By using discount airlines rather than major carriers, North American travelers can get to Europe for less.
For most people, visiting Europe is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so they want to make the best of it. Figuring that they won’t have another chance for quite some time to make it over to the other side of the pond, North American travelers might want to get the most out of their European experience.
With the flurry of discount airlines available within Europe, such as Ryanair (which, rumor has it, may be starting a transatlantic route soon) and easyJet, it is a shame that more of them don’t fly the transatlantic route. With rates often starting at as little as £1, North American customers can only dream of getting such low rates for their flights over there, but will have to settle with what currently is available.
Getting There
On most vacations, especially ones that involve long flights, most of the traveler’s money is spent on both the transportation and accommodations. When it comes to European vacations, there are a few discount airlines that do fly from North America to Europe for prices that are much less than those of the major carriers. Currently, there are three leading discount airlines that do service the transatlantic route, allowing American and Canadian fliers to take advantage of lower rates than they would find on other major airlines.
The first is Air Transat, an airline that most would probably associate with vacation packages rather than discount plane tickets. Although they currently only fly from Canada, they are currently much less than other Canadian airlines. They advertise flights during the off-season from Toronto to London Gatwick from $517CAN, taxes included, compared to major Canadian airlines, which, although flying into Heathrow, charge around $750CAN. Other destinations include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Nice and Paris. Of the three leading discount airlines, they offer the most diversity in both departure cities (although all are within Canada) and destinations within Europe.
Second is FlyGlobespan, a rather new discount airline. Offering flights from a few major Canadian cities, as well as Orlando, similar to Air Transat, FlyGlobepan allows passengers to take advantage of discounted flights. Currently, most flights to London range from around $600CAN and up, round-trip, tax included, although, when the airline was introduced, there were flights available from $99CAN one-way, so chances are, prices may some down again. Some other destinations they fly to are Dublin, Glasgow and other various locations within the United Kingdom. On the downside, for Canadian flights, service is limited during the winter months.
Lastly, there is Zoom Airlines, which offers the most variation when it comes to North American cities. It leaves from a pretty even mix of both American and Canadian cities. It is also the only one offering flights from New York JFK, although these flights go only to London Gatwick and none of the other destinations they fly to such as Paris and Glasgow. Currently, they advertise flights from $129CAN each way to the U.K. and Paris from both Toronto and Montreal and $225US, quite a big difference than the Canadian cities, to London from JFK.
