Cheap airline

[twasadark]

This is for my European flisties - what's a reliably cheap airline I could use to fly between London and Rome? I'm trying to decide whether I want to take advantage of a British Airways flight to London next spring, but I want to continue on to Rome after a few days and I want to see whether it would be cheapest just to go from LAX to Rome rather than make the stopoff in London.

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[ellisbell1848.livejournal.com]

Ryan Air if you don't mind landing in airports MILES from where you actually want to be, dodgy take-offs, and even scarier landings - oh and absolutely NO FRILLS (so for the cheapest only take carry-on and don't buy food on the plane. They don't even allocate seats).
That being said, they can be frakking cheap (I got flights from Bristol to Belfast for 2p once). Check out www.ryanair.com for deals.

Also, EasyJet. Much like RyanAir but a little less iffy.
www.easyjet.com

www.skyscanner.com is one of those cool sites that collects all the flights and shows you the options (like expedia and travelocity). Speaking of which, pretty sure there is a UK version of expedia and travelocity too.

Oh and of course www.cheapflights.co.uk

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Awesome!! Thanks so much! This will really help me a lot!

[ellisbell1848.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention: If you're flying RyanAir you want to search for the Ciampino Airport (not sure if the site lets you search 'Rome', it's been a while since I last used it), flying out of... Stansted I would imagine. Maybe Gatwick...

[quantrail.livejournal.com]

Like ellisbell1848 I would also suggest Ryanair if you're not fussy about taking off/landing at an airport that's potentially miles away from where you want to be.

A few things you should know first, though:

They're trying to get rid of airport check-in totally, so you may have to check in for the flight online (which they charge you €10 for doing - I work in €, not sure what they do for people who use £/$).

They're also VERY particular about what they allow you bring onto the plane as far as carry on luggage goes. When they say strictly one piece per passenger they're not kidding - you have to fit any airport shopping you do into the one piece of carry on as well as whatever you intended to bring on board. I usually end up taking a rucksack so I can have my handbag in it, my airport shopping and my odds and ends I need during the flight.

They will also check your bag to make sure it's not too big to take on as carry on and, if it is, they'll check it in at an extra fee. I have seen flight attendants take luggage off of people already inside the plane because it is too big to fit in the overhead bins.

So yeah, if you don't mind possibly landing in the neighbouring country (this happened to my brother once but I think he was in Spain or Portugal, not Italy) and only have a small amount of luggage (I think it's €30 to check in a bag per flight) then Ryanair is a good option.

The only other carrier I fly with a lot is Aer Lingus and they, unfortunately, don't fly to Rome from London.

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Wow, we'll really have to keep our luggage to a minimum, it sounds like. We generally try to do that anyhow since it sucks having to haul things around but this will make that all the more imperative!

Thanks for your words of wisdom - they are much appreciated!

[quantrail.livejournal.com]

If you end up flying with Ryanair and have any questions feel free to ask me =)

I've flown with them 3 times this year alone so I'm used to their shenanigans =D Thankfully, my flights have been pretty short ones; the flight attendants spent most of the flights trying to sell stuff, including scratch cards.

[smilla02.livejournal.com]

Ryan Air is cheap and I'm pretty sure there's some Stansted to Rome flight. I'm confused by your first commenter, they must have had a very bad experience. Yes, you have limitations for your carry on bags (14 Kilos if I'm not wrong) and you have to pay for drink/food on the plane, but the company is way better than Alitalia at landing his flights on time, for example. Things may have changed drastically in the last year, but my experience with RyanAir has always been positive.

Also Rome has two airports: Fiumicino and Ciampino and both are a few kilometers far from Rome so each will require a brief trip by train or bus (I reccomend train, especially from Fiumicino. It's fast and leaves every half hour).

This said, YAY for you coming over here! <3

[ellisbell1848.livejournal.com]

Yeah,3 very bad experiences with take offs and landings. 3 out of 3. Left me feeling very uneasy about flying with them.
However, every time we got that annoying jingle about being on-time, so I guess that was a positive.
I've always had great flights with Qantas, but know someone who wouldn't fly them if their life depended on it due to bad experiences. So, it's different for everyone.
I fly a lot, and I guess having had nothing but bad flights with ryan air I'm iffy about them.

Not trying to sound rude, and hope I'm not coming across that way. I just - for some reason - felt the need to explain my original ryan air comments.

[smilla02.livejournal.com]

No coming cross as rude at all, don't worry. Like I said, I imagined you had a very bad experience, so I can understand how you may hate the company and flying with them.

BTW,

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No coming cross as rude at all, don't worry. Like I said, I imagined you had a very bad experience, so I can understand how you may hate the company and flying with them.

BTW, <ljuser=twasadark>: I forgot to say before, but if you can book a long time before your trip, chances are that you'll find a cheap flight from London to Rome with Alitalia, let me know if you want me to have a look. I have a brother in law who works for them and he always sends me cheap offers.

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your comments! I never thought to check Alitalia, silly me! I usually just check kayak.com and British Airways - I do love that little computer/TV screen they have on each of their seat, lol.

[martinemonster.livejournal.com]

My experience has always been positive as well.

It's 15kg of carry-on luggage, check the measurements, but I've always brought my medium suitcase as a carry-on and it's been no trouble. Just remember no liquid, no sharp objects and only one piece of luggage and you'll be fine. :)

Go Ryanair! (They are on time more then 95% of the time).

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for your comments! It's good to know that you've had good experiences with Ryan Air. I'll definitely keep them in mind.

[pat-san.livejournal.com]

Hi there :)

I'm Italian and even though I don't live near Rome I usually go by train or bus, but I'm writing because *squeeeeee* Are you coming to Italy next spring??? *_____*

LOL, I'm just happy, that's all, I'm not trying to stalk you XD

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

LOL - thanks! You're not a stalker at all! Yes, we're definitely going to try to come to Italy next spring. It's our 25th anniversary and we want to do something special. Hopefully we'll have the money for it, lol. *keeps fingers crossed*

[pat-san.livejournal.com]

I'll keep my finger crossed for you :)

[vamp-ress.livejournal.com]

I can recommend Air Berlin. I don't know if they're serving that route and they're not super-cheap. But they're quite cheap while offering the servive of an airline much more expensive. You don't think you're flying low cost. If possible, I always fly Air Berlin.

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome. Thanks for the recommendation! I would have never have thought to check them.

*hugs*

[tigereyed24.livejournal.com]

As others have said, Ryan Air is by far the cheapest and you can get some ridiculous deals. I think checking a bag is only 15 pounds if I remember correctly. My sister and I bought too much stuff on one of our travels so just bought a cheap suitcase to check with our shopping and I seem to remember thinking it was pretty reasonable considering how cheap our actual tickets were. I never had any issues with sketchy take offs or landings either

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Great! Thanks for your comments. I just may fly Ryan Air if I can't get a deal to Rome from LA. Right now I have to concentrate on scraping the cash together, lol!