For example, I'd like to go to Spain for the weekend at the end of March with little preference for a city. I know of Swiss from Zurich (where I live) and easyJet from Basel/Geneva.
Any other airlines I could look at?
Thanks,
~ Nanda.
Does anyone know of a good website that woud include all budget airline searches?
I came across this webpage (in German) the other day, but I doubt that all the budget airlines are listed - see section LowCost Carrier:
Check these Spain specials out.
Check out :
Very Cheap tickets !
This is a fantastic website, I use it all the time. It shows you all the budget airlines.
What about the train ?
There's an overnight "hotel" train between Zurich and Barcelona...
Helvetica? u tried that?
They asked for budget airlines
OK it's not a budget airline but Iberia might be worth a look in case they have any offers.
Often "budget" airline prices if not booked well in advance can be no cheaper than "mainline" Airlines. Check all the prices and choose the price and service level that suits.
Insider Tip #1.
Of course.
I've never seen a cheap Helvetic flight though, we use Swiss instead...
As someone who travels not infrequently and hates spending any more money than I have to (it must be the Scottish blood), I find there are two very helpful things to do when trying to get from A (in Switzerland) to B (elsewhere) as cheaply as possible:
1. Consider non-mainstream airports for cheap flight alternatives. For example, a few years ago during the expen$ive Chri$tmas $ea$on, I flew Ryanair between London and Karlsruhe, Germany, for wayyyyyy less money than a flight into Switzerland, even when you factored in the train ticket. Freidrechshafen (spelling?), Germany is another small airport with cheap flights near the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Just keep in mind that although you can save a lot of money this way, you certainly don't save time...
2. One shortcoming of online cheap travel search engines/services is that search results are limited to a certain number of carriers. It's worth checking out the website of an airport to see all available carriers and destinations, then search for flights directly from the carriers. You can find cheap flights this way that you won't find from expedia, easyjet, or other services. Last year (er... two years ago... has it really been that long?) by doing this I discovered a Scottish airline I'd never heard of offering dirt-cheap flights from Geneva to Stansted, and flew there for significantly less than the easyjet rate. It takes a bit more work and time at the computer to do this, but you can find some really good deals this way that you might not be able to find out otherwise.
Bon voyage!
HeatherM
Moved from daily life to transport
For our Scottish contributors...
BMI start Zürich to Edinburgh flights end of March (again I believe).
A friend of ours has booked from the UK already for £97 return.
Not true budget prices, but then you're not flying from or to the back of beyond.
About bloody time, I haven't been home for 18 months as I can't be bothered changing at Amsterdam, I was most displeased when Duo folded. Thanks for posting this.
Hi,
thats great about BMI, I hate flying so flying direct means one less flight for me, altho Ill probably use the easyjet to Geneva more often
Jo
If you don't consider Geneva too far, you can fly Geneva-Edinburgh direct with FlyGlobespan . Weekend rates are nothing to get excited about, but their mid-week flights are very cheap... you can fly out one Wednesday and back the next for as little as 35 pounds, including all taxes and fees.
HeatherM
Kayak.com is also really good as it actually searches all the travel search engines and the airlines. You don't book through kayak.com but they link you directly to the airline so you're still buying your ticket through who you'll be flying with.