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Europe TravelerStripes travel enthusiast Karen Bradbury shares ideas for great getaways and ways to save dollars for our Europe-based readers. |
Best deals for flight in Europe
Posted May 16th, 2007 by Karen BradburyA blog reader commented that his access to travel opportunities increased immeasurably when he discovered Ryanair. I daresay many of us traveling types have benefited greatly from the rise of this and other budget airlines. The first year of dating the man who eventually became my husband was a long-distance affair – he lived in the Frankfurt area while I was based in Rome. In fact, if it weren’t for Ryanair and its cheap flights, I might still be single.
But is Ryanair always the best option? Booking as early as possible, and being flexible enough to agree to a 6 a.m. departure (ugh!), are keys to finding the best deals. But what if Ryanair doesn’t fly to a city you’re interested in? How else to make the best out of an airlines’ offerings?
As an example, let’s use a trip I have planned to Copenhagen at the end of June. I’ve checked the http://www.ryanair.com/ Web site, and I can see there are no flights between my departure city of Frankfurt and Copenhagen.
My next step would be to check the Web site www.whichbudget.com to see if there are any other budget airlines that fly between Frankfurt and Copenhagen. By entering my departure country and city, I can see that, alas, there are no budget carriers to take me there.
To be sure I’m covering all my bases, I’ll also take a look at www.skyscanner.com. This Web site is also incredibly useful if you know the dates when you’d like to travel, but are open to various destinations. It can show you all fares found for those dates, regardless of destination, in price order.
Or maybe there are other, not strictly speaking budget, but low-cost airlines out there? Into this category I would place airlines such as bmibaby, Sterling, and Condor. The best directory of such airlines that I managed to find was on wikitravel, with links that take you straight to their respective home pages http://wikitravel.org/en/Discount_airlines_in_Europe#Other_low_cost_airlines.
Not having much luck with the low-cost airlines either, it’s now time to check out various booking engines, including www.expedia.com, www.tuifly.com, and that of Frankfurt airport http://www.airport-travelnet.de/home/index_en.html. Also, I will check the Web site of my destination airport, to familiarize myself with the airlines that fly there. Maybe I’ve overlooked one, or a new player has meanwhile cropped up.
Before I commit to the best price out there, I will also peruse those sites belonging to the respective national carriers, Lufthansa and SAS. Sometimes booking a month or more in advance can lead to savings, too.
While I'm not thrilled at how much it looks like I will be paying for this flight, at least I'm pretty sure I've exhausted most of the options.
Stripes readers, how do you go about finding the best deals on flights? What are some of your favorite tactics or Web sites?
Budget travel
Sally and Rick from Hermersberg
We, too, have logged many miles on Ryanair. We have used them for trips to England, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Spain and Italy.
In addition to flying, we have made extensive use of European Railways, most notably, Deutsche Bahn. We have used trains to France, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic and the Netherlands. We have used the trains in Great Britain, Scotland, and Italy after arriving via Ryanair. The travel agency, Ameropa lists inexpensive last minute getaways and always includes rail transportation with a decent hotel. Most employees of DB speak passable English and we have found them very helpful. We have used DB for trips thoughout Europe, and have even used the overnight sleeper cars for trips to Paris and Prague. We planned early and wisely to maximize our spending currency. We have used the SATO office at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for many of these trips.
So, if you like to relax while getting to your vacation destination, try DB, in addition to Ryanair. You'll be glad you did. You will save time from a Stau and be relaxed when you get to your destination and not wonder how the traffic will be for your return trip. You'll save wear and tear on your POV as well as no toll roads. Since most European cities have extensive Public Transportation, we have never gone anywhere by train and then wished we had our POV. It has never happened.
We encourage you to make a list of places and events that interest you and a tentative timeline. All you need is a travel fund, a decent digital camera, and comfortable shoes. As always, be safe and stay aware of your surroundings.
Few more sights
www.easyjet.com, www.wizzair.com and www.clickair.com are a few other low-cost airlines available within Europe....depending on your location, these may/may not work for your travel needs.
As Karen mentioned, Skyscanner is a great sight...used it several times to plan trips and I love that you can choose to fly 'anywhere' and it will bring up the least expensive flights from your designated airport! Smart!
There is one other sight similar to skyscanner that I've used to get incredibly great deals, and that is www.lowcostairlines.org. Their prices seem to be the lowest I've found on flights to the US, haven't used them for my European travels. Example: All airlines/travel sights I searched quoted $1500 for a ticket, while their quote was $700. Needless to say, the ticket was purchased through lowcostairlines.
Cheap Flights Ever
Hello my name is Charles Martin, im a travel lover instead the flight cost are to loud. I found a way you can save the 40% of the real value. there is the information you will need. take a look http://www.come2shop.info/Discount-Flights-to-Europe.htm
The right link to disccount flight
i post the correct link to disccount flight http://www.come2shop.info/Cheap-flight-Europe.html
Italy low cost flights
For low-cost flights to Italy:
www.volagratis.it
www.airbe.it