So here’s the choice – to get around and outside the United Kingdom you can either use:
A. Coach (Bus)
B. Train
C. Airline (Plane)
I am not the biggest fan of flying since it is so much involved. You have to pack your luggage in a certain way, arrive to the airport X hours or minutes before the flight and airports are usually located in the outskirts of the city what costs you some extra time to travel time.
However, a big HOWEVER, is that we live in an Island! And the only other way to get to the continent is the EuroTunnel with Eurostar or take a coach with National Express Eurolines. So if you want to get out of this country and you don’t want to spend ages in car or a train, you have no other choice but fly.
Major air carriers in the UK
TIP: If you are booking flights to holiday destinations be sure to check out Ryanair, EasyJet and Jet2.com websites to compare the prices.
Ryanair - I do not think anyone need an explanation what Ryanair is. However, if you have never lived in Europe I suggest you to check out their websites. This is a huge Ireland airline company offering low costs flights. Not the most comfortable but since their longest flight would last no more than around 4 hours (I guess), I believe people can survive this time in a tight Boeing 737-800 with another 189 people just for the sake of cheapness.
TIP: Before you decide to take a train from South England to North Scotland, check out the prices with EasyJet – these are usually better and the trip will only take you an hour.
easyJet – British cheap flights company which uses Airbus for their flights. They also operate inner country and short distance flights as well as offer reasonable prices for them.
Jet2.com – another British low-cost airline. It is generally very similar to EasyJet, however, it does not operate any inner country flights. Jet2.com concentrates on carrying travellers to holiday locations such as Tenerife, Mallorca, Ibisa, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc. Jet2 are using Boeing aircrafts in this way it is similar to Ryanair.
British Airways – this is an industry giant. It operates both short-haul (Europe) and long-haul flights. They operate Airbus which we personally prefer (for comfort reasons) and give you food for free on board. BA sometimes do good deals for travelling long-haul but there have been so many strikes by their employees that I personally would be afraid to book an important flight with them since there might be a change you won’t take off. Don’t forget travel insurance for this reason!
Flybe – another less popular low-cost regional British airline. They mostly concentrate on inner Europe flights. Their choice of aircrafts is very odd since it’s Bombardier and Embraer Flybe uses. I am not sure that relates to cost effectiveness for this airline but for me personally it is like choosing a laptop and instead of a Macbook or Dell, you choose Kohjinsha (yes, I know – what a hell is that? It exists, it’s good but no one has heard much of them). Anyways, another airline for you to keep an I on.
Long-haul flights
Unanimously call STA Travel or visit their website and ask for the best deals. They have contracts with all of the airline companies which operate in the UK (Emirates, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Iberia, Lufthansa, SAS, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air France, Swiss International Airlines etc.).
Another choice is to use travel comparison websites. Here is a shortlist: