Thought I would start a general thread for those of us with general budget airline questions.

Which are the best? Which are the worst? There seem to be a ton in Spain and I have no idea what the difference is between them.

Also, what is their on-time/cancellation record, in general? I need to get from somewhere in Spain (haven't quite decided where) to London. I would like to take the latest flight possible to London, and I will make my way to Heathrow and just sleep there. But I am worried about flights getting canceled and me not making it.

In the US, you can't trust anything when it comes to planes...

Are there any budget airlines in Spain?
Those I know (in Europe) are Ryanair, Wizzair, EasyJet, GermanWings, Sterling, Norwegian.
Their business concept is basically the same - they fly you from A to B, and that's it. No meals, no drinks, no newspapers, no enteretainment (tv, films).
Ryanair is the biggest budget airline. I've flown 30-40 times with them all over Europe, and never had a reason to complain. Some people do, but to me it looks like they don't get the idea of what budget airline is, and what to expect.
Tomorrow I'm flying Stockholm-Gdansk with Wizzair, for €30, return, incl. taxes. The bus ticket to the airport is only €4 cheaper.

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I need to get from somewhere in Spain (haven't quite decided where) to London. ...

Ryanair has more than ten connections to different cities in Spain.

I have never been a heavy user of budget airlines. Much as I love flying, I prefer travelling on the ground. But I have used Ryanair, SkyEurope and BMIbaby. The best place to look for a listing of airlines that go where you want to is whichbudget.com. There's even a few flights right from Spain to Heathrow, so you might be able to save on the airport transfers.

The prices all seem comparable, but the quality of service between them is vastly different. SkyEurope and BMI both flew somewhat above base model planes, meaning the seats had some comfort factor, and boarded in an orderly fashion. With Ryanair, while I kind of like the lack of assigned seating, I had the awful experience of "mob boarding" with them, where there was no attempt to make people so much as line up, and didn't much enjoy that. The staff at SkyEurope were also much friendlier than the other two.

Still, they're really quite dependable timewise. Since they don't transfer bags between planes, their loss rates are pretty low, and they mostly have very good records for running close to on time. The downside is, of course, if there is a delay or cancellation, you're on your own...don't expect anything from the airline.

Lastly, always read the fine print (hidden fees are a big part of the budget airline business model, particularly with Ryanair), and compare budget airlines to what mainline airlines are offering. Flying in europe is highly competitive, and everyone's fares are pretty low, so the budget airline isn't always going to be the best deal.

I have flown Spanair and Air Europa. Both flights were just what I expected, maybe a little better, considering some of the stories I've heard about budget airlines. Both were pretty much on time, the flight attendants were friendly enough, I got a snack on Spanair, and the planes seemed pretty new.

Unfortunately, it looks like Air Europa doesn't fly to London at all, and Spanair appears to only fly to London from Majorca. So, I doubt this will be any help to you in finding a flight from Spain to London, unless it just so happens that you're going to be leaving from Majorca.

The ones I have used, in order from very good to not so good:
Blue1 (Brussels-Helsinki)
Sky Europe (Amsterdam-Bratislava and Krakow-Brussels)
Rynair (Charleroi-Liverpool and Charleroi-Treviso)
Wizzair (Charleroi-Warsaw)

I've only flown with Ryanair, EasyJet and Aer Lingus (if you consider them a budget airline, got a flight DUB-EDI for €1 plus taxes) I'd MUCH rather fly with EasyJet or Aer Lingus but they all get the job done. What really rubs me the wrong way with Ryanair is the fact that they won't let me check in online simply because I don't have an EU passport and then try to charge me extra for the pleasure of dealing with their counter staff. Don't quote me on this one (and if it doesn't work for you, I'm sorry!) but since they've started trying to charge for airport check in with no bags, I've always selected online check in and said I had an EU passport. Then I just go to the counter to check in like normal and they've never actually charged me that fee.

Also, as far as finding flights.. I like checking on skyscanner (http://www.skyscanner.net/) to find cheap flights. You can even search on there by date if you're like me and have a few days off but NO idea where you want to go you can see which places are the cheapest to fly to.

Yes, SkyScanner.net is a good place to start looking. They don't always have Ryanair though.

In general I tend to calculate the actual cost (after taxes and fees and airport transfers) with each possibility and then take the cheapest one. Product consistency is not a strong point for these airlines so you may have a really good or really bad flight--it can happen on any of them. Ryanair, easyJet and certainly Veuling have actually very good on-time records and low cancellation rates. The problem is that you are provided with basically no assistance if something does happen, you wont get to Heathrow on time, unless you leave a day in between.

In London, check out easyBus.co.uk for airport transfers from Stanstead, Luton and Gatwick--they start from just 2 pounds. Then you can take the tube to Heathrow.

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Originally posted by Aquarius83:
So, I doubt this will be any help to you in finding a flight from Spain to London, unless it just so happens that you're going to be leaving from Majorca.

Wrong. You can read my earlier post here.
To be precise, only Ryanair, offers 13 different connections from Spain to London. There are other budget airlines, as well. The second biggest, EasyJet has 15 connections London-Spain (that includes Spanish mainland and islands).
Only those two airlines offer 28 flights on that route. That's much more than you'd need.

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Still, they're really quite dependable timewise. Since they don't transfer bags between planes, their loss rates are pretty low, and they mostly have very good records for running close to on time. The downside is, of course, if there is a delay or cancellation, you're on your own...don't expect anything from the airline.

This was exactly what I was wondering.

Thanks, folks! Spain has a ton of budget airlines...and if I had the option, really, of going from wherever I'll be overland, I would do it. I would rather not spend a day+ of my 10 days total on a train or bus. I was more concerned with the reliability. We don't have budget airlines like that here, and our airlines generally suck, so...

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I was more concerned with the reliability. We don't have budget airlines like that here, and our airlines generally suck, so...

A lot of them actually post their reliability numbers on their sites, and they seem to consistently hit over 90% of flights within an hour of schedule, and often higher.

Europe isn't as badly off as the states precisely because of the budget airlines. Most of them offer customer service that's no better than an american airline. But since their primary concern is keeping costs down, they run larger planes less often than in the states, where running small regional jets a dozen times a day on a route is the norm. So, less congestion (since small planes require the same amount of space and time as large planes), so there's less of a domino effect when the smallest things go wrong.

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A lot of them actually post their reliability numbers on their sites, and they seem to consistently hit over 90% of flights within an hour of schedule, and often higher.

Thanks. Anecdotal evidence counts more for me than what a company publishes. I have learned that the hard way.