Air travel within Europe has become a lot cheaper with the arrival of over 40 low cost airlines in the last few years but it is not always easy figure how to get a good ticket and what it actually costs.

The two largest of these no frills airlines are Ryanair and Easyjet with about 35% of the market but many more keep coming everyday, most small independent airlines but sometimes belonging to one of the traditional airlines. However there are certain problems involved in using them and they are not always as cheap as they might seem.

In most countries the airlines do not have to write out the price including taxes and you can often see flights offered for as low as 2 USD on top of that you have to add the airport tax, other taxes and sometimes other costs.

Another problems are that they often use smaller airports quite far away from the destination. Which can add quite a considerable amount to the travel cost. So make sure which airport you are leaving from and how much it costs to get there. London has more than five airports and so do many of the major European cities.

Also most of them do not sell connecting flights so you need to check out your luggage and check it in again if you are transiting. They do not guarantee to be on time so there has to plenty of time from your arrival to your departure or any other appointment, there is no compensation if it is late or cancelled. This is most common towards the end of the day since the use of the airplane fleet is very high, five minutes of delay of each trip can sum up to an hour or more towards the evening.

There is usually nothing for free to eat they all sell something so you only have to pay for it if you actually use it. Neither are there good options for flexibility, often the reschedule or a cancellation cost is almost as much as the total price of the ticket. So plan before you book. It is also quite hard to find the cheapest option, no airline is always the cheapest and since they are not connected to any of the big GDS’s (The system the your travel agent or online booking service is connected to.) you have to either call them or use the Internet. The most useful web sites that either sell budget flights Openjet or compares flight prices are LowFareFlights, Skyscanner and Applefares. Most flights are sold ticket less so you get a confirmation number that together with your passport is your ticket. The prices changes very often and it is hard to be sure to get the best price but in general . Campaigns are coming and going and depending on how booked the plane is they might choose to lower it. Being early is not always better, and if you find a good price and think about if for a few days it might be gone when you want to book. But in general the cheapest fares are available 12 - 14 weeks before the flight (source AUC).

But sometimes when the traditional airlines are running a campaign they are cheaper than the low-budget options.