Help me find cheap tickets to Europe

August 9, 2006 12:49 PM

What is the best website to use to get cheap airline tickets to Europe (specifically Amsterdam or Prague)?

I used to know two really great websites for getting deals on foreign travel, but I lost all my bookmarks recently when a hard drive died and I can't remember them. Any ideas?

posted by Fidel Cashflow to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

Oh yeah, I'm in Massachusetts...
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 12:52 PM on August 9, 2006

Kayak.com and Sidestep.com will both search multiple sights, including discount carriers.
posted by occhiblu at 12:52 PM on August 9, 2006

One thing to consider is that it can sometimes make sense to get a cheap(er) flight to, say, Dublin or London, and then use the super-cheap European airlines to get to (or close to) your final destination.
posted by wackybrit at 1:18 PM on August 9, 2006

I have found, for flights from Canada atleast, the cheaper charter airlines don't get into the online flight databases. Doing a bit of leg work yourself and looking at the different charter airlines sites directly can be useful. I have used WhichBudget.com with good results in the past.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 1:28 PM on August 9, 2006

Kayak.com is the best, unless you're a student with a valid university email address. In that case, studentuniverse.com.
posted by The Michael The at 1:46 PM on August 9, 2006

farecrawler.com is another good website - it often give different (sometimes better, sometimes not) results from Kayak.
If you follow wackybrit's suggestion, be aware of the quite stringent luggage allowances on the cheap (i.e. Ryanair) airlines. It really doesn't pay to go over-limit, you'll make up any difference in payment for your luggage.
posted by dbmcd at 1:49 PM on August 9, 2006

wackybrit is absolutely right: it may be cheaper to fly to London (or even Bristol) and then hop over via a really cheap airline to Amsterdam.

Incidentally, Amsterdam is a major European hub - unlike Prague - so you'll find it much easier to get there. Schipol airport (Amsterdam) is a short train ride away from the centre of town, as is The Hague (den Haag) which is a lovely place to go too. (I find Amsterdam a bit too full of drugged-up people and/or the worst of the sex industry, while The Hague is a typically lovely Netherlands town.)

While you pop over, do see what London has to offer, too. www.laterooms.com gives cheap hotel rooms; although I live here, I'd recommend London to anyone for a few days to look around - there's a lot here.
posted by jamescridland at 2:01 PM on August 9, 2006

Once you've found your destination, check skyscanner for cheap flights within Europe.
posted by rom1 at 2:05 PM on August 9, 2006

I'll second what wackybrit and jamescridland said. When I went to Prague a few years ago, my wife and I flew into London, then bought a cheap ticket from London to Prague. If I remember correctly, I used expedia.co.uk to book out of Heathrow via British Air. We also flew British Air over from the States, as they were offering 3 nights hotel in London if you booked round trip through their website, so we got a bonus visit there on the same trip.
posted by sbrollins at 2:19 PM on August 9, 2006

One thing to consider is that it can sometimes make sense to get a cheap(er) flight to, say, Dublin or London, and then use the super-cheap European airlines to get to (or close to) your final destination.

This is true, at least for Amsterdam (don't know about Prague). It's always MUCH cheaper to fly to London than to Amsterdam, and from London you can take an Easyjet flight to Amsterdam (they go 3x a day I think) for less than the difference.

Also, the best way to buy a cheap ticket is to book it months in advance. I'm flying to Amsterdam next week (through London, as described) and this scenario cost me about $900 (Canadian) when I booked the flights in April. I tried to find the same flights last week, and the exact same trip is now up to $4000, while the cheapest way to get there was close to $3000.
posted by easternblot at 2:37 PM on August 9, 2006

Watch out, however, for Europe's "really cheap" airline's baggage allowances. They'll ding you like crazy for excess weight.... Ouch, there goes the savings.... For what it's worth, I've had some luck using Mobissimo.
posted by rumbles at 8:27 PM on August 9, 2006