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Airline Fees / LCCs / Airline News / Ryanair / Wizz Air / BMI Baby / Easyjet / Jet2 / Europe Travel / → All Tags

Not Cool! European Airlines Charge for Every Little Thing

For many companies, creative ways to positively effect the bottom line sets the more successful business apart from the less successful. Airlines are no different. Frankly we are kind of fed up with hidden fees and, with the recent federal guidelines for airfare advertising, some much needed transparency is returning. This transparency is crossing the Atlantic and being adopted for the European Union as well. Now, Ryanair and Spirit ("the Ryanair of North America"), have a whole lot more in common.

Earlier this month, Spirit Airlines stomped their feet and imposed a ridiculous tax for their passengers. In addition to adding a $2 "unintended consequences" fee, the airline will now charge $5 for an agent printing a boarding pass. This is in addition to digging deep to print your own boarding pass from a self-service kiosk. You guessed it, another two bucks.

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New Routes / Airline News / Airlines / Wizz Air / Delta / American Airlines / United / Southwest / → All Tags

Southwest, Delta and Wizz Air Bring Just a Few of This Week's New Routes

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Southwest Airlines:
They haven’t even started their very first flights to and from Atlanta yet, but it looks like Southwest Airlines is already planning even more flights out of one of the world’s busiest airports. The new flights are scheduled to Las Vegas and Phoenix, and if everything goes as planned the nonstop options will be effective as of March 10. Even though they’re busy merging, it sounds like AirTran will continue to offer its flights to Phoenix and Vegas as well. So if Delta isn’t your preferred carrier—or they’re charging too darn much—just take a look at fares from the Southwest family.

· Delta:
Toronto’s always a good place to visit, eh? That must be why Delta is adding some new flights between TO and Boston as of November. The new flights will run each day of the week a couple times per day, and you might actually be able to score some cheap seats. That’s because there’s plenty of competition on this route including several daily options from Air Canada, as well as a few options from Porter Airlines—although Porter flies to and from Toronto’s City Airport. We’ll see how it does, but another international option is always a good thing.

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New Routes / Wizz Air / JetBlue / Southwest / Virgin America / Blue1 / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags

Plenty of New Routes from Frontier, Wizz Air, and Everyone in Between

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Frontier:
We’re not sure if the warm cookies will be able to make it all the way there, but Frontier Airlines is launching new service to Liberia, Costa Rica this winter. Flights will start on February 13, and the final destination provides decent access to the resorts on the country’s western coast. The flights will come and go once a week from Denver. With plenty of options to other cities from Denver, this is a solid option to visit one of the world’s newest surf and sun hotspots.

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New Routes / LCCs / Wizz Air / Romania Travel / Italy Travel / → All Tags

Romania's Wizz Air Keeps The Cheap Italy Routes Coming

How about heading to Romania? It's like Italy, but cheaper! And further east! And they spell "pasta" like "paste!" With all these charms, how can you not give up some Milan action for Transylvania? Now thanks to the Wizz Air, you won't have to decide between the two since you can have both.

The European low-cost carrier, which already offers some tempting routes between Italy and Romania, is adding even more to continue the stream of tourism. Beginning on September 21, you'll be able to hop between Catania, a major Sicilian city, and Bucharest. Then, on October 28, Bucharest will also welcome flights from Bologna-Forli.

Although the flights will only be twice a week, it's a huge improvement over the state of Italy-Romania flights only a few years ago, when we were dying to get from Rome to Cluj-Napoca without, well, dying on government-owned Romanian airline TAROM. That route is also available now on Wizz Air, and even from Rome's main Fiumicino airport and not the dinky, Ryanair-happy Ciampino airport. Anyways, we digress. Get thee to Romania cheaply!

Related Stories:
· Wizz Air Opens New Routes To Italy [Easier.com]
· Wizz Air Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ati977]

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Wizz Air's Balloons Pop Prematurely

Poor Wizz Air. What started out as a sweet little marketing idea to celebrate the Eastern European low-cost carrier's fifth anniversary turned nasty this week, and we feel bad for them.

The airline set up a press conference and speaking event in Budapest, and the final act of the day was going to be the release of 1,000 balloons, each with a 10,000 forint ($50) coupon attached which the lucky finder could redeem on a Wizz Air flight.

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Nicolas Sarkozy / Carla Bruni / Ryanair / Centralwings / Wizz Air / BVA / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / → All Tags

Told You So Travel: Ryanair Ready for Sarko-Bruni Honeymoon

After a globe-trotting whirlwind romance, Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni got hitched in Paris this weekend. And though they spent their wedding night at the Palace of Versailles, they could do much better to keep up their Super World Traveler status.

Ryanair, the airline the couple sued over a witty ad, has lots of departures from Paris. What better way to put a ridiculous lawsuit to rest than snagging a super-cheap seat on the low cost carrier?

Flights leave Paris Beauvais airport--which is about 50 miles north of the city--for Stockholm, Rome, Dublin and Valencia among other spots. Sarko hardly seems like the romantic type, but what bride wouldn't love a trip to Venice? And if the duo isn't ready to put the feud with Ryanair behind them, no worries: Beauvais is also served by Wizz Air and Centralwings.

Related Stories:
· Sarkozy Marries Royally with Versailles Wedding Night [Guardian]
· Encore, Sarko and Bruni [Jaunted]
· Ryanair coverage [Jaunted]

Wizz Air / Airlines / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / → All Tags

Bad Jokes Are Free At Wizz Air

We've long admired Central European LCC Wizz Air for their unashamed use of pink in their corporate colors and website, but now we're going to pull them up for their extremely poor puns. Would you buy a ticket from London to somewhere in Poland on the strength of this:

You can do a loty with your zloty.

Assuming you even know that zloty is the Polish currency, you're surely only going to groan rather than book a flight from various UK airports to Krakow, Warsaw or Gdansk even at the very reasonable price of £19.99 ($30), all taxes and charges included. (We love the European LCCs new wave of truth-in-advertising.)

Poor puns aside, Wizz Air has been busy of late, opening a new base in Poznan, Poland and expanding services from Bucharest and the Transylvanian city of Tirgu Mures. The airline also proudly announced that it offers the most routes of any carrier between Poland and Scandinavia, which is fantastic, because we're always scratching our heads about how to fly from Poland to Scandinavia.

Related Stories:
· Site Scramble: Wizz Air [Jaunted]
· Wizz Air [Official Site]

[Photo: lorenty]