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Budget Flying Within Europe
Budget flights can save you time and money, but beware the fine print.
By Rick Steves
When I started traveling, no one spending their own money bought one-way airline tickets within Europe. It simply wasn’t affordable. But today that kind of thinking seems so 20th century. Before buying any long-distance train or bus ticket, it's smart to first check the cost of a flight — you might be surprised.
The proliferation of extremely competitive discount carriers has revolutionized European-itinerary planning and turned vagabonds into jetsetters. Because you can make hops just about anywhere on the Continent for roughly $100 a flight, deciding where to go is now mostly just a question of following your travel dreams: You're no longer limited to places within a convenient train ride (or reasonable drive) from each other. It's now entirely feasible to lace together a far-flung trip that ranges from, say, Ireland to Portugal to Sicily, if you please.
Using Budget Airlines
Since Europe deregulated its airways in the 1990s, a flock of budget-conscious, no-frills airlines have taken flight. Some of the most established (such as easyJet and Ryanair) have route maps that rival their mainstream competitors. Meanwhile, dozens of smaller, niche airlines stick to a more limited flight plan. For a list of many of these carriers — including websites and some of the destinations they serve — see the below.
Budget airlines typically offer flights between major European cities for $50–250. You can even find some remarkable, it-must-be-a-typo deals if your timing is right (for example, Ryanair routinely flies from London to any one of dozens of European cities for less than $30). Even after adding taxes and a boatload of fees, these flights can still be a good value. To get the lowest fares,