A few years ago back when budget airlines like EasyJet and RyanAir were first on the scene we were all promised ridiculously cheap flights to all sorts of destinations from European city breaks to viable alternatives to ferries to Ireland. There seemed to be a growing market of flights that appeared to operate at a price lower than the cost to the airline itself.
This was all well and good especially after other destinations received discount flights like New York and even locations like India and Turkey. The problem is that in the past few years most people haven’t noticed the price of these flights has managed to creep up and now the moniker of cheap flights seems false.
Holidays site Travelocity has found that prices have raised by roughly 7 percent compared to last years prices, so why has this happened? Well the price has risen due to a number of different factors and depending on which airline you select you may have to pay considerably more on top of your flight cost.
One common raise has been the rise of fuel tax, with the airline industry receiving a lot of flak in the battle to make our lives “greener” air travel is said to produce one of the most destructive gases to our environment (as well as bovine flatulence, but that’s another matter) and so fuel surcharges has been increased to discourage people from taking flights.
Some people think that this initiative is a direct response to the cheap flights industry as many more people flew to destinations once cheap flights were readily available. Other than this cause there are a number of trivial extra charges such as aisle seats, the boxed lunches and with some airlines if you have more than one item of baggage checked.
So are cheap flights lost to the ether, an afterthought in the history of air travel? Well not necessarily there are a few ways in which you can help reduce the cost of your flights, such as booking as early as possible. A leading travel agent explained that flight prices gradually rise in the lead up to the summer holiday period and are at their most expensive during the period of March to September. They also advised that December is the optimal time to book your flights as this is when they are at their cheapest.
Apart from booking good and early there is a number of air fares monitoring websites that can track multiple flights companies so you can hunt down the cheapest flight possible and pounce on them when the timing’s right