set on the mountain side. If I were to book this walking tour I would love to do the add-on to Dhulihkel. 

See you have changed your profile picture, what was wrong with the wreath on your head (just joking).

Kind regards 

Di

Thank you for posting my response to Angie

Just thinking of JY with health and safety, I remember my first JY trip back in 2005 to India. I was a bit disappointed at the time because we had expected to ascend the Amber Fort by elephant, but we were only allowed to go by jeep. Our TM Gary Desimones said that in a risk assessment the elephant ride had only been given 4 out of 10 for safety. The previous year apparently an elephant had rampaged and killed a tourist. Hence elephant rides banned.

Talking of India I have spotted a young lady called Jules in a photo taken by the Taj Mahal in a beautiful new brochure which landed in my porch a couple of hours ago. Positive start for the New Year with this brochure and all the guarantees. Now do I book the Natural Wonders of Ecuador and the Galapgos before its fully booked, decisions, decisions (but good to be able to think I can do it).

Kind regards

Di

I think I may have annoyed folks at JY with my harping on about the "E" flight so I've changed my identity! I have put the "E" flight totally out of my mind and I'll just concentrate on looking forward to and ultimately enjoying this holiday. If I'm privileged to live into my dotage I'll visit Kathmandu, do the flight and if it crashes then it's a good way to sign out!

Thats great Trish - a Nepalese lady - wonderful. How bad was that of me to presume it would be a chap!

Angie