|
Budget
Flights
Romancing in Paris, sunning yourself on a beach in Malaga or Alicante,
taking in the historic wonder of Prague or off for a few pints
of the black stuff in Dublin. With so many fantastic destinations
less than a couple of hours away, there is no excuse for not exploring
all these lovely places. Budget flight prices have made these
cities more accessible to more people. Cheap flights are easy
to find within Europe with the arrival of the budget airline phenomenon.
Europe has become a lot smaller for everyone. With all of these
airlines battling for your custom, this can only be good news
for you, the customer. Airline tickets being offered for 1p where
you only pay the taxes, are now common place. This means that
you can travel to some of the most beautiful cities in Europe
for less money than it costs for a return rail trip to some cities
in the UK. While travel agents can book some of these inexpensive
flights for you, it's best to do it yourself (via the Internet
or phone and credit card). To get the lowest fares, book long
in advance. Cheap seats sell out fast, leaving the pricier seats
for latecomers. A good website to find cheap flight is Skyscanner,
the website compare prices on cheap flights with the major budget
airlines in Europe
Some of the more established budget airline are Virgin
Express, www.virgin-express.com), Ryanair
(www.ryanair.com), easyJet
(www.easyjet.com), and Buzz
(www.buzzaway.com). To give you an idea of the price flying with
a budget airline, flying one way from London to Madrid could cost
€30 - €70 (including tax) depending on when or which
London airport you are flying from. A one way from Amsterdam to
Rome could cost €40 - €75 again depending on when and
where you are flying.
You'll find the best deals flying out of an airline's hub. But
keep in mind that budget flights sometimes use obscure airports.
For example, Ryanair's England hub is Stansted Airport, the farthest
of London's airports from the city center. Ryanair's flights to
Frankfurt actually take you to Hahn, 62 miles away, and their
service to Copenhagen, Denmark, lands you in a different (though
nearby) country: Malmö, Sweden. These are still safe and
legal airstrips, but it can take money and time to reach them
by public transportation
With cheaper airfares come new pitfalls. These budget tickets
are usually non-refundable and non-changeable. Some airlines take
only online bookings, so it can be hard to track down a person
to talk to if problems arise.
When exploring low-cost airlines, be creative. For example, let's
say you need to get from Amsterdam to Rome. After a quick search
you may not find quite the flight you need, but you discover that
Virgin Express flies to Rome from Brussels for €75. It makes
good travel sense to take a 2.5-hour train ride from Amsterdam
to Brussels to catch the 2.5-hour flight to Rome. The train from
Amsterdam to Rome would have wasted 20 hours of your valuable
vacation time, and cost you $250 ($230 second-class fare + $20
for an overnight berth). The train-plus-flight connection gets
you there in a third the time (including transfers) for less than
half the price.
All of these low-cost European airlines offer one-way flights
without a cost increase or penalty. Consider linking cheap flights,
either with the same or different airlines. If you're traveling
from Barcelona to Copenhagen but can't find a direct flight, fly
from Barcelona to Brussels and then Brussels to Copenhagen. On
Virgin Express, you can leave Barcelona after breakfast and get
to Copenhagen by dinnertime for under €100.
Consolidators and Bucket Shops
Airline ticket wholesalers are known as "consolidators."
Sometimes you will also hear them referred to as "bucket
shops." This is especially so in England and other countries
of the British Commonwealth. London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Athens
have bucket shops that sell plane tickets at super-discounted
prices. If your travel plans fit the tickets available and you're
flexible enough to absorb delays, these can be a great deal. The
budget travel guidebook, "Let's Go: Europe," lists a
few of the bigger bucket shops. Your hometown library should have
a London newspaper; look in the classifieds under "Travel"
to see what's available. Tickets from London to the Mediterranean
can be incredibly - and reliably - cheap. Athens also has some
great buys on tickets to London, Western Europe, and the Middle
East.
|
