Can someone help me understand how the small discount European airlines work?
 

I looked at a flight on www.whichbudget.com from Budapest to Krakow and it looks like I can get there, but I have to fly back to Dublin or London 1st. Is that correct? If thats the only way I can take advantage of a low fare airline, then I'm out of luck, because I definitely can't waste a day doing that! I'll bend over backwards to get a good travel deal, but this is nuts. Am I just not understanding the info correctly? Thanks in advance.

Keep in mind that if you do take two flights, they will not be connected in any way, so that if you are delayed with the first one, you will totally lose out on the second one.

What you could do is go from Budapest to Vienna by train as part of your trip, and enjoy Vienna for a while, and then fly from Vienna to Krakow on SkyEurope.

Thanks for the quick reply. If we took SkyEurope, we wouldn't have to backtrack?

I'm not sure of your entire itinerary, so I'm not sure what you are asking. But Vienna to Krakow would only be one flight.

Whichbudget only lists budget airlines. Many times non-budget European airlines have competitive prices on these routes also. Try some other Europe based booking sites such as www.opodo.co.uk.

Try this site which will tell you if direct flights are available:

http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

bookmarking

They work by buying the oldest, most dilapidated fleet possible (eg rejects from Cubana), employing eastern europeans who will happily work for about 25p per hour, and by flying to some obscure airport 140km from the place you actually want to go.

Tomorrow I will be explaining how the internal combustion engine works. 8-)

That's not my experience with budget carriers. I took 3 of them on our recent trip: EasyJet, Germanwings, Blue Air. None fit those criteria. All were quite good-looking Boeing 737s and some sort of Airbus jets. On previous trips, the planes have been in good condition as well.

They may well be now - years down the line - but they all started with a fleet of cast-offs. And I defy you to deny the staffing policy or destinations!

London Stansted, Cologne-Bonn, London Gatwick, Bucharest Otopeni, Bucharest Baneasa are not out of the way airports. Baneasa is close to Bucharest and has just been refurbished. London Gatwick and Stansted are used by many major airlines. Cologne-Bonn similarly.

Given that Germanwings just started last year, wrong again. EasyJet has long been in business and has yet to use old, castoff planes. Blue Air is pretty new and isn't.

The Romanian airline Blue Air had Romanian workers (for some reason), but the other ones were not full of eastern European cheap workers.

So your analysis so far is completely wrong.

I should say - some budget airlines like Ryanair use some out of the way airports and some which are central. Some budget airlines like EasyJet use no out of the way airports.

So just look to see where you are heading (and sometimes the out of the way airports are most convenient anyway), and you won't be disappointed.

The key things to remember are:

Rules are very strict

Check-in times are written in stone

Baggage is VERY limited (esp for Americans who have much higher transatlantic weight limits)

There is frequently one flight per day between pairs of cities

They can be a great savings tool as long as you understand them and are willing to take the rules
seriously.

(And, oh yes, some do use some airports past hell and gone.)

A UK newpaper columnist said in yesterday's paper "If [Ryanair] started a cruise company, you'd be instructed to bring your own oars, and then charged when they registered as excess baggage":

http://tinyurl.com/38dbqh

Based on most recent information I have, SkyEurope, the Slovakia-based airline that WillTravel recommends, has 14 aircrafts in current fleet and 2 on order.

Of those 14, only one was 2nd hand, a 737-500 originally delivered in 1992. Six other 2nd hand aircrafts have left the fleet.

The other 13 are all brand-new 737-700s. Oldest of those was delivered March 2006, newest July 18th 2007.

Boy, you guys know a lot of interesting facts about planes and airlines. Seriously, Thanks for all the info. I think I have my answer and can move on to more trip planning from here.

<<< They work by buying the oldest, most dilapidated fleet possible >>>

Ryanair are one of the biggest buyers of new Boeing 737s having spent several BILLION dollars on them over the past few years, for example - http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/...60929a_nr.html

'small discount airlines'. I suggest the inquiry read, 'low fare airlines'. Each airline has selected popular routes thus assuring capacity flights. Major airports are booked out and expensive. As many costs as possible are eliminated; beverage service, meals, overstaffing etc. Baggage is minimized. This eliminates handling costs and lowers fuel consumption. Schedules are 'tight' to ensure maximum aircraft use. The major problem they have is that customers expect the same services they enjoy on high priced 'major' airlines.

They work just like any other airline. You book from A to B.

Sure that flight might go a long way around.

It's simple really. It's all about hubs. If the airline is based in Prague then flights will go through Prague; if they are based in Berlin they will transit through Berlin.

To take advantage of the seriously low fares you need to know your geo v self thetteqake

I actually posted my comment in a light-hearted and jokey vein - hence the comment about engines and the smiley face, Since the humour bypass brigade are out in force let me counter their 'facts' with a few of my own.

Stansted is at least 45 minutes by express train from London - and that's the East End/City area - not the West End where most tourists look to be based. Ryan Air may be buying new jets now but they sure as hell didn't start out with them. They are also the airline infamous for grounding Buzz's quieter, more environmentally Whisperjets in favour of 737's after the buyout. As for budget airlines flying direct, look at a few of the Scandinavian destinations they use as an example of inaccessibility - miles outside the city!