Flying from country to country in Europe

From our experience with Ryanair, we bought a few months out and thought it was a great deal. Then the person sitting next to me told me what she paid even earlier, which was half of what I had paid!The website is very easy and clear to use. You pay extra for luggage, choosing a seat, boarding early. Near the flight date they will send you lots of reminder emails. Make sure you print out boarding passes before getting to airport or there will be an extra charge for one. Seats are rigid and uncomfortable but it was on time, luggage made it too. Be aware that they may fly into more distant airports feom the cities. For example, we flew to Ciampino for Rome rather than the major one, Leonardo da Vinci/FCO.

My daughter just finished her semester studying abroad in Scotland. She and her friends traveled to various cities & always prebooked their flights in advance to save money.
They flew with both, Ryanair & Easyjet.
She preferred flying with Easyjet, but Ryanair had better prices, for the most part.
Beware of the small print, the luggage limits, the time the boarding gate closes, etc, etc...
Make sure to get to the airport early (at least 2 hours before departure), & pay close attention to the departure monitors to make sure you're at the correct gate for your flight.
My daughter & her friend missed a flight because the bus took twice as long to get to the airport (from London), then they were waiting at the wrong gate (Easyjet had a departing flight at the exact same time as their Ryanair flight & to the same destination)
When they arrived at the correct boarding gate (along with 10 others who'd made the same mistake), they were not allowed to board the plane. I think boarding gates close 30 minutes before departure, & no one is allowed to board the plane once this happens.

It was a hard lesson to learn, but they never missed a flight again.

Edit: If you already know your class schedules, then it makes sense to book your flights in advance at considerable savings, however, if you don't know your class schedules, you may want to wait till you do.
If you plan to stay in youth hostel (while traveling), make sure you take a lock with you, so you can lock your valuables in the lockers provided.
Send me a PM if you need more specific information.

www.skyscanner.com is a good source for information on Europe's budget airlines. Please understand that these carriers operate on one-way fares rather than the round trips that are familiar to trans-Atlantic carriers. They do not offer connections, not even to their own flights. Ryanair may offer round trips but they are really a pair of one-way tickets. Read the website rules very carefully because they are enforced. easyJet, for instance, allows one bag into the cabin, not a bag plus your purse plus your computer. At every easyJet boarding I've ever seen there have been clumps of people on the floor consolidating their carry-ons. But the flight staff are just as scrupulous about in-flight security. These are some of the busiest airlines in the world and they depend on repeat customers. The link I posted includes traditional airlines which have had to learn to compete. The earlier the purchase, the cheaper the fare, even if it cuts your flexibility.

lexi,

A few thoughts on the airlines you mentioned.....

RyanAir

• often referred to as "the airline people love to hate" as their terms can sometimes be misunderstood, so customers end up getting penalized and paying exorbitant extra charges. However, RyanAir has a loyal following and they're quite successful.
• they often use very "out-of-the-way" airports such as Beauvais (Paris) or Hahn (Frankfurt), which are considerable distance outside the city so it will take extra time and money to actually get to the destination.

easyJet

• they also have somewhat strict rules, but booking and flights are generally "easy".
• they're my preferred airline for Europe flights and I book with them whenever possible.
• for the cheapest seats, they only allow ONE carry-on item per passenger of a specified size and they're usually very strict with that. If you pay for Easy Boarding or some of the other frills, they'll allow an extra personal item.
• typically uses the main airports in each city such as Orly (Paris) or Fiumicino (Rome), so getting to the city you're going to usually only takes a quick Shuttle or Metro trip.

Most budget airlines in Europe operate on a "sliding scale" with the prices increasing as the flight fills, so booking early gets the best prices. The cheapest tickets are usually non-refundable and non-changeable once booked, so choose carefully before hitting the "purchase" button. Paying for Flex Fares is more expensive, but offers some benefits. Most flights are very spartan, with no snacks or drinks served on-board. If you want items like that, you'll have to bring them with you or pay, so keep your credit card at hand!

Book asap, as prices only head one way. I have already booked for travel next March. Travel is cheaper for non weekend travel and for more antisocial flying times. Avoid weekend travel around school holidays, as prices triple or more. You will see when booking when these times are!

I prefer Easyjet to Ryanair, but both are fine for short haul. You don't get any free food or drinks on board, but many Inter Europe flights only offer snacks, not full meals these days.

Check in luggage is expensive, but if you are only travelling for a weekend, hand luggage will be fine. Check each airlines maximum hand luggage size, as they differ and if the flight is busy, they check bag sizes and if applicable, weight. Easyjet doesn't have a weight limit. If you break these limits, they charge far more to check in a bag at the airport than doing it in advance online.

As has already been said, check how close the destination airport is to the city centre. Check the costs of getting to whichever London airport you are flying out of. Allow plenty of time to get there before the gate closes, as getting through takes time. Follow the rules on liquids if taking hand luggage only.

I've never flown Ryanair, but I flew Easyjet a couple of times this spring. I liked them.

Contrary to some posts I've read in these forums, I was allowed to carry on my purse (which isn't huge) in addition to my carryon bag. So, I did not have to try to squeeze my purse into my carryon, as I'd expected, but you should probably be prepared to do so, just in case.

Gates can change without notice, and if you don't understand the language, you might not hear the announcement, so as someone said, pay close attention. I don't think this has to do with the airlines, necessarily, but with the busy airports. Anyway, this happened to us, and if we hadn't realized it just before boarding time, we would have missed our flight, and we weren't the only ones.

Basically EasyJet does have a one carryon bag rule. However, one can pay extra to carry a smaller, second under seat bag. Doing so also entitles one to "speedy boarding" which works very well and assures you will have room for your bags. Check their web site for the bag dimensions.

Wemhave used Easyjet, Vueling, Ryanair , and Tuifly, several of them multiple times.

Always buy your tickets WELL in advance for best prices. We were in europe less than a month ago. Tickets on Easyjet from London to Mykonos geeece were 98 gbps, and that INCLUDED an add on for a checked bag and a selected seat! Cheap ! Now , look up a ticket like that for two weeks from now, with the add ons! Its over 220 gbps WITHOUT THE ADD ONS.

Be sure to check airports these airlines use, for some destinations they use incinvenient ones.

Do not fly to Paris, purchase Eurostar tickets well in advance , its the fastest and easiest way there.

All the airlines we have used have been fine, but you must read the conditions and restricitons on tickets.

Ps Easyjet now allows a purse in additon to one carryon.

Do look at the "legacy" carriers (Air France, British Air, Lufthansa, Iberia, etc) as well as the budget carriers. The legacy carriers can have lower fees than the budget ones, so sometimes they work out cheaper in the end. Do a dummy booking (all the way through to where you put in your credit card info) to see which is the cheapest and best for your needs. And don't forget to include cost and convenience of getting to and from the airport. As Ken said, Ryanair often uses "alternate" airports that take more time and/or money to reach (this includes the London airports they use).

Once upon a time, there was a lot of publicity about last minute tickets on Ryanair being cheap and available. Of course, once upon a time a 56K dial-up modem was the last word in speed and service. Nowadays, flights on budget carriers often sell out, and last minute bargains are a thing of the past.

Last year I flew Ryanair from Brussels to Prague and Transavia from Santorini to Paris.

For Ryanair we did fly out of Brussels S. Charleroi so it took us a few trains and a bus to get there from Bruges. I downloaded the app and accessed our boarding pass with our hotel WiFi and took a screen shot for easy retrieval. We were checked-in and through security in less than 10 minutes (we were VERY last minute as we didn't know the length of our trip to get to the airport). Somehow we got early boarding and I was able to carry-on my backpack and a small bag I keep my tablet in.

Here's the backpack I take: https://www.amazon.com/Cabin-Max-Backpack-Approved-Luggage/dp/B00IR2VEUS/ref=sr_1_2?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1467055427&sr=1-2&nodeID=9479199011&keywords=carry-on+backpack

It was filled as it was for a 5-week trip over the summer and I booked that flight probably 6 weeks in advance.

Transavia was no problem - we booked a direct flight 2 days in advance for, I believe, about $85 a person. The same flight but departing 2 days later was over $200 so it was just a bit of luck, I suppose. I don't recall the day of the week...but I think it was a Sunday. I had the same carry-ons and while many others were charged ahead of me in line I was very kind and kept my backpack on throughout the check-in process and I wasn't charged.

Skyscanner is my go-to app. On short notice you can still good rates but, as I stated above, sometimes you can get burned if you have a set day for departure and you aren't booked well in advance. My plan for now is to do much of the same this time around. I'd agree with the other posts, though, and say that if you know the weekends you want to go...book them.

cielo.. my daughter used Transavia this year too.. from Amsterdam to Mallorca.. I found the flight for her.. do not recall the price but it was cheap... I was a little concerned as I had never heard of them , but research showed they were just a cheaper division of KLM.