Is it necessary to book ahead for flights within Europe?
 

We are planning on flights from Barcelona to Geneva OR Barcelona to Rome AND/OR Geneva to Rome AND Rome to Athens.

Is it feasible to book just a couple of days ahead? What costs are we looking at? Are there any airlines that you wouldn't recommend?

And finally, is there a website that gives the info I am looking for?

A general resource for budget airlines within Europe can be found at www.whichbudget.com and the site is pretty easy to use.

For some, if not all, of the low-cost carriers, the closer to the flight date you book the higher the fare.

EasyJet flies the Geneva-Barcelona route and it is definitely better to book them as early as you can; EasyJet also flies the Geneva-Rome route; Aegean Air flies the Rome-Athens route.

Thank you so much for your reply, Intrepid.

The website is just what I was looking for - lots of great info.

Good advice from intrepid.

I would not chance it unless you have loads of time. What is to be lost by booking ahead? Some flexibility?
On the other hand, if you cannot go that day because the flight is full, you have assumed an equal risk.

I know the Air Lingus, Finnair and Easy Jet flights I have taken were fully booked ahead on the day of my flight.

EasyJet books up heavily for weekend flights to eastern Europe.

HelenJ,

I only recently found out that if you are flying transatlantically on one of the oneworld alliance partners like American, British Air, or Iberia, you can tack on your inter-European flights at a very reduced cost. Go to the website for oneworld alliance, look under products, and it should spell it out for you clearly. Then if you're booking it yourself, be insistent, and speak to a supervisor if necessary. I found that not many reps at American knew what I was talking about. Good luck!

Also wanted to add that I think Continental and Delta have something similar for inter-European travel if you're flying them transatlantically.

A recent experience for me was booking a flight for a last minute trip to Germany as part of a trip to Italy. I needed R/T Munich and I needed to be able to get back in time to make my connection.

For this reason, I chose ALitalia. I started looking at fares and found the lowest to be 180 per person R/T. I booked and ticketed.

The next day I checked to ee what the fares were (Alitalia is very expensive for inter European travel. It had gone up to 368 pp R/T.

It has not been as low since.

I am in a similar situation in June and am buying those tiks today.