CHEAP
AIRFARES TO EUROPE
Bargain Air Fare Search
Finding discount airfares to and around Europe requires some comparison shopping. Travel sites often offer the same seats at about the same price, sometimes the airline offers the best deal, but there are some unique discount airlines to consider.
FINDING BUDGET AIRFARES
Looking
for a budget airline flight in Europe. UK based Skyscanner is
the tracker of Europe's discount airlines.
Condor and German
Wings are
German based low cost airline alternatives to Ryanairand EasyJet.
Condor offers the advantage over the more well known discount airlines
of flying into major airports at Lufthansa gates. LTU is
another airline familiar to Germans as a long haul tourist airline
and has new discount flights from the US to Germany, connecting with Air
Berlin for flights throughout Europe. bmi through
is the second largest airline to Heathrow and flies direct to Manchester.
BEWARE RYANAIR AND OTHER DISCOUNT FARES
Tickets might be cheap but watch out for baggage charges
With RyanAir or EasyJet, If you're trying to fly legs between two different cities, they don't each go to the same ones, so you might have to switch around choosing a "low cost" airline option. And as outlined below consider baggage fees. RyanAir charges a fee for a checked bag from £15 up to £140 per checked bag but a maximum of 15 kilos per passenger and a limit of 10 kilos of carry-on which must be only one item. Over 15 kilos they charge an additional £20.00 per kilo! EasyJet allows 20 kilos per person and charges for all checked bags. Easyjet only allows one carry-on item, whether that's a purse, a briefcase or a bag. And in Europe, when trhey say one bag, they mean one item in your hand!
While larger carriers like BA are getting competitive with some discount fare categories, Discount Euro air carriers like RyanAir, EasyJet and Condor can be an inexpensive way to get around Europe if you want to get just that much extra out of your European journey, but less attractive if you have luggage to take with you. Some cautions to consider if planning a discount airline flight. While often the cheapest airfare price, RyanAir can become quite expensive if you have a checked bag or overweight bag and carry-on bag dimensions allowed have become stricter. Airlines like RyanAir and EasyJet require check-in and printing your boarding pass online, and charge a hefty fee to print a board pass at the airport.
There are things to take into consideration when making your clever
budget airline plans. These airlines utilize secondary airports which
are often farther away from the city than the primary terminals. So should
you be planning to transfer from a major airline like United or British
Airways, you will have to transfer from one airport to another which
can take a few hours and cost twice as much as your bargain discount
airfare. And on arrival in your destination, a long expensive cab or
train ride to the city of your dreams. So think about the additional
transportation costs when making plans.
One tip: pick your ports. With a trip to Milan a choice of flying into
Bergamo, the closet airport available or Brescia, about an extra 20
kilometers away. The waiting line to board the Bergamo flight is 60
people deep, all complaining about their extra baggage charges, the
gate to Brescia has two lonely souls waiting. Arrive early, and plan
on a four hour transfer across town from Heathrow. And check the baggage
rules before you buy a ticket. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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