Sept 1 2024: I'll be flying from ORY > Toulouse, then a week later from Toulouse>Lisbon, probably on EasyJet or RyanAir.
Do I need to book these small intra-Europe airlines in advance? or are they usually available on short notice (4-5 days out)
Merci beaucoup :)
First thing....have you thought about taking the train from Paris to Toulouse? It will probably be faster, city center to city center, than taking the plane.
As for flight being available it really depends on the day of the week. Sept 1 is a Sunday and that's a busy travel day. The closer it is to the travel day, the higher the ticket price.
I bought a plane ticket a week ago Saturday about four hours before the flight. (Not on either of your routes.) There were two seats left on the plane.
As Frank says, they are usually available up to the day of the flight but they get more expensive as the date approaches.
I once booked a Ryanair flight the day before I flew. The ticket I normally paid between £20 and £50 for cost me £350. The preflight, flight, and service was still grade B cr*p, though.
I wouldn't wait too long before booking an ORY-TLS flight for September 1st, of the roughly 15 daily flights with Easyjet or Air France, 10 flights are already almost full, and the prices are about 3 times more expensive than the usual average. The first weekend in September is the last weekend before school starts, it is always a busy time.
As for TLS-Portugal, note that there are not flights every day with Ryanair, whether to Lisbon or Porto.
Just for reference and comparison, EasyJet transported 83 million passengers in 2023, and RyanAir 169 million. Compared to Delta's 190 million passengers, they are smaller, yes, but they hardly qualify as "small intra-Europe airlines". Sorry, that's the European in me speaking ☺️.
Great advice, all, thank you! I'm now looking at the fast train from Paris to Toulouse.... OR maybe Bordeaux.
And thanks for pointing out my misuse of the word "small" when referring to the intra-EU airlines. I stand corrected. :0}
My flight on a small airline from the south of France to Rome today was completely full, as were other flights from an adjacent city for tomorrow.
Regarding French trains: those also tend to get booked out at weekends these days. Sales are already open for 1 September, and prices are very good: no reason to wait, they only go up, and tickets on TGV INOUI (the recommended option, over cheaper but less comfy Ouigo) are refundable up to 7-day pre-departure.
