Booking a Budget Flight

This is the easy part.

Purchasing Your Ticket

Most low-cost carriers can be booked with a standard credit or bank card. Many low-cost carriers (among others, Air Berlin, easyJet, Germanwings, Jet2, and Ryanair) now operate with their own co-branded credit cards. Note that these airlines, operating their own credit cards, usually impose a charge for purchases made with other credit cards.

Ticketing

Many low-cost airlines have completely automatized ticketing systems. This means, among other things, that there are no paper tickets. Book with a bank card or credit card and then print out your ticket or ticket confirmation. In some cases, your ticket confirmation will be emailed to you. In some circumstances, the purchase confirmation page or your receipt will serve as proof of purchase.

Booking by Phone

It is also possible to purchase tickets by phone in the vast majority of cases, though we do not recommend doing so. In many cases, an additional charge applies to telephone bookings. Be very cautious regarding the fine print. Some airlines levy very pricey per-minute toll charges for all calls. EasyJet is a major offender on this front, as a 2006 exposée in the UK's Guardian newspaper attests. The low-cost air movement is geared toward on-line transactions, and these are definitely the best and cheapest way to go.

Booking through a Travel Agent

Again, it is possible to book on a low-cost carrier when planning a trip with a travel agent. As far as we know, this won't incur any fees from the carrier, but you will likely be charged something by the agent or agency.

Flexibility: A Priority

We'll cover this information in greater depth later, but low-cost airlines offer and reward flexibility. Keep this in mind when booking. If a fare seems particularly high, play around with your dates. We'll explain elsewhere why a "low-cost" fare might be even higher than a fare turned up by a "full-cost" carrier.