Trying to book a cheap flight is somewhat of a minefield these days. Airlines seem to have bamboozling customers down to a fine art. Hidden fees, baggage charges and airport taxes can mean that the flight that was advertised for only a few euro can end up costing you a fortune.
However, there are a few simple rules of thumb you can follow if you want to keep the price of your low-cost flight from spiralling out of control, and SaveAFewBob have collated them into this handy guide.
Fly at off-peak periods
It goes without saying that it’s going to cost more to fly during July or August than at any other time of year, so it makes sense to take your summer holiday in May or September if at all possible. Also, flying mid-week is typically cheaper than flying at the weekend.
Watch the sales
Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair have sales on a regular basis, with both airlines offering fantastic deals. Ryanair’s sales are particularly good, as their prices often include the taxes and airport charges. Keep an eye out for any ads in the newspapers, or you can subscribe to email alerts on the airlines’ websites.
Travel light
Aer Lingus charges €15 per item of checked-in luggage each way on most European routes, while Ryanair charge €15-€20 each way for the first bag, then €35 for the second bag. This means that if you were to fly to a European destination with two checked-in bags with Aer Lingus, you would be charged an additional €60 on top of your fare. Travelling with two checked-in items of luggage with Ryanair would set you back at least a whopping €100. This certainly provides a strong incentive for the prospective flyer to travel light: if you’re only going away for a couple of days, just bring the bare minimum and travel only with hand-luggage. But be sure to weigh it before you go to the airport - you don’t want to be stung for €30 because you carry-on luggage is a few hundred grams over the weight limit.
Booking your flight: use the right credit card
Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus have sneaky handling fees or booking charges on most flights, which will add €10 to a return booking. There is a way to bypass these charges, however: if you use a Visa to book with Aer Lingus, you won’t get charged the extra €10. If booking with Ryanair, use a prepaid Mastercard and you’ll avoid the extra charge.
Which airport are you flying to?
Ryanair tend to fly to airports some distance outside the cities that they nominally serve in order to avail of cheaper airport charges. So, if you’re flying with Ryanair to Paris, you’ll actually be flying to Beauvais (about 80km from the centre of Paris); if you want to go to Munich, you’ll be flying to Memmingen (over 100km from Munich itself). Not only will flying to one of these regional airports make your journey a lot longer, the train or bus transfers can add up to almost as much as you paid for the flights themselves. So unless the flight to Eindhoven is an awful lot cheaper than the flight to Schiphol, pay the difference and save yourself a lot of hassle and expense down the line.
Shop around
While value-conscious consumers are more than happy to shop around for the rest of their purchases, many of us only consider only Ryanair or Aer Lingus when we’re looking for flights. Don’t forget that there are a lot of other airlines that fly into Ireland these days, and they may offer a better deal. When looking for flights, be sure to check out Aer Arann, Delta, bmibaby.com, British Airways, and BMI. Also, check out Skyscanner.ie, a website that allows you to compare the prices offered by various airlines for similar flights.
Have a safe flight, and don’t forget to bring SaveAFewBob back a stick of rock.
Tags: money saving tips, travel savings
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[...] are a number of functions, particularly booking flights online, for which having a credit card is a necessity. However, there are many people who, for whatever [...]