Monday, June 18, 2007

Adding a Low Cost Carrier to your Itenerary


As the world becomes smaller, and more people become interconnected, small regional airlines have rapidly formed over the past few years to get people into remote areas outside main tourist hubs. From this, Low Cost Carriers also began to glow, offering cheap, no frills transportation to cities and villages around the globe.

LCC are cheap, sometimes offering seats as low as a penny + tax each way. But everything else than your body in a seat may cost ya. Some airlines charge for checked luggage, many for food or drinks. Change fees can be steep and restrictive, and flights often packed. But if you play by the rules, LCC offer an inexpensive option for connecting to cities outside major international hubs.

It seems every day there is a new Low Cost Carrier (LCC) opening up shop - last I checked I've counted over 80 on the Internet alone. Rather than listing all these out, i've provided a links to search engines in Europe and Asia offering LCC options. In Australia, I recommend JetStar, and in South America, where the LCC airlines are a bit slower in forming, there are fewer options. One Brazilian carrier, WebJet is provided for reference. Be sure to shop around.

Europe Search engine for city pairs in Europe
Asia Listing by each country in Asia (I recommend Air Asia)
Australia JetStar
Brazil Webjet
Canada WestJet

Wikipedia has a good listing of several other LCC airlines