How to fly Europe cheaply — and what to do if your flight is cancelled or you are bumped

Thousands of people fly between the Baltics, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Britain — for work and back home. A ticket can cost as little as a lunch or as much as half a wage. The difference is almost always in the details. Here is the essential guide: where to find cheap flights and what to do if a flight is cancelled, delayed or you are refused boarding.

Where the £10–20 seats are

The cheapest way around Europe is the low-cost carriers — Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet. A £10–20 fare is real if you follow the rules: book ahead, fly on weekdays (Tuesday and Wednesday are usually cheaper than weekends), take cabin bag only and skip the paid extras. Search through aggregators — Skyscanner and Google Flights — where you can browse “everywhere” by date and set a price alert. It is often cheaper to fly from smaller airports and on early-morning or late-night flights.

The main trap: bags and add-ons

The low price buys a seat and one small bag under the seat. Everything else costs extra: a checked suitcase, a larger cabin bag, seat selection, airport check-in instead of online. It is the add-ons that turn a £15 fare into £80. Check in online in advance, keep the boarding pass in the app, and stay within the free bag size — then the price stays low.

Flight subscriptions: do the maths

Wizz Air offers an All You Can Fly membership — an annual subscription (around €599 a year), not a monthly pass. On top there is roughly a €9.99 fee per booking, tickets can only be taken within 72 hours of departure and subject to seats, you get a personal item only, and missing two flights can cancel the membership. It only pays off for people who fly often and can flex around free seats. For ordinary home-and-back trips it is cheaper to catch specific tickets early and watch the airlines’ seasonal sales.

The board and flight status: check before you leave

Before heading to the airport, check your flight status so you do not travel for nothing. Every airport has a departures board on its website, but the fastest is your airline’s app: it shows delays, the gate and cancellations and often pushes a notification. To track a specific aircraft, services like Flightradar24 are handy. If a flight is cancelled, the airline must tell you and offer options — see below.

Cancelled flight: a refund or another flight — your choice

If your flight is cancelled you choose one of two things: a full refund for the unused ticket (usually within 7 days) or rerouting to your destination — as soon as possible or on a date that suits you. Your choice does not remove your right to compensation.

If you were told about a flight from Britain less than 14 days ahead and the airline is at fault (not weather, third-party strikes or other extraordinary circumstances), fixed compensation applies under UK261: £220 for flights up to 1,500 km, £350 for 1,500–3,500 km and £520 above 3,500 km. Flights from the EU are covered by the mirror EC261 rules in euros — roughly €250, €400 and €600.

Care at the airport while you wait

During a long wait the airline must provide food and drink, and for a forced overnight stay a hotel and transfer to it. The right to care depends on distance and how long the delay is (roughly from 2, 3 or 4 hours). Keep receipts for food and taxis if you had to pay yourself — you can claim them back.

Overbooking: when more seats are sold than exist

Sometimes more seats are sold than the plane has. The airline first looks for volunteers willing to give up a seat for a reward — here you can negotiate and ask for compensation plus a seat on the next flight. But if you are refused boarding against your will, you are owed the same cash compensation (£220/£350/£520 by distance), care, and a refund or rerouting.

Delays

If the airline is at fault and you reach your destination 3 hours late or more, compensation may also apply — on the same amounts and distances. For a delay that is not the airline’s fault (weather, emergencies) no compensation is paid, but the right to food, drink and an overnight stay remains.

How to get the money

Claim directly with the airline first — it is free. Keep the boarding pass, bookings and all receipts. If the airline refuses or goes silent, you can escalate to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or the appointed alternative dispute body (ADR); for flights from the EU, to that country’s national body. “We’ll win your compensation” agencies take a cut — you can do exactly the same yourself for free.

This is a reference, not legal advice: rules and amounts change and extraordinary circumstances are judged case by case. Check the exact terms at caa.co.uk, with your airline and in the EU air passenger rights section.