Low cost carriers in Europe

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Jun 6th, 2002, 11:33 AM

Jane

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Low cost carriers in Europe

Hi everybody! My name is Jane. I'm new to this board so please be patient with me

On my first trip to Europe next summer a couple friends and I want to go to Greece and Ireland. We are hoping some of you could direct us to low cost carriers in Europe for the one-way flight and give us any helpful hints. This is for the summer of 2003 so we are pre-pre-planning

For this summer I noticed Czech Airlines as the lowest price on travelocity. Are there other low cost carriers not listed on that site? Is Czech Airlines and Malev Hungarian safe airlines or should I say if what have you heard or experienced? Would you fly them again? Thanks for your responses!

Jun 6th, 2002, 12:10 PM

ttt

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ttttt

Jun 6th, 2002, 01:26 PM

Jane

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Anybody who can help;]

Jun 6th, 2002, 03:20 PM

Jane

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Surely someone knows of low cost carriers

Jun 6th, 2002, 05:05 PM

Judy

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There are lists of low cost airlines somewhere on this forum ,I believe such as:Go-fly.com, Easyjet.com,Buzzaway.com,Ryanair.com, most of them centre from England to the continent. Sorry I couldn't help much,but if you could do a search on the site, there should be lots of ideas.

Jun 7th, 2002, 07:37 AM

Tess

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Jane, I flew on Malev Airlines from Pisa to Budapest (Oct-2000) and obviously lived to tell about it. It was your standard flight, nothing grave nor grand. Sure, I'd use them again.

Jun 7th, 2002, 10:54 AM

qwerty

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OK For 2003 the low cost airlines will probably start publishing their summer schedules from between Dec to March. The best deals are reserved for those who book well in advance or who take advantage of special offers (usually but not always in conjunction with a Newspaper promotion). Go to each airline's web site and sign up to their email news alerts service to be told of the best deals as they are announced. EasyJet are the only low cost airline that currently flies to Greece (Athens). Lots of holiday charter flights go to Greece and these may be a better bet if you want to go to the Islands. www.flightline.co.uk is a good source of charter flight only deals. Downside is that charter flights are currently very restrictive - 7, 10 or 14 day returns only, and the best prices only start to come on stream at the last minute (but see below) The low cost UK-Ireland market is mainly the preserve of Ryanair – who see it as home ground and who fight fiercely to keep it that way. EasyJet fly to Belfast and BMIbaby have started up a route to Dublin from East Midlands Airport. GO currently also fly to Belfast but are going to be taken over by EasyJet… The market for air travel in the UK is now fiercely competitive, it could become even more so because the big charter airlines like Britannia, and MyTravel keep threatening to start up low cost operations. www.cheapflights.co.uk is a very informative website with links to all the UK low cost carriers and should be a good place to look for breaking news about new carriers and services. They also provide links to travel agents who promise amazingly low prices – but who somehow never quite deliver. Keep in mind that whilst low cost carriers are usually the cheapest – this is not always the case. Check out the prices offered by regular scheduled airlines on opodo.co.uk and expedia.co.uk. For flights within Europe I’ve never found Travelocity or Ebookers any good – but have friends who swear by them. Oh yes, and prices can and do change on a daily basis. Finally, if you do go for a low cost airline read the ‘small’ print first - especially if you travel Ryanair. When Ryanair say no refunds for missed departures, no hotel accommodation or meal vouchers if the flight is canceled or delayed they mean it. They do fly to the main Dublin airport, but many of the other destination they use are secondary airports (e.g. Frankfurt Hahn is actually a longway away from Frankfurt– ditto Hamburg Lubeck). They also (I think) have a much lower hold baggage allowance than most other airlines. The plus side of RyanAir, and what makes them so popular and successful is that they can be very very cheap – I have bought return flights to France for £0.02p return plus tax. Happy travelling

Jun 7th, 2002, 12:12 PM

mpprh

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Hi I use Ryanair fairly often. The last time was Stansted - Nimes yesterday. The prices change according to demand on a less than daily basis. All above is true, but they know all about supply and demand. It is best to be flexible to get the best deals ........ fly the previous day, or thec next day, because if the day u want is nearly full the price will be more than other carriers. It is the lowest standard of service. Make sure you only buy it at the lowest price. Then u will not be disappointed ! Peter