by J.P Chenet

Created on: August 25, 2008   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

Tips for how to get a cheap airfare in Europe

Getting to Europe is an expensive task, however once here, everything is very close and travel can be affordable if you are clever. I have identified a few tricks that could enable you to get those European vacations you desire without paying full price for airline tickets.

Be flexible in your travel dates. This helps to find the cheapest fares available because the airlines charge more for travel on certain days for example Fridays and Sundays. It will also cost you more to fly a public holiday or the day immediately after a holiday. These are all heavy travel' days so airlines won't discount them. Alls try flying in unusual times of the day; this tends to be cheaper than peak commute' times. If you still wish to travel over the weekend a small change like flying on a Friday morning or even Thursday afternoon can be economically beneficial.

Do your homework: Websites like www.skyscanner.com or www.bestfares.com they are fantastic because they are not an individual company's website; they are independent and will identify the best airline travel options for you the consumer.

Book your tickets in advance: It's often the airlines company policy to increase the price of the ticket in direct relation to the length of time before the planes scheduled take off. It's a simple thing to identify, ask for a ticket on the next plane available and then for one also in 3months the price difference will be obvious.

Watch out for cheap airlines: There are a number of companies out there that offer cheap airline flights', or the best price airline tickets', my advice is to be careful. While the initial price quoted for your airline ticket can be incredibly cheap ensure that you add up all the costs before you start comparing your actual flight costs. The operating costs of these cheap airlines are not much less than standard airlines. They will cover their costs by selling you a cheap plane ticket then making up the money by charging extra on bags, paying with a credit card, and other miscellaneous taxes. The cost of these cheap airline flights can actually be more than flying with a standard airline. Once you total the costs it is cheaper to fly from Frankfurt to London on British Airways than to buy a 5 euro ticket with other companies.

Finally, find out which airport the plane lands at is: Often the cheap flights deal' will land at obscure airports and require an expensive bus or train tickets to get to your final destination. For example one company that fly's from Frankfurt in Germany uses an airport that is two hours travel from the main international airport Frankfurt Mann this bus trip will cost you 17.50 euro per person each way. The same applies for the airports in Rome and London. These taxis, bus and train tickets can all grow transportation costs exponentially. Don't forget to add this into your costs when comparing your options. A friend bought a 90.00 euro ticket to go skiing in Italy, problem was it cost another 80.00 euro per person to get connections to the ski field because they landed so far away in comparison the flight cost 120.00 euro and a further 20.00 euro (for two people) in the taxi.

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