There is a new question now when traveling Europe, plane or train? That’s right, due to reform and deregulation of the airline industry in The European Union, there is a new crop of budget airlines coming up. Think of them as the Ted and Jet Blue of Europe, and the fares are low enough to make you think twice.

Trains will still be cheaper in most cases, and especially if you are visiting a lot of different cities, but if your time is at a premium, or you just really want to see London and Prague in the same trip and not much else, then a plane may be a much more viable option than previously thought. Remember though that even if you find a nice London-Paris fare, that the airports are not downtown and the Chunnel takes you from downtown to downtown and makes pretty good time.

These tickets can be purchased in advance here in the United States at a discount, or once in Europe for full fare, which can be cost prohibitive. The real trick to saving money is if you are flexible with your travel plans. Last minute fares can be had for around $50 one way. Not too bad!

Enough with the talk, let’s see the proof, right? Here is a list of creap airfare websites:

www.aerlingus.com - Aer Lingus
www.flybmi.com - British Midland
www.cheapflights.co.uk - Cheap Flights
www.easyjet.com - easyJet
www.europebyair.com - Europe by Air Pass
www.eurostar.com - Eurostar Chunnel Train
www.mobissimo.com - Mobissimo Travel
www.spanair.com - Spanair
www.ryanair.ie - Ryanair - creative Irish airline with more complicated but potentially even cheaper fares. They fly mostly from London’s Stansted airport to Dublin, Glasgow, Frankfurt, Lyon, Stockholm, Oslo, Venice, and Turin. They tend to sell out a couple weeks in advance.
www.skyscanner.net - Skyscanner
www.virgin-express.com - Virgin Express - a Belgian company with very low rates. In the British Isles, Virgin flies from Stansted and Gatwick in London to Shannon, Ireland and Brussels. From its hub in Brussels you can connect cheaply to Barcelona, Madrid, Nice, Copenhagen, Rome, or Milan. Book by phone with credit card and pick up the ticket at the airport an hour before your flight (one way is half the roundtrip).
www.wegolo.com - Wegolo

European airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia, SAS, KLM, and British Air also offer competitive fares. There’s a catch, you must often buy your transatlantic flight from the airline in order to take advantage of intra-European budget fares. But the saving on flights within the continent can be worth an extra $100 for an overseas flight. In some cases, you purchase an ‘air pass’ (for $300-400)–a set of three or more flight coupons, each good for one nonstop flight. Be aware that with any air pass a flight will ‘cost’ two coupons if you need two connecting flights to reach your destination (for instance, if you’re flying on SAS from Paris to Rome, you’ll transfer at SAS’s hub, Copenhagen–adding up to two flights and costing two coupons). Check with your travel agent for details. Some flight passes are valid on several different airlines. The most flexible is the Europe by Air pass, offering flights between nearly 100 European cities in 20 countries. Each coupon for a nonstop flight costs $99 plus tax. You must purchase at least three coupons.

Finally, remember that London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Athens have “bucket shops” that sell plane tickets at super-discounted prices. If your travel plans fit the tickets available and you’re flexible enough to absorb delays, these can be a great deal. Your hometown library should have a London newspaper; look in the classifieds under Travel to see what’s available. Tickets from London to the Mediterranean can be incredibly–and reliably–cheap. Athens also has some great buys on tickets to London, Western Europe, and the Middle East.