We will start with some general tips for researching your flights to to get both the best route and the best price.

• Avoid travelling during school holidays for both your home and destination countries
• Travelling mid-week will get you the cheapest fares
• Be open to connecting through / a layover in a different airport
• Join airline frequent flyer programmes - Points add up over time and dring other benefits
• Do make the most of airline loyalty programmes - Avois/loyalty points can get you surprisingly far
• Do check multiple sites to find your cheapest option

This is something we would be m ore than happy to help you with.  You can find out more Here.

Researching your Flights

Start your search with Google Flights and Skyscanner - These will show your available carriers and routes and give you a good indication on the best flights available.  Keeping in mind the aim is to find the best route and price for the dates you want to travel, especially if you are looking to maximise your annual leave entitlement.

For destinations further afield,  we like to start by searching from Main/Hub (Dublin / Manchester / London / Paris / Frankfurt) airports, as the hub airports usually have a larger range of Flights available. 

Depending on where you are going, you may not be able to get a direct flight there from your local Airport, so change your search from your local airport to a city nearby, to check for your available options.  If you have no luck with that, you will need to look further afield.  

• For Scottish residents, we recommend starting your search from Dublin airport due to the abundance of cheap flights from almost all of the Scottish airports to and from Dublin.  Dublin is also a Ryanair hub, and offers and abundance of budget flights to a large number of European destinations.  If there are no flights to your chosen destination from Dublin, switch to Manchester or London* ("London (All Airports))* option so you can see what flights are available from where.
• For residents in England and Wales we recommend starting your search with Manchester or London (Google Flights and Skyscanner have "London (All Airports)" options, depending on your location.

Once you find the Route / Airline you want, be sure to check the Carrier's (Airline's) website, as they occasionally offer it cheaper directly.  Also - If you have an account with them / are a member of their loyalty programme, be sure to log in, as you may be able to use your points balance to reduce the cost of the flight further!

Airlines

The Airlines section started out on this page, but by the time the time we broke it down across the regions for budget and long haul carriers, the list became far too long, so we have given it it's own page, which you can find Here.

• For travel to European destinations from the UK and Ireland, as well as within Europe the the budget airlines tend to be the best option in terms of cost, even after the various add-ons have been included (Baggage, Seat Allocation etc).  
• For destinations outside of europe, we recommend long-haul and national carriers.

Note:  Since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 (Слава Україні!), some budget airlines have cancelled their routes to some Eastern European locations, particularly Wizz, who serve Far Eastern European locations and the Balkans.  

This is due to Russia firing missiles at Ukraine through their airspace via their fleet in the Black Sea (This directly Impacted Richard's Trip to Moldova in May 2023).  In some instances, to get where you want to go, you will need to take a Budget Airline to an Intermediate country (Romania in Richard's case) and then use the national carrier of your destination country or the Intermediate country (Richard used the Romanian National carrier TAROM to fly from Bucharest to Chișinău, and back), then back to your intermediary country to fly home.

You can check out the full Airlines section for Budget Airlines & Long Haul Carriers by Region Here.

Book Your Flights

• Make sure you visit multiple sited to find the best route and deal
• Make sure when booking that your baggage is included (For a City Break, hand luggage will usually be more than enough
• Use airline loyalty points to reduce the overall cost of the trip
• If booking a flight with a connection, double check that your first and second flights line up with enough time for a layover between the two flights.
• If connecting through an intermediary airport on route, we recommend making sure that you give your self 2-3 hours between your flight arriving and your next one departing (Assuming your bag is check-in all the way to your final destination.  This adds in a buffer for delays, changing terminal and navigating the Airport (Some Airports are HUGE eg:  Heathrow, Amsterdam & Frankfurt to name but a few).

IMPORTANT NOTE:  London Stansted & London Luton airports are both "Point-To-Point" airports, meaning that they do not offer flight connections.  This means that if you are transiting through either of these airports, on landing, you will need to collect your bag (and go through Immigration on your return landing), check-in/drop your bag, and go through security again.  For this reason, we recommend giving yourself 3-4 hours for these airports, as you have to consider:

• Budget airlines are the most likely to be delayed
• These airports predominantly serve budget airlines and Tour Operators and are usually VERY busy; check-in and security are usually always very busy!
• Delays to baggage delivery can and do happen
• Immigration can often be very busy when multiple flights land around the same time (Especially Post-Brexit)