Budget airlines in Europe
Europe has a number of low cost airlines, the largest and most established being EasyJet, Ryanair, and Air Berlin. These airlines have stirred up air travel within Europe by dramatically cutting fares.
The European Open-Skies Treaty of 1992 blew the lid off the system in place before, where national government would restrict access to their airspace to expensive 'flag-carriers', such as British Airways or Lufthansa. This enabled airlines to fly anywhere they wished in the European Union without government approval. The de-regulation of Europe's skies enabled a European airline run like Southwest to become a reality.
Ryanair was the first airline in Europe to try this model, and now have many imitators offering low fares across the continent. These are boom times for cheap air travel in Europe, with fares on some routes as low as 10euro one-way including tax.
Points to consider
- Discount airlines are often much more strict about their fares. For example, while in "fat" airlines they usually allow some baggage over the weight limit, WizzAir will charge you 6euro for each kg over the limit. Also, some airlines have lower limits than the usual 20 kg. A few kilograms of weight can double your ticket price. Check your terms carefully and weigh your luggage before a journey.
- Be prepared that food is usually not served during the flight, or it is available for a fee.
- Most discount airlines try to lower airport fees, so they often use smaller airports, sometimes quite far away from the city they state they fly to. For example Paris-Beauvais is some 90 km from Paris, bus costs about 13euro one-way and it takes about 1h15 to get to Paris (TAXI would be 120euro one-way).
- Following competition from discount airlines, main carriers such as BA have also cut their fares on competing routes, and are often only about 20% more expensive than discount airlines, a price worth paying if the journey to the airport is cheaper and faster. Sometimes they can even be cheaper than discount airlines, especially during public holidays.
EasyJet
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) fares are priced as single segment one way trips. Their website allows you to book multiple flights simultaneously however, and even allows you to exchange a flight you have purchased for a different flight of your choice on their website providing a partial refund (e.g. changing to a flight on a different date and/or with different passenger names). Note that if you change planes at an Easyjet hub you must collect your luggage and check it in again at the hub. You can book a return at the same time as the outbound but you get no discount for doing so. Some of the advanced features on the Easyjet website are only available if you create an account for yourself on the website.
EasyJet has hubs in 3 London airports (Gatwick, Stansted, Luton) as well as Paris (CDG and Orly), Berlin, Dortmund, Liverpool, Bristol and various other UK airports. As well as these hubs they serve 45 other airports throughout Europe, with 180 routes.(not updated)
EasyJet operate an ever-expanding network, keep your eyes peeled to their site. They have an extensive UK domestic network, and operate to and between large European airports. Unlike Ryanair, easyJet tend to operate out of principal airports, such as Barcelona and not Barcelona Girona, in Spain.
Ryanair
Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) fares are priced as single segment one way trips. If you wish to change planes in a hub then you must book the two segments separately. You can book a return at the same time as the outbound but you get no discount for doing so. If you miss a second flight due to a delay in the earlier Ryanair flight, you will not get a refund for the missed flight and will be forced to buy a new ticket.
Ryanair operate a huge network in Europe, and are generally (but not always) the cheapest airline on the routes where they compete with another airline. They have hubs in Shannon, Dublin, Glasgow (Prestwick), Liverpool, London, Brussels (Charleroi), Frankfurt (Hahn), Stockholm (Skavsta), Milan Bergamo, Rome and Barcelona. They serve 82 other European destinations, with 209 routes.
Ryanair is infamous for flying to secondary airports that may be hundreds of kilometers away from the city they purport to serve, so check carefully and factor this into your travel time and cost estimates. Ryanair is also infamous for its "small print", which allows them to change flight departure times by up to 3 hours without refunding customers if the customers can no longer use the flight because of this change.
Virgin Express
virgin express (www.virgin-express.com) operates within continental Europe, and flights can be booked as one way or return trips with fares priced as single segment one way trips. Their website allows you to change flight details, including departure and destination, time and date of travel, seat allocation and extra leg room, passenger name (Euro 50 charge), after you have purchased. Virgin Express does not offer a connecting service. Each booking atrtracts a 10 Euro booking fee, so booking legs separately will cost that much more than booking both legs of a return trip. Their website has links to extra services such as to car hire partners holidayautos. Prices tend to be lower than main airlines but higher than Ryan air when booked 2 to 3 weeks in advance but can be as high or higher than main airlines only a week before travel (SN Brussels can be cheaper at these times). Food, drink and gifts can be purchased on board.
Virgin Express has one hub at the main Brussels Zaventum airport, with a mini-hub at Rome where they fly to both Amsterdam and Brussels. Their main destinations are in Spain, with the rest to France, Italy, Holland, Greece and Switzerland.
Like easyJet, Virgin Express operates out of principal airports.
Other airlines
The number of cheap airlines is still growing nowadays and the number of such companies in Europe now easily exceeds 70.
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