Avoid These Budget Airline Rip-Offs!

Over the past decade, budget airlines have revolutionised short-haul travel. Low cost flights have really taken off, as Brits enjoy the idea of getting no-frills air travel at a fraction of the price.

However, as I wrote last year in The Hidden Costs Of Budget Airlines, sometimes `budget' doesn't always mean low cost, and many of them will slap on extra charges for things you take for granted with more mainstream airlines.

Despite this, budget airlines say they remain committed to providing travel at affordable prices. Just last month, Ryanair announced that despite a predicted loss of up to _60m in 2009 if fuel costs remain high, they would be cutting fares as opposed to raising them.

However, is this actually true? Or are the budget carriers simply stinging you in other places in an attempt to recoup their losses?

Here's how five of the budget airlines size up against each other. The end column shows the extra charges incurred should you pay for your ticket using a debit card and need to check in one bag at the airport.

Ryanair redemptions

In all fairness to Ryanair, if you only have hand luggage, check-in online, and pay for your ticket using a Visa Electron card, you can avoid paying for any of these extras. Just make sure you select this option when paying for your ticket, as it's easy to assume you have to check-in at the airport.

In addition, Ryanair along with easyJet flies to far more destinations than their closest rivals (for example, Ryanair flies to over 145 destinations compared to Flybe's 55).

Between these two top budget players, I also checked ten popular holiday destinations for a return ticket during the last week of November and found that easyJet was more expensive in eight out of ten cases, costing upwards of £10 more per flight than Ryanair.

However, from my experience, Ryanair also tends to fly to the more rural airports in some destinations (including Barcelona, Rome and Milan) while in many cases easyJet does serve the more central ones. Again, this is another variable you may wish to consider.

Bearing with the bare essentials

If you do plan to avoid extra baggage charges by only taking hand luggage onto the plane, bear in mind size and weight rules for these items.

Three of the five budget airlines listed above will let you take up to one bag weighing 10kg on board, as long as it has dimensions of no more than 55x40x20cm, although Jet 2one stipulates it should not be in excess of 46x30x23cm and Flybe specifies dimensions of 50 x 35 x 23cm.

If your bag exceeds this, you may be forced to check it in, meaning you will have to fork out for the inflated fees of checking in a bag at the inflated `airport check-in' prices.

You should also know that you will not get any complimentary food or drink while on board, so if you decide that temptation is too great to bear, be prepared to fork out cuisine prices for some rather ordinary food.

Alternatively, pack your own food (bearing in mind airport rules on liquids and what you can bring through security), which will cost you much less than anything you buy on board.

For more info on rip-offs in the airport, plus some great tips on to avoid them, check out Serena Cowdy's great article, Avoid These Airport Rip Offs!

Shop around

The final thing to remember before choosing your airline is to shop around. Search price comparison websites such as lastminute.com and Skyscanner, which look at both budget airlines as well as the main players to get the best price for your flight.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal choice and the type of traveller you are. Are you a business person carrying hardly any luggage? A couple just going away for the weekend? Or are you taking your family (and quite a few suitcases) away for a budget holiday?

All these questions are extremely important when it comes to travelling no-frills, and hopefully these few tips will help guide you the next time you're booking a flight. And whatever you do, don't just book blindly, as if you do, going `budget' can end up costing you more than you bargained for.