Open Jaw confusion--is there a website?
 

I don't typically plan complicated trips so I'm wondering if there is a web site that could help me to find airlines (within Europe) to plan something a little more complicated without actually purchasing the tickets from that site. I prefer to purchase directly from the airlines.

I'm looking for those smaller airlines that might fly between Istanbul and Prague and /or Istanbul to Rhodes and /or Rhodes to London. Perhaps I need to purchase an open jaw between Albuquerque and London return through Paris and separate flights to those other places. I haven't used a travel agent in over a decade.

For the information about "open-jaw" look on any online agency website for "multi-city" flights. For the European budget airlines look on whichbudget.com

Thank you MmePerdu~

You can go to the specific airports you're interested in, check the timetables for arrivals or departures.

From there you can find the airlines that serve these airports. It's a tried and true methodology, but you have to actually do the work yourself.

I'm sure whichbudget is fine, but I would trust my own findings before I take the advice of a website.

Which Budget just points you to the websites of the airlines that fly from A to B. You buy from the airline, not from Which Budget. Nothing tricky going on, pure information. VERY useful.

It doesn't have to be budget, by the way. Are there websites for regular flights? The comment about going to the specific airports ~~~ tried and true? I'm not following you...how can I do that without flying there?

Justine, I think he means go the websites of the airports in places that interest you but I should let him explain.

The website I mention is useful because more airports exist than the main ones for major cities and also there are cities that have airports that we might not otherwise be aware of. For instance, the main airports for London, Heathrow and Gatwick everyone knows. But there are 3 more airports, City, Luton and Stansted, the latter 2 of which are used by the "budget" airlines that fly to secondary airports all over as well as smaller cities that may be more convenient than those in big cities. That's a big reason why whichbudget.com is valuable. As you search it gives you this information, not just because the flights are cheaper. In some cases they aren't. But convenience is worth a lot, not just in terms of money saved but time and effort.

I see. Thank you again MmePerdu~~great advice! While I have your attention about European budget or smaller airlines that are unknown to me ~~ my concerns about them are that there are lots of extra charges that aren't known until one checks in and that they might not be dependable. is that true or am I misinformed?

I've found the budget airlines to be more reliable than the big carriers. They make their money by turning around quickly so seem to be less prone to delays. I wouldn't worry about that.

There are extra charges but the only one that you may not be aware of as you book is the charge for overweight bags. The weight limits are 15 or 20 kilos for standard checked bags and you have control over the weight of your bag. Traveling light has many rewards including, but not limited to, not being charged extra. Since I do pack within the limits I haven't paid a lot of attention to the variables but it's all on the websites. Check or uncheck boxes for extras such as insurance, pay ahead for heavier bags, pay in advance for checking bags rather than paying at the airport, etc. etc. It's all there. You might have a good look before you book, if you are thinking of booking.

One more thing, a personal prejudice. I will not fly on Ryanair. They go lots of places from lots of places but they have been the airline pushing the envelope where abuse of passengers is concerned. My experience, my opinion. If they are the only option to get to a destination I just won't go. That simple. The owner/founder of the airline seems to consider himself quite the operator and I suppose if success of a venture is the only measure he's a success. I, however, won't contribute to it. I will fly any of the others. Rant over.

For flights within Europe, open jaw really isn't all that relevant.

There are MANY discount and legacy airlines that fly hundreds of routes in Europe and book on a one-way basis (sort of like Southwest does in the States)

Open jaw/multi-city really applies for your flights TO/FROM Europe. Say SFO to London and then Rome back home to SFO - that is open jaw.

But to get around w/i Europe you can just book flights between any two airports. Say you'll be in Munich and want to go next to Barcelona, you can go to the Munich airport website and click 'destinations' or something similar and it will show which airline(s) fly that route. That will not generally be open jaw but just a simple one-way ticket. Just like buying a train or bus city-to-city ticket.

whichbudget is also helpful for finding that sort of thing.

skyscanner.com will show other flights along with budget flights.

Ms Perdu,

You would then like this site... http://www.ihateryanair.org/

I fly Ryanair almost every month at the moment, because they fly to an airport which is nearest to where I need to get to. I have not experienced any abuse, on the contrary, when a flight was delayed by 5 hours (due to heavy snowfall which resulted in the runway being closed), Ryanair allowed the passengers off the flight and back into departures and paid a small amount towards food/drink.

They also had a plane and crew flown in from the UK to take us back, since they had to reschedule our original plane & crew + their others flights as well. Of all the flights scheduled to depart from that airport, Ryanair got all their flights away but other airlines cancelled and had to overnght their passengers. Ryanair laid on a bus for another flight so it could depart from another airport which was about 100km away. When I looked at my emails, I received an email with the delay details in case I could claim from travel insurance for flight delay plus a small amount refunded to my credit card.

Years ago I flew to Malmo on Ryanair and the return flight was delayed due to fog at the destination. Ryanair diverted the flight to another airport and put on a bus to take passengers back to the original airport.

And I never travel light either, IMO it's a fallacy. I pay for a checked bag on Ryanair and the beauty of it is that I don' have to lug a bag onto a flight and fight for space in the overhead compartment. In Europe carry-on is not such a problem as flights within the US or to/from the US where everyone thinks carry-on is the way to go. Therefore there isn't room in the overhead nor in the aisle and even before you get on the plane, you have to stand behind people with their carry-on going thru security. I've seen near fights break out when one person didnt allow another to put their stuff in the overhead as they were "reserving" the space for their husbands stuff and another when someone tried to cram in their overhead into an already full space and almost damaged someone else's stuff in the meantime. Alot of the airports Ryanair fly to are really small so your luggage has arrived almost before you get thru immigration.

If the OP is looking for timetable information, there are better sites than airport websites to check this info. For example:

http://www.amadeus.net and click on timetables from the air dropdown menu

OAG website will be the best info as this is the official airlines guide but you might have to pay to get the info.

www.oag-flights.com/en/

Thanks Rastaguy! The airline we love to hate. Well, not everyone.

I need to fly from Ireland to the UK. I'm paying more for an Aer Lingus flight than Ryanair.

I wouldn't touch that airline for the world.

Odin, consider yourself lucky..

Thanks everyone~~ it's been very helpful.

Although it doesn't display airlines that don't list with the major GDSs (i.e. most LCCs) ITA is the gold standard for scanning prices and service options. It's <i>very</i> worth your while to learn the basics of ITA's "route syntax" where you can specify multiple to/from points, airlines to include or ignore, do 30-day low-fare searches, and numerous other tasks. You don't purchase anything from ITA; when you see something that works, go to the airlines listed or to an online TA like Expedia, and you can usually replicate the route and price with no problem.

ITA is the "engine" that sits behind such sites as Orbitz and Kayak, as well as a number of individual airlines' sites. It's a very powerful tool.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

JustineA -- nobody has mentioned it specifically, but apparently some of the secondary airports that the "budget" airlines fly into are not very conveniently located, and transportation to and from these airports may be a hassle. I guess you need to keep that in mind.