Lack of flights from up north

[magpie10]

I live in Newcastle so I always have the same problem, and though I don't mind flying from other airports when a direct route isn't available, I'm not happy when there is a direct route but no flights are available on the day I'm travelling.

I booked my holiday to Barcelona last November so I could fly from my local airport as Easyjet offer 5 flights a week from here, the flight being only 2 1/2 hours each way. I booked my holiday and was advised there were seats available for me to fly from Newcastle to Barcelona - no problem, though the flight times weren't yet available. Once I'd put the phone down I decided to look on Easyjet's site to see if they had any flight times, only to discover they didn't seem to have any flight at all on the day I was meant to be travelling. I thought Just You must know what they're doing so I'll just leave it - only to get a call in January saying that Easyjet had decided not to do the flight on that day anymore (even though they weren't in the first place!) and I had to fly via Heathrow. I wasn't overly happy about this but agreed to do it as it didn't involve any overnight stays in hotels, and added expense for me. As a result I spent two days getting to and from Newcastle to Barcelona via Heathrow.

I'm now looking at booking a holiday for November and wanted to go to Costa de la Luz but I'd have to go via Gatwick with a 7 1/2 hour delay on the way out, then I noticed Treasures of Andalucia flying on Thursday 8th November with Easyjet - but when I check on Easyjet's site, there's no flight available for this day either! So does this mean if I'd booked this holiday I'd be getting another phone call from Just You about 2 months before departure, advising me Easyjet have cancelled the flight so I'm now flying via Timbuktu (Heathrow/Gatwick) to get there instead when there's no flight in the first place! I'm just wondering how common this problem is? Not that I'm being cynical at all. I'd just advise anyone to double check they can definately get the flights advertised, BEFORE they book their holiday.