Jaunted

LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Transavia / → All Tags

From the Netherlands to Sunshine on Transavia

Wanna fly trans-Europe and save? Then it's gotta be Transavia. We're willing to look past the tortured pun of a name because this Dutch-French conglomerate sounds like a way to save cash while traveling. Transavia flies out of Dutch airports including Amsterdam and Rotterdam and also departs from Paris; a majority of the routes take you to the sunshine--Morocco, Tunisia, Greece and Spain feature highly.

What we especially like are the snacks for the trip south. Transavia has a funky on-board service menu which you can study online before your flight. We've never seen a budget airline make so much out of so little. (We know we're only going to see a creaky trolley roll up and down the aisle, but this magazine-style menu makes it seem like so much more.) Perhaps it's those quaint Dutch words that help. Drinking a chocolademelk sounds extra-cozy, and we love that buying nuts and drinks together means we can combineer & profiteer.

Transavia even shows a few films on board for free. But if you want to hear anything, you'll have to drop €3 on earphones--just ask for a pair of oortelefoon.

Related Stories:
· Transavia [Official Site]
· Netherlands Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: caribb]

Bad Fare / Larnaca / Bodrum / Transavia / Airlines / → All Tags

Bad Fare: Cypriot Riot

Jaunted Bad Fare:$164 OW, Amsterdam-Larnaca, Cyprus

Speaking of Transavia, we're not convinced by some of their expensive fares. Sure, Transavia is in a weird category of carriers--as they are owned by KLM--but the Dutch are good at pinching pennies, so we suppose it works out in the end. Nonetheless, we expect them to focus on flying to places other than Larnaca, Cyprus. Larnaca is quite a popular spot with the package tourists, though none of the major LCCs fly there. Instead, it's rife with charter flights from all over the UK.

Still, $164 OW from Schiphol is a lot to cough up when thompsonfly can take you between say, Luton and Bodrum, Turkey (a superior beach destination) for $65 OW. This fare is where Transavia's roots are showing--it's really a big boy, full fledged old-school carrier fare. Stick to what you're good at, Transavia--ferrying Dutch tourists to destinations Americans wouldn't even think of visiting, thereby showing us what's going to be a madly popular destination five years hence.

[Image via utnapistim/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Previous Bad Fares [Jaunted]