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Flying Without the Frills in EuropeBy Kenneth KavanaghOh to live the life of the rich and famous. I’d breakfast at a Parisian street café, spend the afternoon wandering around a London department store and sip a few cocktails as I watched the sun disappear behind St Peter’s in Rome. Well once such a day was indeed the preserve of the wealthy and well-known, but luckily times have changed. Now such jet-setting around Europe is affordable to everyone who uses the large number of low fares airlines that have sprung up throughout continent over the last 10 years.
It is not just Europeans benefiting from these low fares, many people visiting from North America, Asia or Australia and New Zealand find the cheapest way to see the continent is to choose one country and use it as a hub to see others.
Europeans have taken these airlines to their hearts. In fact, when large scheduled airlines were reporting falls in passenger numbers, the low cost airlines were bragging about transporting record numbers. There is a downside, when you fly for such low fares you cannot expect the service associated with large international carriers. These are more like flying buses than the traditional airline: don’t expect any food or drink. As they rely on a quick turnaround to make their money, the low-cost airlines are ruthless when it comes to checking in and reporting to the gate: if you are not there at the stated time, no amount of complaining or excuses will do you any good – you won’t get on.
You also have to remember that often these airlines do not use a city’s main airport. In some cases this is not too much of a disadvantage. London’s Luton and Stansted airports have decent transport links into the city centre, and the airport that the low-cost airport uses in Rome is actually closer to the city centre than the main airport. At other times the airport can be a 2-3 hour bus ride away from the city, for example Oslo Torp and Frankfurt Hahn are quite far out of their respective cities. There are a few tips to keep in mind to get the best deal so that you too can become part of the European jet-set, 1. Book as early as you can. It may be the height of summer, but these companies are already selling seats for their Winter 2004 / 5 schedule. For the best deals you have to book at least 14 days in advance, though 28 days is often better. Very occasionally, prices will be reduced closer to the departure time, but this is not usual and generally should be avoided.. If you cannot avoid booking at the last minute try using a company that consolidates fares of the larger airlines – they buy seats from the airline and sell them on, normally at a far better price than if you bought from the airline itself. To look through several try www.teletextholidays.co.uk 2. Sign up to the email newsletters Low cost airlines thrive on filling up their capacity and frequently offer special deals to passengers. To hear about them first sign up to the email distribution list. 3. Travel off-peak Travel on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday will ensure you get the lowest fares. Electronic booking systems constantly monitor the rate of sales to predict how popular the flight is. If the sales rate is higher than normal, the flight price is increased, so don’t travel on a public holidays or when there is a major sporting event. Similarly, try and avoid travelling at times popular with business people. 4. Book online rather than the phone
It’s also worth noting that it’s not just airlines that use this low fares business model, bus and coach companies have started the same deals. If you get fed up with airports and can forego some comfort, some of these bus companies have great deals. If you don’t mind 6 hours on a bus you can get from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh for less than US$5 (incl. taxes) www.Megabus.com, For the best air deals check out some of these sites below, which link to the best known low fares carriers in Europe. Airberlin (Germany) Basiqair (Netherlands) BMIbaby (UK) Easyjet (UK) Globespan (UK) GermanWings (Germany) Hapag-Lloyd Express (Germany) Ryanair (Ireland) – perhaps the most
consistently cheapest of all SkyEurope (Slovakia) Sterling (Denmark) Volareweb (Italy) Wizz (Hungary) Photo credits: K Kavanagh and VisitBritain |
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TM
The
competition is crazy with some flights costing as little as a penny plus
tax, so it is not surprising that most experts agree that the ridiculously
low fares cannot continue. The message, therefore, is to take advantage of
the prices while you can. And these prices are still around. For its winter
2004/5 schedule Ryanair has already put on sale one million seats for 99p
(US$1.75) to dozens of European destinations.
Normally
the country of choice is the UK as it is so well served by low-cost
airlines, the most notable are the fierce rivals Easyjet and Ryanair which,
between them, cover most of the European Union and both of whom have
announced plans to fly to new member EU states including Poland and
Slovenia. It often works out far cheaper to buy an intercontinental return
trip to London and then use the UK capital as a base from which to explore
the rest of Europe by cheap, individual flights. 
Most
of the cheap flight airlines are point to point airlines, so you cannot
check your luggage through to a final destination. If you are lucky, and
most people are, the service will be efficient and quick and you will get
your bags at the end of your journey. But remember to take travel insurance
that covers lost baggage – it happens!
The
airlines are likely to charge a couple of dollars more per ticket just to
allow you the privilege of speaking to an operator – it’s far better to book
for yourself online.