Transatlantic air travels

Most of us never think of shelling out for first of business class, when searching for an airfare to Europe. Especially, when European travel became more expensive than ever before. Well, before booking that same economy-class, did you consider all the options?

At present time many airlines offer a “premium economy” class. There, some of business class’s welfares are available at a much more attractive price. For clients, making the leap to something better than that, some airlines emerged to make price-wise with luxury cabins on traditional airplanes. Well, if your budget is not that good, you should know, that there are long-haul discount airlines, which offer you low prices that should save your money on transatlantic flights.

Here are some alternatives to common economy-class flights to Europe.

All-Business/Premium Airlines

These rather new airlines offer traditional business-class features – but for lower prices than the business-class services on most major airlines.

L’Avion and the brand-new OpenSkies, since June 2008.

Both of them fly to Paris’s Orly Airport. L’Avion flies out of Newark. OpenSkies as its U.S. base, uses JFK Airport. OpenSkies began its service to Amsterdam in October 2008. Eventually hopes to add Milan, Brussels and Frankfurt.

Prices on these airlines might be quite high. But, in other cases they may be not that much higher than economy prices.

OpenSkies proposed a special intro fare of $750 each way, when it first launched, to fly by premium class from New York to Paris.

Seats at L’Avion offer a nice deep degree of recline, unlike the standard economy-class seats. OpenSkies’ business-class offers good fully lie-flat seats.

If you plan a visit to Europe over a major holiday, those airlines are worth checking. Business travelers don’t fly too often during holidays, so you could find a really good deal.

Those airlines, though, serve only New York in US and Paris and Amsterdam, in Europe. Schedule is limited – one or two departures from each city per day.

The long-haul discounters are at the opposite extreme from the business-only airlines. They provide some “discount” service on transatlantic itineraries. With some of discounters, cheap tickets could mean less options.

There are a number of those discounters: Eurofly, LTU, Condor, Martinair, Fly Thomas Cook and some other.

Some of the discounters have mainly European clients, and as a result they tend to fly into and out of a few popular US cities, such as Las Vega, Miami, New York and Orlando.

You can save your money over economy-class prices on the major airlines.

Many flights may not depart on each day of the week, or they can be seasonal. They do not work as wide a variety of cities, unlike traditional airlines.

If business-class is too expensive for you, but you don’t want to experience once again those awful conditions, here’s an information for you: many traditional airlines let clients pay a little extra for a better service. You won’t get a lie-flat seat or meals on fine dishes, but a little extra room for your legs can make a big difference, if your flight is long.

It’s a great option for clients that want something between business and economy class.

The price for premium economy runs more than twice of an average economy ticket. In the US the airline that offers premium economy, charges quite a big annual fee.