There are few things expatriates look forward to more than returning to their native land for a few weeks during the summer.

However, when the credit card bill arrives and the traveller has to pay for the flights, happy smiles can soon be wiped away.

As many airline passengers know, the cost of flying in the summer can be sky high. To use a popular phrase, the operators seem to be making hay while the sun shines.

Gulf News took to the streets to canvass views on the cost of flying from the UAE and ask if companies were justified in putting up fares over the holiday season.

Ajay Walia, a 37-year-old Indian marketing manager, is a regular traveller to his home country and Europe.

"All the airlines are the same in the vacation period they all get together and jack up the prices.

"The number of travellers is greater so they should really reduce prices, but instead they exploit the situation.

"A Mumbai ticket that is normally Dh1,400 or Dh1,500 becomes Dh2,000 if you leave in June and come back in July.

"There is not much the authorities can do about it because it's the choice of the customer to pay the ticket price," he said.

Walia said he had travelled on a budget airline once and had enjoyed the experience, but said he would prefer to use a full-service carrier for a flight of about four hours or more.

"The budget airlines are good for people of a certain class but not for everybody," he said.

Syrian Ali Bakir, 25, who has lived in the UAE for two years, flies back to his native country once a year. He too was unhappy about seasonal price rises.

He said fares can be as much as Dh1,500 in the peak months compared to as little as Dh800 in the off-season.

"They are much more expensive in the summer. They should cut prices because people have to go home to see their parents and family so they have no choice about going," he told Gulf News.

Shop sales assistant Sobir Khayitov, 25, from Uzbekistan, is planning to fly home for a break in about a month's time. He too was unhappy about the higher charges in summer.

"The ticket's very expensive it's about Dh2,100. In winter it's only Dh1,800. It's not fair," he said.

Not everyone however thought it was wrong to charge more over June, July and August when demand peaks.

Samir Nacef, 40, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, travels "very often" between the UK and the UAE on business.

He uses a variety of airlines. He said the cost about Dh3,000 was "reasonable" for a flight of about seven hours.

"They do put up prices from Dubai in the summer, but that is widespread throughout the industry. It is high season so they have to make some money. It's a free market." he said.

However, he added that when compared to flights to other destinations, fares to the UK should be lower.

"It could be cheaper. The United States is about the same distance, but you can buy flights to there for about Dh1,750.

"There is more competition on the transatlantic routes so the prices are lower. If they let more companies run routes to Dubai the fares would come down," he said.

A similar view on the issue of summer price increases was taken by Filipina Anamay Chavez, 29, who has lived in the UAE for four years and travels to Manila annually, usually in July.

"I pay about Dh2,000 for a return flight. They put fares up a lot in the peak season. I don't think it's unfair because it's a business.

"It's supply and demand. It's normal for business people to increase prices when demand is higher. All the airlines do it," she said.

Chavez did, however, add that the price rises were tough for people on lower incomes for whom an increase in price of about Dh500 during the peak season was a lot of money.

Neil Palin, a 45-year-old English businessman who has been a UAE resident for 18 years, flies twice a year once to the United Kingdom and once to another destination on holiday.

"I think you pay more than you should. You can get cheaper flights from the United Kingdom to Dubai than you can from Dubai to the United Kingdom.

"This is unjust because it's the same fuel costs regardless of whether you're flying from London or Dubai," he said.

He has to fly home in the summer since that is the time when his children are off school, but is not angry that ticket costs tend to rise.

"Putting prices up in the summer is pretty much standard. If you fly off season you get some better deals. As a businessman, I understand that," he said.

Englishman Jim Selway, who is 76 and works as an investment consultant, flies about 20 times a year.

Four of his trips each year are to London with many others in the Gulf region.

"I shop around for discounts and I'm very happy. I would prefer it if they didn't put up prices in the summer, but I understand why they do it.

"I have just written to an airline to complain about the complexity of their frequent flier programme.

"It has five different categories of bonus points and you need a degree just to work out the value of bonus points, redemption units and the like you," he said.

Selway said he would be keen to try out budget airlines, but was put off because they usually have just one return flight a day to each destination.

"You need to be able to fly somewhere in the morning, do a day's business, and then fly back in the evening. If they let you do that, I would fly with them an awful lot," he said.

Saba Assadi, 26, from Iran, a fashion designer, flies four times a year twice to the United Kingdom and twice to Iran.

"I think the flights from Dubai to London are good value. If you want to fly from any other city to London, it seems to cost more.

"For example, it costs more to fly from Tehran to London than it does from Dubai to London, even though Tehran is closer to London.

"They seem to put their fares up by about 10 to 15 per cent in the summer. I think they have to put them up as it's high season," she said.

Assadi said she was more annoyed about having to pay airport taxes than she was about seasonal price increases. "Sometimes the ticket is so cheap but the taxes are very expensive," she said.

Her mother Shahrazad Shirkhani, a 48-year-old housewife, said fares to Iran had gone up a lot in the past 12 months.

"It was Dh600 last year but now it's Dh1,000 it has gone up a lot because demand is rising," she said.

Nina Keshavarzi, 34, a teacher from Iran, flies once a year to Tehran. She said for a return flight she normally pays about Dh700.

Keshavarzi said she would like to see no-frills airlines operating to Tehran, but said it would only be a big boost to travellers if they operated several flights a day instead of just one.

"The big airlines might do two or three flights a day so it is easier to travel with them," she said.

"All the airlines are the same in the vacation period they all get together and jack up the prices. The number of travellers is greater so they should really reduce prices, but instead they exploit the situation.

"A Mumbai ticket that is normally Dh1,400 or Dh1,500 becomes Dh2,000 if you leave in June and come back in