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               HOW TO GET LOW AIRFARES


Book during sales Most low cost airlines offer seat sales at regular intervals. This
happens particularly during off-peak times of year, such as winter. There can be
incredibly good deals on offer during such sales. Ryanair tend to have both the widest
choice of seats, most frequent sales, and cheapest fares during such sales. They sell
'free' flights, where you just pay the taxes and charges. The total cost of the flight will
depend on what airports you use. The total cost of a one-way flight from London
(Stansted) to Milan during a seat sale is €20 (£14, US$25). Flying from less busy airports
during a seat sale will provide even cheaper seats, as fees at London Stansted airport
are (comparatively) high. A flight from Glasgow (Prestwick) to Rome during a seat sale
costs €16.50 (£11, US$20). Fly between even less busy airports (Stockholm (Skavsta)
and Hamburg (Lübeck), for example) during a free fare sale and you will pay around €10
(£7, US$12.50).

Other airlines can have brilliant deals during sales as well. If you intend to go
somewhere, find out who flies there and make regular visits to their websites, and
register for their newsletter. book online


Book well in advance   This should go without saying. The cheapest fares are the
first few seats on an aircraft, so book well ahead. If there is nothing particularly cheap
when you first look, and there is a long time before your trip, you might be better off
waiting for a seat sale.


Don't book during school holidays with discount airlines  Most
airlines take advantage of the slightly increased demand on tickets during school
holidays and increase ticket prices. Flights to Salzburg Airport from London Stansted with
Ryanair go up two - three fold during the February school holidays, whereas BA flights
from London Heathrow to Munich are half of what Ryanair demands.


Price wars are your friend   If two airlines are having a price war, then this will
work to your advantage. This typically happens when two airlines announce a new route
at the same time, and attempt to price each other out of the market. Use a good news
source such as Google News or Flycheapo to look for news articles about this, or a price
comparison tool (Adioso, Destiny365,Travelmia, DoHop, FlyLowCostAirlines.org Kayak,
LowFareFlights, Momondo, SkyScanner,Sprice, UKNetGuide Flights, Flyrejsen.dk,
Airtraffic) to find the best offers. Search for both the airlines and the destination you are
hoping to go to. For example, easyJet and Ryanair have a price war on the London
Gatwick - Cork and London Stansted - Valencia sectors at the moment, amongst many
others. This is good news for you.


Be creative with your routes The cheapest route is not necessarily the most
direct. jet2 flies between Belfast and Prague direct, but you will often be better off flying
from Belfast to Gatwick, and then on to Prague from there. It will take longer, but you could
save substantial amounts of money. This is just one example, there are many others.
Bear in mind, however, that each additional leg does mean paying all the airport fees and
charges, plus any credit card booking fee again. Thus two €25 legs could together cost
more than a €60 leg once you factor in the extra €20 or so of charges. On the other hand,
some airports are particularly cheap - in Ireland the fees are under €15. If you miss a
connection travelling this way the airlines won't help you out so could end up paying top
whack for a new ticket so make sure you allow plenty of time between connections and
also be aware you will have the hassle of going through check-in and security for each
flight segment.

If you are flying return trip with a long route — say London to Sydney or Toronto to
Singapore — it is worth checking whether a round the world routing is available at a
similar price.


Know the airlines     Make sure that you know all the airlines that serve the
destination to which you want to travel. As competition expands, it can be hard to know
what airline flies where. Keep yourself informed by using the resources below to keep
tabs on the situation. Typically, travel agents and web search engines (Travelocity, Orbitz,
Travelmia, eLong, etc.) will not search these airlines, as they are not connected to the
global booking systems, and do not pay the standard agent commissions. You can use
sites that have updated lists of low cost flights from one city to another, like
LowCostRoutes or Zingarate or you'll have to do the work yourself to get the best deals.


Go for it   If you see a brilliant deal, just go ahead and book it, even if you're not sure if
you will be able to use the flight. Go places you've never heard of, just because you can.
Enjoy the low-cost airline boom while it lasts, and have fun.


Obscure airports  It is well known that some carriers such as Ryanair fly to airports
that are sometimes well away from the advertised destination. Hahn Airport, the airport for
Frankfurt, is some 100 km away from the city, and so is the Paris Beauvais Airport.
However, there are always public transport links to the advertised city, often timed to meet
incoming flights. You shouldn't normally pay more than €20 (£13.50, US$24.50) for
onward travel to the advertised city, and mostly a lot less. However make sure in your
calculation that the additional cost of transport and the time are worth flying to an obscure
airport. The trip from Frankfurt Hahn to Frankfurt Airport/City is 1.5 hours extra on your
journey and the savings compared to BA or Lufthansa are not very high. Although in some
cases you might even prefer where Ryanair fly to, Lübeck, Germany and Bergamo, Italy
being nicer than Hamburg and Milan respectively.



In-flight food and drink   You will almost always have to pay for this yourself.
Count on paying upwards of €5 (£3.50, US$6) for a sandwich, or €3 (£2, US$3.50) for
tea/coffee. However, free refreshments are provided by Air Berlin and BMI (British
Midland). The best idea is of course to bring your own food and drink but some airlines
make an announcement pre take off to say that you are not permitted to consume your
own food and drink. Whether this is enforced or not just depends on the cabin crew on
the day but be aware that the crew earn commission on in-flight sales so may ask you not
to eat your own food. Currently most fluids are banned from passing through security in
airports, so you will have to buy any drinks to take on flights after the x-ray machines.


Connecting flights  Outside North America, most low cost airlines operate a "point
to point" service. (Notable exceptions include Air Berlin, Wizz and Jetstar.) If you are
making a journey that involves a change of plane, even on the same carrier, you will have
to check your luggage in for each leg of the journey. In addition, with some airlines
(including Ryanair), if your first leg is late you will not be transferred onto another plane if
you miss the second. easyJet will sometimes transfer you for free onto another flight
when the first one is late if you have left a gap of two hours between flights and they are
both easyJet flights. However their carrier regulations do not guarantee this. It is wise to
check with each airline their policy on missed connections. You can insure against
missing low cost connections with Netcoverdirect.

However making low cost connections can often work out significantly cheaper and in
many cases is the only way of getting between two European cities. For example, there
are relatively few direct low cost flights between Northern Africa and Eastern Europe. You
will most likely need to fly with Ryanair to an airport like Marseille or Frankfurt (Hahn) or
with AirBerlin to Germany, and then another flight on from there. Flying indirectly between
two cities can often work out cheaper even if there are direct routes.

Almost all low cost airline connections go without a problem. However, make sure you
leave enough time between legs (minimum 3 hours is recommended), and consider
getting insured against missed flights.

Changing flights   Many airlines now let you change your booking, for a fee
(generally around €25 (£17, US$30.50)), plus any difference in fare. See the airline
websites for information.


Frequent Traveler Programs Many discount airlines have loyalty programs
which reward their frequent travelers. Southwest Airlines has a "Rapid Rewards" program
where each flight is a credit. 8 credits will earn you a free flight. Credits may also be
earned through an affinity credit card. Credits expire after a certain period of time. Credits
may be redeemed for free flights with comparatively few blackout dates (16 total blackout
dates in 2005) and with no capacity controls (unique in the industry--in other words, any
open seat may be ticketed with award credits), or for a companion pass. AirTran, JetBlue,
Frontier, Air Berlin and Germanwings are other airlines offering a loyalty scheme.


Referral discounts In contrast to the price additions noted above, discount airlines
quite often tie up with local transport and hotel groups who offer significant discounts if
you book having been referred by the discount airline. As always it pays to use the Internet
to do some comparison shopping, but frequently you will be able to get a discounted car-
rental, train ticket or hotel room by clicking on the links after you have purchased your
flight. The catch is that many of these discounted prices are extremely inflexible, non-
refundable and require payment in advance so try not to change your mind after you have
made the booking.