My husband and I will be in Europe for a couple weeks this summer. We're looking for a flight from Paris to Munich (must arrive in Munich by about 12 noon) and flight from Prague to Paris (any time of day). It's been quite a while since we've flown within Europe. We have enjoyed train travel on previous trips, but due to time constraints on this trip, we need to fly. Any advice for finding discount flights? Better to book one-way flights or a multi-city? Not sure about restrictions, dependability, etc. When I search on Kayak, I'm not seeing much in the way of discount flights. Perhaps that's just the way things are now. Any recommendations?
Try skyscanner.com for flights within Europe.
Search on skyscanner.com. Book with the airline once you find a good flight.
what do you consider a discount flight ?
search Google Flights Paris to Munich one way and filter out connecting flight and you will find 12 direct flights a day
search Google Flights Prague to Paris one way and filter out connecting flights and you will find 8 direct flights a day
book directly with the airline
We flew Easy Jet this past summer. It was Easy but it pays to know how it works. Check a bag? Money. Want to carry a suitcase and a personal item. No. Only one carry on, unless you pay a bit more for tickets that get you early boarding (which we did and it's worth it). Want water? Money. So, carry water, a snack if you need it, know the rules, and it will be fine.
For two cities being as large as they are, Paris and Munich are not well serviced by budget airline flights. Lufthansa and Air France are the servicing airlines.
Prague to Paris flights are on Air France, Czech Airlines and the budget carrier, Vueling.
Many of the discount airlines do not appear on trans-Atlantic-oriented websites.
skyscanner.com will connect you to the airline itself to buy tickets. Tickets are priced on a one-way basis. Even if it offers a round trip, the airline is selling two one-way tickets and adding up their individual prices. Buy early; prices only go up. You pay for every "extra" starting with luggage. You may or may not be able to select a seat in advance; if so, it will probably add on another fee. Read all the regulations carefully; when easyJet and Ryanair say only one bag in the cabin, they mean one -- not a carry-on plus a purse plus a computer bag. Check-in on line may be required well in advance. Sometimes they use secondary airports; Ryanair, notoriously, lands a long way from the two main Paris airports. And, for the most part, they do not connect between flights, not to other airlines and not even to their own flights (although a few agreements have been announced recently.) So, to repeat, read all the fine print.
BUT: They are cheap. They connect places that the regulars didn't And some of the carriers, such as the two I mentioned, are immense and they didn't get that way by being undependable, or more undependable than anyone else. The long-established airlines compete by following their examples, such as charging for seat assignments. What you get is a seat that is comfortable enough for a couple of hours and saves you money).
In sum: Very good value for money, enough to have changed the way Europe travels.
Had good experience with Easy Jet. Carry on must be smaller than U.S. size and you can only have one. If you want a carry on plus a personal item it will cost a little more. But you do get early boarding and it was well worth it. You can also check do your online check in up to 30 days ahead of the flight.
I've booked two flights ths spring with Easyjet, direct on their website. Easy to do and inexpensive even paying for checked bag and seat selection.
A trick for finding which airlines fly from A to B.
Go to the Wikipedia article on the airport in question. The articles all have a section "Airlines and destinations". For example this is the one for Munich airport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations
This lists all the airlines and all the destinations they fly to, and is usually up-to-date. You can then go to each airline's website for times and prices.
Between Paris and Munich you have the choice of:
- Air France - Paris–Charles de Gaulle
- Eurowings - Paris–Charles de Gaulle
- Lufthansa - Paris–Charles de Gaulle