Wolfgang Jaegel asked:


A special administrative region of China, Hong Kong has been long regarded as the gateway to the nation. Hong Kong is a sprawling cityscape providing a feast of attractions to visitors touring the city in the form of a variety of museums, theme parks, and natural attractions, among many others.

However, its magnificent attractions are the not only thing that draw people from across the world here. The city also provides excellent options for business and educational activities. Many travelers including Americans and Europeans can savor the first taste of Asia by landing at the international airport in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong.

Traveling to Hong Kong has never been so easier, with a plethora of budget airlines in the scenario. Earlier, air travel was just confined to upper class people including top class executives as well as business magnets. But, with the birth of the budget airlines, anyone could dream of a comfortable air journey. In other words, budget airlines have now become a convenient alternative over shaky buses, inept trains, and traffic-jammed highways.

Budget airlines, otherwise known as no frills airlines, low cost carriers, or low cost airlines, are airlines or flight carriers providing flight services for exceptionally low rates. Sometimes you can travel with a budget airline for more than 50% discount.

The concept of no-frills airlines originally originated during the beginning of 1990s in the US, which later spread to Europe and gradually to Asian destinations. Now the budget airlines are popular throughout the world, and many of the leading as well as reputable airlines in the industry render low cost airline services and that too without sacrificing the quality of the services.

In budget airlines, the pricing of air fares vary depending upon the duration of time between booking and departure. Mostly, the earlier you make bookings for airfare, much cheaper would be the airfare. Likewise, in order to fill the unsold seat in the plane, some airlines would slash the price prior to a few days before its departure.

A specialty of most of the budget airlines is that they cater to almost all types of travelers. For instance, some airlines operate budget flights according to the convenience of the business travelers. There are certain airlines providing incredible deals on air fares for students as well as leisurely travelers. In most cases, budget airline fares are flexible, al though, in some instances, these airlines may charge a nominal fee to make changes in flight reservations.

A number of airlines are in the industry to render you the best in budget travel. With these excellent airlines providing bespoke services. A budget airline provides almost the same superb services that a standard airline offers, such as excellent dining options, superb entertainment facilities, and comfortable as well as soft cabins. Additionally, some of the budget airlines render special services for passengers such as elderly travelers, children traveling alone or not accompanied by their parents, pregnant as well as passengers flying with infants, and passengers who have visual, speech, or hearing imparity.

With the introduction of the internet, it has become quite easy to find a budget airline. Many of the airlines have their own websites with facilities for online ticket booking. This in turn is very convenient. It is not only beneficial for hassle-free bookings but also enable you to know whether they provide any kind of discount or deals for traveling within a stipulated period or during a particular season such as Christmas or New Year.

All you have to do is to just log into their website and inform them regarding the destination you are going to travel and date of departure. All of the rest they will take care. In addition, airfare bookings online is economical, as it enables you to save pennies on issuing tickets. The airlines, in most cases, sent confirmation through a simple document containing flight details as well as booking reference. When you make payments and bookings online, it allows you to easily take a print out of this document as soon as the booking process is completed. In short, with just a click of a mouse you can make bookings for a comfortable air journey.



Virgil

Manoj Gursahani asked:


The continuing fare tussle between the Indian Railways and the low-cost airlines in India has changed the contemporary scenario for the Indian traveller. A ticket on India’s low-cost carrier (LCC) has made flying an affordable reality for the hordes of Indians travelling across the country.

It has taken some time for the low-cost airline industry to carve a niche for themselves, but the wallet-friendly LCCs are here to stay.

When Air Deccan entered the markets with a bang-with prices competing with the AC II-tier train fares, the response from the leading domestic airlines like Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines was immediate. Slashed rates and Advanced Purchase schemes (Apex) swiftly began to take shape, resulting upto 30 to 40 per cent slashed fares for apex fares compared with the original prices.

Barely a year after Air Deccan took off came the launch of Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines, followed by SpiceJet and GoAir. Today the number of LCCs has multiplied from three to a dozen in a matter of months. Since the entry barriers are low, players such as Paramount, IndiGO (Interglobe), Yamuna Air or Kerala Airways, have already filed flight plans.

Continuing a steady progress, LCCs are slowly eating into the aviation market share, capturing almost one third of the total market.

However the dip in market share does not necessarily mean a drop in the number of passengers or revenues for the mainstream airlines, as the size of the air travel segment has also been increasing. In the market driven by the LCCs- with about half of the passengers being first-time air travellers, there’s a bigger pie for everyone.

But the biggest loser so far has been Indian Airlines. Even after its recent makeover called Indian, it has been left with a market share of only 23.88 per cent while the potential Jet-Sahara combine controls 45 per cent. As a result, it is exploring the possibility of jumping into the low-cost fray by merging Air-India Express, the low-fare arm of A-I with Alliance Air, the decade-old subsidiary servicing tier II cities.

However this fairy tale of low cost airline surge is still in its initial stages.

In Europe, North America and Australasia, most successful low cost airlines have operated primarily in domestic, or unrestricted international markets. The LCCs in India on the other hand, have to operate in a highly regulated environment. This is likely to get compounded with the surge in aviation fuel prices over the past year and the plummeting infrastructure with congestion in airports, lack of landing facilities and parking slots, and increasing staff costs driven by internal competition.

These non-frill LCCs are characterised by few on-board services and elimination of catering. But for the Indian travellers accustomed to travelling in the crowded trains for long hours, the aggressive tariff structure by the LCCs, costing nominally higher than the AC II-tier by train, is becoming a popular alternative. And with the LCCs now actively targeting the middle-class travellers, the Indian skies are slowly but surely opening up to the one billion plus Indian population.



Rebekah

jaxpilot11 asked:


I will be traveling to Europe and saw this low cost airline Ryanair. You can get one way flights for like 10 Euros! This can’t even cover fuel. Has anyone traveled with them? Are there a bunch of hidden fees? What gives?

Mindy

Wolfgang Jaegel asked:


Budget Airlines, also known as low cost airlines, discount carries, or no frill airlines, have revolutionized the way the people travel. With the introduction of the budget airlines, even a common man can now dream of air travels, which was once just confined to upper class people as well as business executives.

A budget airline is simply a category of airlines that render low fare services via cutting off majority of traditional passenger services. In other words, budget airlines are flight carriers that provide services at exceptionally low rates. Sometimes, budget airlines could even fetch you more than 50% discount.

The concept of budget airlines was first introduced in the United States. During the 1990s, it spread to Europe, and later gradually to Asian destinations. Now this concept has become popular across the world.

Today, many of the reputable airlines in the scenario provide low cost airline services and that too without sacrificing the quality of services. Budget airlines generally make available low fare services through adopting certain practices, such as, providing food options to be paid separately rather than providing it as an all inclusive service and by providing seating on the basis of ‘first come, first fill,’ ie, in the case of budget airlines, the plane is boarded just as a bus and as such, seats would be occupied by those who would come first. In fact, budget airlines have now become one of the smartest ways to travel.

Some of the salient features of budget airlines are single traveler class, single category of airplane that reduces training as well as servicing expenses, easy fare scheme, unreserved seating systems, early flights in order to eliminate delays in air traffic, short flights, ticket sales via the internet, thereby enabling passengers to save money in the form of commissions and fees paid to travel agents, issuance of tickets in electronic format, absence of services such as in flight catering services as well as other complimentary services.

In the case of budget airlines, the pricing of air fares is based on the duration of time between booking and departure. The earlier you make bookings for airfare, much cheaper would be the airfare. Similarly, in order to fill the unsold seat in the plane, some airlines would slash the price prior to a few days before its departure.

A specialty of most of the budget airlines is that they cater to almost all types of travelers. For instance, some airlines operate budget flights according to the convenience of the business travelers. There are certain airlines providing incredible deals on air fares for students as well as leisurely travelers. In most cases, budget airline fares are flexible, al though, in some instances, these airlines may charge a nominal fee to make changes in flight reservations.

A budget airline provides almost the same superb services that a standard airline offers, such as excellent dining options, superb entertainment facilities, and comfortable as well as soft cabins. Additionally, some of the budget airlines render special services for passengers such as elderly travelers, children traveling alone or not accompanied by their parents, pregnant as well as passengers flying with infants, and passengers who have visual, speech, or hearing imparity.

With the introduction of the internet, it has become quite easy to find a budget airline. Many of the airlines have their own websites with facilities for online ticket booking. This in turn is very convenient. It is not only beneficial for hassle-free bookings but also enable you to know whether they provide any kind of discount or deals for traveling within a stipulated period or during a particular season such as Christmas or New Year. All you have to do is to just log into their website and inform them regarding the destination you are going to travel and date of departure.

All of the rest they will take care. In addition, airfare bookings online is economical, as it enables you to save pennies on issuing tickets. The airlines, in most cases, sent confirmation through a simple document containing flight details as well as booking reference. When you make payments and bookings online, it allows you to easily take a print out of this document as soon as the booking process is completed. In short, with just a click of a mouse you can make bookings for a comfortable air journey.



Alex

Susan Kohlback asked:


In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of low cost airlines. With Southwest Airlines leading the way, new entrants RyanAir and EasyJet quickly attracted mainstream travelers in Europe and brought low cost airlines out of the shadows. The European low fare airlines have become so popular in fact that airline rates are often substantially lower than train tickets for travel between European capitals. In the US, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airways, Air Tran, Jet Blue and now Virgin America have all made a name for themselves as low fare carriers. Recently there has also been low fare expansion with routes between major US gateways and cities in Europe. Eurofly Airlines for instance flies popular routes between the United States and Italy at about half the fare as the legacy carriers.

But here’s where it gets tricky. There are fees involved to have tickets distributed through online booking sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Kayak, etc. Many low fare airlines refuse to pay those fees and all tickets must be purchased directly through their site. This makes it very difficult to comparison shop or even find the right low cost airline for the route you’ll be traveling. Luckily, a new breed of airline search engines have popped onto the marketplace to address just this need. Each of these sites scan both major legacy airlines AND low cost airlines to deliver the lowest airfare back to you. Have a look:

DoHop (http://www.dohop.com)

Low Cost Airlines (http://www.lowcostairlines.com)

Momondo (http://www.momondo.com)

SkyLow (http://www.skylow.com)

SkyScanner (http://www.skyscanner.net)

Which Budget (http://www.whichbudget.com)

You will likely be presented with choices on airlines you have never even heard of, so its important to do your homework once you’ve narrowed down your choices of flights. The low fare airlines do not have low prices out of the goodness of their hearts, they scrimp on service wherever they can to save money. You’ll want to visit the airline’s site to read about their rules,

restrictions and fees before purchasing a ticket. Also, expect to pay extra for each piece of checked luggage, every drink of liquid, morsel of food, or bit of entertainment. Finally, see what other travelers have had to say about their flight performance on consumer rating sites like Jaunted (http://www.jaunted.com) and Epinions (http://www.epinions.com).

With a bit of advanced planning, you’ll be flying to your next vacation destination at a fraction of the regular price.



Yagi

madcan asked:


Just flew to Houston on Jetblue and it was fantastic, especially with the tv for every seat, 234 round trip. Is there a way to buy low cost airline tickets

Seymour