Just moved to London, now I want to leave.

February 29, 2008 5:22 AM

I just moved to London from California last month and I'm keen to make the most of my time here by hitting as many European cities as possible. I loved being able to use farecast, farecompare, etc to see where I could go each weekend in the US and where the ultra low fares were to be had. Is there a similar service in Europe? Any way to be notified about cheap weekend fares from the UK would be fantastic. Thanks to the hive brain. - Alex
posted by cubedweller to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

SkyScanner might be useful.
posted by cmonkey at 5:37 AM on February 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't know whether you can sign up to alerts on Ryanair or EasyJet, but that would be my first port of call.
posted by djgh at 6:11 AM on February 29, 2008

Kayak.co.uk does a funky comparison of airfares.
posted by jec at 6:37 AM on February 29, 2008

I don't think they do alerts, but skyscanner is an excellent low-cost airline search engine.
posted by rjt at 7:35 AM on February 29, 2008

MoneySavingExpert on cheap flights from the UK.

I love this man.
posted by tonylord at 7:40 AM on February 29, 2008

We went to Las Vegas (to get hitched, 'natch!) last September, and Trailfinders has been sending an email about every two weeks or so with their specials. Some haven't been half bad, YMMV.
posted by Mutant at 7:58 AM on February 29, 2008

With the well-developed budget airline services in the UK, late-notice deals are not so worthwhile for reaching mainland Europe as they are for getting around in the U.S. Your best bet is to decide where you want to go a couple of months out, find out which of Ryanair, EasyJet, etc. fly there, go to their website, and book. They don't really operate the same seat-filling/pricing algorithms as the national carriers or U.S. airlines. It's pretty much: prices go up as the date approaches.

But before you get carried away hitting every European destination the budget airlines serve, think about whether it's necessary to fly. Europe is not like the U.S., in that it may be cheaper and quicker to take the train. You can get a Friday night Eurostar out of London, connect on a sleeper train in, e.g., Paris, and wake up pretty much anywhere in Western Europe. No two hour check-in, no misery (and I mean misery) at airports like Stansted, the adventure of a sleeper train, and the good karma of not taking frivolous, environmentally costly short haul flights). Certainly worth trying at least once! seat61 has some good specific advice about how to get around.
posted by caek at 8:01 AM on February 29, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I agree that you should sign up to the newsletters from the airlines themselves, but you might also like to try Momondo. They claim to search more than 400 flight search engines - including all the low budget European airlines. Momondo is a Danish site, so it is focussed on Europe rather than the US.
posted by AnnaRat at 8:04 PM on February 29, 2008