AirAsia’s Stansted–KL flights make cheap long-haul travel easier
March 12th, 2009 by Tim Uden
Today AirAsia has started its London Stansted–Kuala Lumpur flights. This means that you can now fly from the UK to Australia on low cost airlines with only one stop en route.
In a previous post I mentioned how you can piece together relatively short hops on low cost carriers to make your own round-the-world trip. Before AirAsia started their Stansted-Kuala Lumpur flights, you would have had to make five separate flights on Tiger Airways, Air Arabia and easyJet to fly between Australia and the UK on budget airlines. Now it’s a straightforward journey on a single airline with one stop in Malaysia.
AirAsia’s regular one-way fares are around £179 between London Stansted and Kuala Lumpur but specials (like their promotional launch fares on sale last November) on this route go as low as £99 one way.
From Kuala Lumpur AirAsia has cheap onward flights to Australia and throughout South East Asia. Prices advertised on their website today include bargains such as Kuala Lumpur–Perth for £18 and Kuala Lumpur–Melbourne for £39; and those fares include taxes and fees.
Ryanair vs easyJet
February 4th, 2009 by Tim Uden
I was recently asked to book a return flight for someone flying from London to Barcelona, which highlighted the disparity between airlines that advertise prices inclusive of taxes, fees and charges and those that don’t.
I needed to book a flight departing in the last week of February and returning a month later with one checked bag, one cabin bag and no insurance or in-flight meals.
Ryanair’s advertised price for the return flight was just £3.79 and easyJet was £36.92, but after adding taxes, fees and other charges easyJet emerged the winner with a total cost of £52.42 compared with Ryanair’s £77.46.
Here’s how it all breaks down:
With easyJet the advertised fare in inclusive of taxes and airport charges, but not checked luggage charges or credit card processing fees. The cost of flights was £22.99 for the London Luton to Barcelona outbound flight on 25 February and £13.93 for the Barcelona to London Stansted return flight. After adding a £6 checked luggage fee for each flight and a £3.50 credit card processing charge we get a total price of £52.42.
Ryanair is one of the few remaining airlines to retain the deceptive practice of advertising fares exclusive of taxes and airport fees. The outbound London Stansted to Barcelona Reus flight on 27 February was free (plus £28.17 in taxes, fees and charges) and the return flight from Barcelona Reus to London Stansted on 27 March was £3.79 (plus £17 in taxes, fees and other charges). Then there is a £4.75 credit card handling fee (for each flight) plus a £9.50 checked luggage fee for each flight, which brings the total to £77.46.
Both easyJet and Ryanair use Luton and Stansted airports about half an hour by train north of London. You can pay £19 each way to take the Stansted Express and £11.50 each way for the First Capital Connect train to Luton Airport; but if you book in advance you can get to Luton or Stansted for just £2 with easyBus. That means that both airlines tie for the cost of the return trip to their London airport (£4 return for either airline).
However there is a huge variation in the cost of getting to the airport at Barcelona.
With easyJet you fly into Barcelona’s main airport and it costs €2.80 (£2.50) to take the train from the airport into the centre of Barcelona. But if you fly into Barcelona with Ryanair you land at Reus Airport near Tarragona, around 90km south of Barcelona. The bus to central Barcelona from Reus Airport will cost you €12 (£10.85) each way or €21 (£19) for a return fare (as long as you return within one month). So Ryanair saves a few pounds by flying into an out-of-the-way airport and you end up paying £19 instead of the £5 you would pay if you fly into Barcelona’s main airport.
So all up Ryanair’s £3.79 return flight ends up costing £100.46 for the return fare including airport transfers and easyJet’s £36.92 fare comes to £61.42.
In other words, Ryanair’s cheap fares are just a sneaky way to slug you with all sorts of hidden fees and charges and more expensive fares advertised by competing airlines can often work out cheaper in the long run.
Thousands of passengers stranded as Sterling Airlines goes bust
October 29th, 2008 by Tim Uden
The Icelandic-owned, but Danish-based, low cost airline Sterling Airlines has declared bankrupcy and ceased operating. The company has attributed rising fuel costs and the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis as the main factors behind the company’s collapse.
Sterling flew to around 40 destinations throughout Europe, although it was primarily a Scandinavian airline with hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. It’s main UK hub was Gatwick Airport and routes includes flights from Gatwick to Copenhagen and Stockholm.
Customers who have purchsed tickets directly on Sterling’s website will not recieve any refund, although customers may be able to get a refund on tickets bought from travel agents and tickets bought by credit card (through the guarantee scheme offered by some credit card companies). Although many travel insurance policies do not protect against airline insolvency, stranded travellers should still contact their travel insurance company as it may be possible to claim some compensation.
Travellers who have booked travel with Sterling can find more information on Sterling’s website.
Sterling’s parent company, Northern Travel Holding is part owned by Fons Eignarhaldsfélag, which also owns low cost Icelandic airline Iceland Express.
Round-the-world on low cost airlines
October 7th, 2008 by Tim Uden
Over the last ten years, low cost airlines have become enormously popular for relatively short flights and with growth of Asian low cost carriers, it has now become possible to fly around the world entirely on budget airlines. But are the savings worth it?
Looking at various airline’s websites I have been able to put together a RTW itinerary with travel on the following budget airlines: Air Arabia, easyJet, Flyglobespan, Jetstar, Tiger Airlines and Westjet taking in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Here’s how it all fits together:
- London-Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) – Flyglobespan £179
- Vancouver-Honolulu – Westjet CAD$491 (£257)
- Honolulu-Sydney – Jetstar USD$489 (£277)
- Darwin-Singapore – Tiger Airways AUD$100 (£42)
- Singapore-Chennai – Tiger Airways SGD$270 (£105)
- Chennai-Sharjah – Air Arabia AED650 (£100)
- Sharjah-Istanbul – Air Arabia AED736 (£114)
- Istanbul-London – easyJet EUR€30 (£23)
TOTAL £1097
All the above fares are inclusive of taxes, fees and charges but do not include additional charges for checked luggage or priority seating.
I purposely left open overland travel in Australia and North America because most people using this website are travelling to explore a destination and not to simply hop from one airport to another.
I checked with STA Travel for an equivalent round-the-world fare and was told that London-Singapore-Sydney-San Francisco and New York-London on Qantas and British Airways would cost £891 plus tax. STA’s website wouldn’t tell me what the tax would be but the Flight Centre website has a similar itinerary for £1279 inclusive of tax.
So you may save a couple of hundred quid flying on low cost airlines, but you could probably do it for a lot less if it didn’t cost so much to fly across the Pacific. Because of the lack of competition even low cost carriers like Jetstar can charge high prices for what should be a relatively cheap flight.
Budget airlines don’t offer the comfort of a regular airline, but one of the real differences is the lack of frequent flyer points. This normally isn’t such a big deal but on a round-the-world flight you can earn almost enough points for a free one-way flight between Australia and North America.
If you’re planning on making several round-the-world trips, then the cheapest option would be to make your first trip on a regular airline and earn your frequent flyer points. Then use the points for the trans-Pacific leg on your next trip and use budget airlines for the rest. In this case the second trip will cost only £563 plus whatever tax you have to pay on your free flight that you get with the frequent flyer points.
Alternatives to Zoom for cheap flights across the Atlantic
September 1st, 2008 by Tim Uden
Last Thursday Zoom Airlines ceased operation leaving 4500 UK passengers stranded and leaving thousands more travellers out of pocket with 60,000 forward bookings. It has also left a gap in the market for cheap transatlantic flights.
Air Transat, Canadian Affair and Scottish low cost airline Flyglobespan operate similar routes to Zoom and will likely fill Zoom’s place in the market although a handful of European airlines including Aer Lingus, Air Berlin, Condor, Eurofly and Martinair also offer cheap transatlantic flights. However it will be at least a year before we start to see really cheap flights across the Atlantic on Ryanair.
In April last year, Ryanair announced that it would start flying between London and the United States with one-way fares starting at £7 (around £80 after taxes, fees and other charges have been added). It has been over a year since this announcement as we’re still waiting for cheap transatlantic flights on RyanAtlantic (Ryanair’s transatlantic subsidary), which isn’t expected to start operations until next year at the earliest.
Like their European bases, Ryanair’s North American bases are expected to be in small regional airports. RyanAtlantic’s New York flights will most likely use Long Island MacArthur Airport (Islip Airport) and TF Green Airport near Providence, Rhode Island or Manchester-Boston Regional Airport are likely to be considered as a substitute for Boston’s Logan Airport.
What are the cheapest days to travel?
July 29th, 2008 by Tim Uden
It is commonplace for airlines to use a yield management pricing structure and other forms of transport such as buses and trains are also starting to use this pricing system. Basically this means that the advertised prices refer to the cheapest seats, which sell out first; leaving the more expensive seats for those who don’t book ahead. In other words busier travel times are more expensive than off-peak times unless you book well in advance.
Naked Bus (a New Zealand-based low-cost intercity bus operator) reveals that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally the cheapest days to travel as there are fewer other people travelling on these days and less competition for the cheapest seats.
Obviously the cheapest days and more expensive days to travel depend on the mode of transport and whether it is a leisure or business destination; but in most cases Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to travel.
Travel to weekend break destinations will be more expensive on Friday nights, Saturday mornings, Sunday nights and early Monday mornings and air travel to business destinations usually costs more early morning and in the evening, but is often cheaper around midday (especially midweek).
You’ll save money by booking well in advance, but often it is difficult to book too far in advance especially if you want to keep an element of spontaneity. However it always pays to be flexible with your travel days and check a couple of days either side of your planned travel day to ensure you don’t miss out of a bargain.