cheap flights using Sky Europe?

Hi!  Has anyone here heard of Sky Europe airlines?  I went to their website, and they have ROCK BOTTOM fares between European cities.  Many one-way fares are 40 euros or less. 

Is this for real?  Is it a safe/reputable airline?  I'm envisioning a European backpacking trip, minus the backpacking. :-)

Hi Bernasha,

I've actually seen a plane from Sky Europe in London when I was there 3 weeks ago, but have no idea what their service is like.

I'm from Europe and indeed the fares some of the cheap airlines offer are insane. And the service isn't too bad with most of them.

I can vouch for Ryan Air (Ireland, UK and Mainland Europe), Air Berlin (Mainland Europe and some odd destinations), EasyJet (mainland, UK and Ireland).

I've flown with all of the above, Ryan Air had quite a delay but was soo incredibly cheap.

The reason these airlines can afford to offer such low fares, is that they usually fly to a secondary airport which is further out from the city and with that cheaper in landing/take off taxes.

For example instead of flying to Glasgow International which is 20mins from the city centre, they fly to Glasgow Prestwick which is about an hour outside of the city by train.

Or for London, they'll serve Luton or Stansted (about 2hours by bus from London city centre) as opposed to the well-known and easily reached Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

In a lot of cases it is cheaper to fly with one of those airlines instead of taking the train and faster of course. But make sure the journey from the airport to the city is not too pricey.

I haven't specificallly heard of the airline, but that may not mean so much. I would be careful though, these tickets are not at all flexible, date changeable or refundable. (that being said, only once have i ever lost a ticket). (i've lived in europe most of the last 5 years and travelled around alot)

Ryanair, easy jet are both well established, as is germanwings, airberlin, brussels airline etc. (although i actually hate ryanair, and only use it if absolutely necessary). Other options include looking for either forward tickets with real airlines, or else last minute tickets with real airlines (eg, hamburg-london return, with Lufthansa is 99 euro if you book early, and sometimes also last minute (Once i got a ticket for this price the day before i flew)) A good website is www.which-budget.com.

Really think about what time you are both taking off and landing in your destination. Try not to get flights that leave before 11 am or so, and land after 7pm. because if you take off at 6am then sometimes connections into the city can be almost impossible to make in the morning before you go, and you have to stay overnight at airports etc, which is not so much fun.

YOu also might have to think a bit laterally in how you travel, rather than in a round or linear trip like you would do on train, by plane, it might be cheaper to fly in non direct routes (eg there are almost no discount options between holland and germany)

Another REALLY important thing is that the baggage limit on most of these airlines is very strictly enforced, and for extra huge charges are made, eg for ryanair only 15kg, and ONE piece of hand luggage. This means you need to travel really light if you are using alot of discount airlines.

good lcuk and have fun.

Thanks so much for the replies---that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for.  I knew there had to be a catch or two, but it still sounds like something I could put up with in order to save that much money.  It might just take some extra planning.