Budget Flights eg. Easyjet et al.
 

I was hoping to book a budget flight from Paris to London & London to Venice on Easyjet or similar. However, I've been told that as I'm not an EU citizen, and am living in Australia, that this isn't legal. I was hoping to book it all online. Does anyone have the inside line on all of this? Is there a way around it?

I had no problem booking a Ryanair flight while living in Canada. I know other people have booked EasyJet while living in the US or Canada. All have flown without incident. I can't imagine why you are having a legal problem. What happens if you just go online, find the flight, and try to book it?

It looks like I can buy the ticket online without hassles. It's just that I've been told by "someone who (maybe) knows" that they check your passport and that they know that you can't have bought the ticket whilst in the EU, therefore it's not legal for some inexplicable reason.

I haven't travelled in Europe before, so I'm quite the novice. They could tell me that you have to be a capricorn with a peg leg to be eligable to buy these flights and I'd still have to check it out! I did ask someone else and they said that it only applies to buying your return leg home from Europe, i.e. buying a one way ticket then getting your home leg through an online European dealer while still at home, as their flights are cheaper than we can get here.

Does that make sense!? I'm so confused. Better go eat some chocolate.

The information you received is simply untrue. I have friends and family from the U.S. that have come to visit and flown Easyjet and Ryanair with no problems. Furthermore, I am an American living in Europe and when I show my passport at check-in they have never questioned me.

It is utter nonsense. Not a word of it is true.

As Sheila says, it's nonesense to suggest only EU citizens can book trips on budget airlines. Anyone can, with a credit or debit card. They don't issue paper tickets either, so all you need is your passport and reservation number (print out the page or take an email copy) for check-in.

You might want to look at www.openjet.com which is a European airline web site for budget flights within Europe. It has a lot of the budget lines like Easyjet but doesn't have Ryanair. At least it's convenient for searching.

That absurd comment is just about as crazy as saying that if you get off a train in France, they will immediately deport you back to Australia, or maybe that if in Italy you mispronounce "grazie", they will slap you in jail!

How do these crazy ideas get started?

Sometimes it's not illegal, just impossible, to buy intra-Europe air tickets on line from outside Europe. Last week I tried to book a British Airways flight originating in London, and when I got to the payment screens I found I couldn't use my US-issued credit card to book the flight. Only UK-issued credit cards work on the BA UK website, or on Opodo.com (the &quot;Orbitz&quot; of Europe, owned in part by BA). The BA US website, where the card does work, only allows on-line booking for flights <i>originating in the US</i>. I had to phone BA to make the booking, and I was charged a dollar rate for the flights that was considerably worse than the Sterling rate (after conversion) shown on the BA UK website. (Expedia et al showed the same dollar price, which had an equivalent exchange rate of &pound;1 = US$1.98.) I bitched about it to the US sales rep and was politely told that's tough.

By comparison, I booked seats with EasyJet for a separate intra-Europe flight and it went through like greased goose.

So by no means illegal, just a pain in the pocket sometimes.

Hi Bellbird,
Whoever told you that is very missinformed. I am booked on easyjet from London to Venice 1st April. I have done this to Italy before and also on Ryanair to Ireland, no problem, and I am South African, living in Cape Town.
Stop worrying and book that flight before they sell out.
I hope you have a wonderful trip :-)