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Jet around Europe on the cheap by Laura Bly, USA Today , Friday, May 23, 2003 Desperate to lure leery American vacationers across the Big Pond this year, several airlines and tour operators are hawking early summer trips to London at mid-winter prices. And thanks in large part to the continued expansion of such no-frills carriers as London-based easyJet (which bought rival Go last year) and Dublin-based Ryanair (which just took over another major competitor, Buzz), trans-Atlantic bargains aren't limited to the United Kingdom, the undisputed hub for cheap flights throughout Europe. The catch: You'll have to do some Internet sleuthing to find them. Like their American counterparts, most European discount airlines offer the best deals on their own Web sites and don't participate in the computer-reservation systems that are used by traditional travel agents and online agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. As a result, they remain off the radar screen of many cost-conscious Yanks — despite the fact that their prices often undercut both train fares and flights that are offered by full-service competitors. A trio of resources for scoping out Europe's evolving no-frills airfare landscape: • Though some of its referenced articles are more than a year old (an eternity in the chaotic airline business), a special "Cheap Flights" report in the online travel section of London's Guardian newspaper (travel.guardian.co.uk) provides a solid overview, including route maps for four major U.K. airlines (Ryanair, easyJet, MyTravelLite and Bmibaby) and a list of airlines flying from the U.K. to more than 50 European destinations. Don't miss "Happy Landings," a useful primer on working the system to nab the cheapest fares. One key tip: Book as far ahead as possible, since "pretty much all the budget airlines work on a first-come, first-served basis they sell all the low fares first and don't release any more closer to the date of departure." • LowCostAirlines.org links to the Web sites of 34 no-frills European carriers, from Air Bosnia (which flies from its hub in Sarajevo to Denmark, England and Turkey) to Volare (an Italian discounter offering flights from Milan and Venice to Belgium, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany and Spain). The site also offers an intriguing tool (www.etntelephone.com/goodbad.htm) that helps you calculate, based on the number of hours you're flying, whether that cheap fare is really a bargain. • A search engine launched two years ago by an Oxford-based graduate student frustrated in his attempts to nail down a cheap fare from London to Italy, Applefares combs through the constantly changing fare inventories of 24 European discount airlines. The site's "flexible search" option lets you specify a departure city and preferred dates of travel but leave the destination open; the resulting options (up to 140 routes) are sorted by price and destination. And unlike some competing search engines, Applefare's prices include taxes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flying via budget carriers can be challenging Though their fares can be astonishingly low, flying Europe's growing crop of discount airlines requires both minimal expectations and a high degree of patience. For a lively discussion of the pros and cons of the cut-rate carriers, check out the "Flying Within Europe" section of the Graffiti Wall message board at Rick Steves' Europe Through the Backdoor site, www.ricksteves.com. Assigned seats and free in-flight meals are non-existent, and customer service can be perfunctory. (Ryanair's flight attendants learned their trade at the "Burger King School of Charm and Deportment," one Internet wag complained recently.) Unlike most American carriers, no-frills European airlines don't charge a premium for booking a one-way flight. But their point-to-point route structure means you can't transfer bags or rebook with other airlines if there's a major delay or cancellation. Secondary European airports favored by the budget brigade are often far from the city center; Ryanair's Frankfurt flights, for example, actually land 62 miles away in Hahn. And don't overlook the major players. "It's worth noting that British Midland and British Airways are both offering very reasonable fares from London Heathrow to all over mainland Europe," says Darragh Smyth of Applefares.com, a search engine for European discount carriers. "They're not as cheap as the 'free flights' of Ryanair, but they're very reasonable for Heathrow departures, plus they have the advantage that one doesn't need to change airports." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send Laura your feedback Laura is a travel writer for USA TODAY. Tell her what you think of her latest column by sending her an e-mail at travel@usatoday.com. Include your name, hometown and daytime phone number, and she may use your feedback in a future column. Copyright 20003 USA Today Click here to see original article on USA Today website |