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In this latest series of articles, we are going to detail how you can miss out on the optional charges and
what you need to be best prepared for it. As you’ll see, all the optional charges can be missed out on
if you are prepared to do a little homework.

1) Card charges
If there is one thing you could choose to miss out on, it would be the card charge. Simply put, it is an added expense that makes no difference to your journey. If you purchase checked baggage, fast boarding or insurance, there are tangible advantages to be had. But not so with the card charges.

At a potential £5 per person, per sector, this can add up very quickly and often, the efforts needed to sidestep this quickly pay for themselves. If you fly 1o times a year, you would be overpaying by as much as £100 by not using the correct card. It should be added that this £100 is probably more than or equal to your flight costs if you are savvy.|

The ‘FREE’ payment card for Ryanair used to be Visa Electron but as of this year, it has changed to a PRE-PAID Mastercard. This is not the same as the regular Mastercard you already have; pre-paid ones carry no credit limit and are just that: pre-paid. If you see the link above, you’ll already see who we recommend: FairFX - and you can get a free card (usually £9.95) when you purchase one with top up.

- Get a pre-paid card purely for the purpose of paying for flights. It usually isn’t worthwhile to use this for other spending means because of the hassle of topping up regularly.

- Once you have it, keep it in a safe place, so you don’t lose it. Unlike normal cards, there are administration fees required to get a new one, which could exceed your balance.

- Try to anticipate your flight demands and keep an balance accordingly. If you’re only going to use it for free, or £1 flights, you won’t need as much, but it’s always best to have a buffer in case.

- That said, do not load too much onto the card. Nothing is concrete, and there is nothing to say that next year, another card might be free.

What are the downsides? I wouldn’t worry about this too much. Clearly, there are many cards on the market for you to choose from, and you may feel an affinity to another brand (Entropay, for instance). But don’t get sucked in to paying application, or monthly fees and you should be fine.

The card providers make their money by these means, or by charging you a transaction fee (ie. 1.5%) or when different currencies are involved, making you take their exchange rate (probably a couple of percent worse). However, compared to paying a card charge, this really is small change.

We’ve touched on how to use two connecting Ryanair flights to get to save you money on your destination - for example - flying to Marrakech via Marseille from London.

Here, we’re going to put out a different spin on things and discuss ways to reach further afield destinations by combining two different airlines.

These opportunities arise for a number of reasons; mainly being that there are often restrictions from the target airport, either by law or prohibitive pricing. Therefore it’s inaccessbile for UK-based airlines such as Ryanair or Easyjet., but OK for others. Another is the geographical location; the longer the flight, the less effective the low cost model. And as fares rise, the full-service carriers (some of whom offer good deals in the first place) look more tempting.

Of course, as discussed before, you will save money, but at a fair cost to yourself - having to change flights (perhaps more than once), and adding on quite a few hours to your journey. Additionally, there is also the consideration of a flight cancellation or delay; there is no compensation for a missed connection.

I could give the following tips if you’re thinking of this type of thing:

- Try to connect via a city that you are interested in. This type of flight works best if you give yourself ample time between connections. Having a flight the day after is perfect, as you get a day in the first city. If you’re cheap enough, you can sleep at the airport.

- It goes without saying that if you do sightsee in the first place, choose an airport that is not too far away unless you have perfectly budgeted your time. You do not want to have to rush things because the cost of a missed connection will be pricey.

- Unlikely to happen, but it’s always best to connect via a busier airport where there are greater options. Sometimes you cannot have the choice, but at quieter airports where there may only be 1 flight a week to your destination may leave you in trouble if that flight is cancelled.

On that note, we’ll review the first destination you can get to via this type of combo:

1) Moscow
Despite already costing a quite reasonable £108 on BA if you’re booking in advance, this can be also reached from as low as 50 Euro (one way).
From the UK, you need to get a flight to Riga and then, AirBaltic can connect you to Moscow.

As a regular flier, the seat you choose can really make quite a difference to your flight. For instance, I value getting off the aircraft relatively quickly as it means you are nearer the front of the queue for passport control. This is of more importance at some airports than others. As an extreme example, let’s take Valencia, someone sitting in the middle may take 5-10 minutes longer to get off the plane owing to everyone getting their hand baggage from overhead, plus another 20 minutes at passport control.

That is a potential of a 30 minute wait which could be cut out with a bit of extra planning. Quite possibly, the first person off the plane could be in the town centre whilst you are still queuing.

Unfortunately, other passengers know that some seats are better than others. And, ever quick to realise this, the airlines know this as well and charge accordingly if you would like to select a seat. If you don’t want to pay, then you can have second prize, but you’ll have to queue for a long time - perhaps an hour before boarding begins to get to the front of the queue.

Should you purchase priority boarding?

In general, the answer is no. With this service costing £6.00 a sector, it’s usually a fair percentage of the ticket price. This can be evidenced by viewing the queues at the gate - I have never seen more than 10 people in the priority boarding queue and this number is an average of 5. If you have urgent business and need to arrive at the airport last-minute, then I could recommend it, but you’d have to ask yourself if Ryanair is the best choice in this case.

Again, for people wanting to sit together - this isn’t usually a problem. Assuming you’re in the queue in an average place (towards the middle), head towards the centre as seats in the emergency rows, back and front are taken first.
Of course, if you are a massive group, then chances are that you won’t all sit together. You may get away with it by purchasing priority boarding for half the group, and putting a bag on the seat next to you to reserve it - in the most British of ways, people will just walk past, but you’re on dodgy ground if someone insists they would like to sit there.

People with kids - the thought of being seperated from a child often compels parents to purchase priority boarding for all in the group. Often the fear is unwarranted. Again, assuming joining the queue at an average place will see seats towards the middle, and there are enough single travellers who don’t really care where they sit to swap seats with should there not be spaces.

What are the best seats?

- Back seats (both rows) - Underrated and you will probably find these free if you board the plane early enough. In most European airports, boarding is from the front and the back, meaning that if you’re sitting at the back, you can be out really quickly. There is no extra legroom here, and again, it’s close to the toilets and may be blocked off if not enough people are on board. Bear in mind that flying into busier airports like Stansted, disembarking may be via the front only (if no mobile stairs are available for the back).  For me, going out there is no problem with the back, but coming in, it’s always a gamble.

Top tips: Here are some tips that you could use to get your preferred seats:

- 1) The ‘middle seat’ trick: If travelling with two, simply make one person take the window seat and one person take the aisle, placing a bag in between you, therefore looking like you don’t know each other. With luck, no-one will sit in the middle, allowing you extra room in the flight. Note, that this is frowned upon by some people and it’s going to look silly if someone comes in and sits in the middle. You can avoid the likelyhood of this happening by occupying a row nearer the middle.

2) Purchasing an extra seat: Not many people know this, but it’s possible to purchase an extra seat for yourself - which if done during promotional times can often work out cheaper than priority boarding. You book it as normal, but when checking it in, their name should be ‘EXTRA COMFORT SEAT’. No baggage allowance for this seat of course, but there is a bonus in that the extra seat should be next to you.

3) Turning the ‘middle seat’ trick on it’s head: If you’re entering the plane last, and travelling on your own, you may wish to take the first available middle seat - this will be probably quite early on in the plane. Depending on your balls, you could push this quite far - for example, if someone’s got a bag on the seat, ask them to move it. Remember that the staff will be on your side - no-one can reserve seats. If you do uncover people travelling together like this, it’s likely that they will move up to sit next to each other, giving you the aisle. Bonus!

4) Editing your boarding pass: Whilst the pass is scanned to match up passenger names, often there are no scanners at the gate, or staff will tear off their half of the pass in advance to process them later. Priority boarding pass is not much different from the standard one apart from a few letters. Whilst you probably wouldn’t get past the first hurdle if you changed the passenger name on your pass (the scan matches the name your booked with to the one on the passport), adding priority boarding with a PDF editor is unlikely to be noticed. Disclaimer: This is probably illegal, so I don’t recommend this - for info only!

Checking the search engine logs, this is a topic many visitors to this page would clearly love to see. Although these tips were primarily written for Ryanair, they will work on any budget airline, for example, Easyjet, Wizz. It’s just that in my own experience, the charges and fees are at their most acute on Ryanair so dodging them becomes most important.

1) Use the correct payment card - Find out which payment method incurs the least fees. For Ryanair this would be a prepaid Mastercard (Entropay do a good one) - Easyjet and Wizz would be Visa Electron.

Payment ‘fees’ are a major source of profit for the airline and a way of catching out the unwary and lazy. It quickly adds up if you are travelling more than once.  Travelling on the very cheapest flights on Ryanair is impossible if you do not have such card. If you have not got one, apply for one now.

2) Online check-in charges? (Ryanair only) - with the advent of a new £5.00 online check-in charge, this is also something you will have to consider. It’s per sector, so this adds £10 to a return journey. The bad news is that this charge is unavoidable - after all, online is the only way for Ryanair - but they have only got around it (just, in my own opinion) but making promotional fares exempt from the charge.

How to tell? When selecting a fare, ‘FREE ONLINE-CHECK-IN’ should appear to the left of the flight number. If it does not, cross-reference that with the charges breakdown; you’ll see if it is there or not. Do not be scared to take things straight through to checkout (but don’t enter card details) to check if it is included or not.

There appears to be a shift in the pricing strategy of Ryanair, with more and more ‘No Taxes’ fares - basically, these are just all-inclusive prices more comparable with Easyjet, as opposed to the ‘Regular Fare’. But do check the breakdown to see what is what.

3) Luggage allowances - Luggage allowances another thing that the airlines make cash on. If you need to take a luggage, then fine, make sure you use good use of it. If you don’t, then make sure your hand luggage adheres to the maximum dimensions and weight allowed as the penalties for not doing so (like the boarding pass) are large. As the airlines feel the pinch more, policing of baggages are likely to increase. There is a cost trade off between the costs of employing someone to check bags, and the revenues realised. Many passengers have seen random checks increasing.
A tip for anyone wanting to take oversized luggage but not wishing to pay for it (which is only effective on cheap/free flights) is to book a seat for a musical instrument, and use a guitar case as your luggage. Of course, you would have to be a bit unlucky to be caught, but to save cash, I have seen people do this before.

4) Insurance - Like in blackjack, you should always decline the insurance. It may be the case that it’s added already, so you will need to find this section and select ‘Insurance Not Required’.  If you need insurance, arrange your own, as it often works out to be cheaper. In any case, many of the insurance policies will not cover you in the most likely scenarios you would like to have it.

5) Other services: - Such as SMS confirmations, priority boarding - often are a waste of time, although I can accept that some may need it more than others.  Generally none of these services offer any great benefits.

6) Do not forget anything! Cheap fares often assume a transfer of responsibility from the airline to yourself, although this is unwritten. Some may complain at this, but look at it like this: you are willing to accept the reduced cost for less frills, so be willing to put in a little work to make up for this. Of course, I don’t mean manual labour or anything like that, but any slip-up will cost you money. To be more succinct: expect no frills, get no frills. This way you cannot be disappointed. I could give you the following tips for travel that fall under your responsibility (where they would not with a legacy carrier):

- Do not forget to check in online and do not forget the print out boarding pass. If it says it wants it in black and white on A4 paper, then obey that. You need your passport and ticket to travel. When people forget their passports, they blame themselves. Yet, when people forget their tickets, they blame the airline. You need to get into the habit of giving more importance to your print out. Check and double check that you have it. If disposing of a used one, make sure you are not inadvertently binning the returns.
- Do not be late. Always budget a good amount of time to get to the airport. Remember there are some queues at security. There are always people giving the excuse that they need to go in front because they are going to miss their flight - don’t be one of these people. If you miss a flight, the penalties can be huge - if it’s a place that Ryanair only serve once a week, then this could quickly eclipse the rest of your holiday.
- Weigh your luggage before you go.  We often are poor judges of weight, and this is a schoolboy error. Electronic scales at home are a good rough guide. If you don’t have them, buy some - it’s good for your general health to keep tabs on your own weight as well.

It’s often of interest to see which some of the furthest destinations.
South is of particular interest, as often it’s hotter, which make these destinations of more interest for breaks during the colder months, or indeed the hotter ones.

Generally, some of these destinations form some of the longest routes - perhaps a flight of four hours may be required, which is certainly pushing it in terms of comfort. Nevertheless, if these destinations appear in the sales, they are of great value. If you want to bag a bargain bear in mind that frequencies of flights tail off outside peak season (some are virtually seasonal). During kids summer holidays, no deals may appear at all.

Here is a list of our top 10 by geographical location:

1) Tenerife South (TFS)
An island of Spain, but actually closer to Africa, the island of Tenerife is one of the largest Canary Islands and extremely popular with holidaymakers from all over Europe thanks to the climate.
Fly here from: Ryanair: Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brussels South-Charleroi, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Hahn, Liverpool, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Madrid, Porto, Shannon, Weeze
Easyjet: Bristol, London-Gatwick, Manchester

2) Lanzarote Airport (ACE)
IATA code doesn’t signify greatness but probably the isle of Arrecife. It’s close in proximity to Tenerife by less than 100 miles but many of the flights here are duplicated from departure cities. Attracts many similar tourists but also a great destination for fans of nature.
Fly from: Ryanair: Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brussels South-Charleroi, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Hahn, Liverpool, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Madrid, Shannon [ends 14 March], Weeze
Easyjet: Liverpool, London-Gatwick, Madrid

3) Agadir (AGA)
A virtual stone’s throw from Lanzarote, Agadir is in a different country (Morocco) but still enjoys miles and miles of stunning coastlines. Has been pushed in the last few years as a major tourist destination to rival that of Marrakesh, with the budgets arriving. With the expectation of a new terminal and further investment, further traffic may come.
Fly from: Ryanair: Brussels South-Charleroi, Liverpool, London-Stansted, Marseille, Weeze
Easyjet: London-Gatwick, Milan-Malpensa [begins 11 February], Paris-Charles de Gaulle [begins 9 February]

4) Marrakesh (RAK)
The inland buddy of Agadir, probably the original Moroccan destination to get to. Served by the charters for many years, the airport handles roughly double the numbers of that of Agadir and is one of the more popular destinations.
With a large Moroccan contingent in Europe, it’s no surprise that many destinations are covered.
Fly from: Ryanair: Alicante, Bristol, Brussels South-Charleroi, East Midlands, Girona, Hahn, London-Luton, Madrid, Marseille, Pisa, Reus, Seville, Weeze
Easyjet: London-Gatwick, Lyon, Madrid, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle

5) Fez (FEZ)
Correct spelling of the place is Fes but most people will associate with the Tommy Cooper hat. Surprisingly an overlooked destination in Morocco with just over 400,000 visitors in 2008. Only a handful of airlines on skinny frequencies here.
Fly from: Ryanair: Alicante, Brussels South-Charleroi, Girona, Hahn, Madrid, Marseille, Milan-Orio Al Serio, Seville, Weeze
Easyjet: N/A

6) Nador (NDR)
Probably the first destination here that isn’t considered a tourist one yet, and handled just over 200,000 passengers a year. It’s telling that Ryanair do not even fly here from anywhere in the UK but if you want to get here, it’s still well possible using split ticketing. Brussels and Amsterdam make up the bulk of the destinations here.
Fly from: Ryanair: Brussels South-Charleroi [begins 9 April], Madrid, Marseille, Reus
Easyjet: N/A

7) Malta (MLA)
Gets harder to differentiate now as the airports get packed closer together. But Malta is a popular destination and has been with the ex-pat community for years. A busy airport, it has good connections with the rest of Europe. with the UK making up the bulk of traffic.
Fly here from: Ryanair: Bari, Bournemouth [begins 30 March], Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Girona, Leeds/Bradford [begins 25 March], London-Luton, Madrid, Pisa, Stockholm-Skavsta, Trapani, Venice-Treviso
Easyjet: Liverpool [begins 13 June], London-Gatwick, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa [begins 30 June], Newcastle upon Tyne, Rome-Fiumicino [begins 12 March]

Malaga (AGP)
And so we reach the mainlands of Spain, and sub 3-hour flights from the UK, and also an airport that has connections to the US. The airport is not only popular for Malaga but also the closeby Gibraltar. With expansion going on here, a train connection and a Ryanair base, things are looking good.
Fly from: Ryanair: Aarhus [begins 23 June], Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 25 June], Birmingham, Bologna [begins 29 March], Bournemouth, Bratislava [begins 23 June], Bremen, Bristol, Brussels South-Charleroi, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven [begins 22 June], Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City [begins 25 June], Hahn, Krakow [begins 24 June], Leeds/Bradford [begins 25 March], Liverpool, London-Stansted, Maastricht [begins 22 June], Marseille, Memmingen [begins 24 June]), Milan Orio al Serio, Oslo-Rygge [begins 20 March], Oslo-Torp [begins 23 June], Paris-Beauvais [begins 23 June], Pisa [begins 24 June], Santander [begins 24 June], Santiago de Compostela [begins 23 June], Shannon, Stockholm-Skavsta [begins 24 June], Tampere [begins 25 June], Valladolid [begins 23 June], Venice-Treviso [begins 24 June], Weeze, Wroclaw [begins 25 June], Zaragoza [begins 24 June]
Easyjet: Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast-International, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Geneva, Glasgow-International, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa, Newcastle upon Tyne, Paris-Charles de Gaulle [begins 14 May]

9) Jerez (XRY)
Growing in popularity owing to it’s position, making it convienient for a number of places along the coast. Still around only 10% the size of Malaga, which probably puts a limit on the top end. Popular training base for pilots and flight maintenance.
Fly from: Ryanair: Hahn, London-Stansted, Madrid
Easyjet: N/A

10) Almeria (LEI)
A close run thing between here and Faro, but Almeria comes out tops here. A modern facility which serves a much over-looked area on the southern coast. There are not many carriers here but certainly a place worth visiting if you can get a cheap ticket.
Fly from: Ryanair: Dublin [seasonal], London-Stansted [seasonal], Madrid, Weeze
Easyjet: London Gatwick