Nobody warned me, and I paid the price. Literally. That amazing cheap flight I was so proud of finding? It turned into an expensive mess. Here’s what I figured out after screwing up more times than I’d like to admit.
- They nickel and dime you for absolutely everything.
So there’s this $39 ticket staring at me, right? I’m thinking I’m some kind of genius. Then boom. Fifty bucks for a carry-on. Another fifteen to not sit in a middle seat at the very back. Eight more dollars because I didn’t print my boarding pass at home. My “deal” ended up costing more than Delta. Now I calculate the real price before I get all excited.
- Your destination might be in a completely different place.
Funniest thing happened when I flew to “Paris.” Except I didn’t. I landed at some airport that was practically in a different region. Getting into actual Paris took ninety minutes on a train that cost me 40 euros. Check the airport code. “Milan Bergamo” is not Milan. Not even close.
- These tickets are permanent once you buy them.
Missed my flight by twenty minutes once. The airline basically laughed at me. Wanted to switch dates? Two hundred bucks, and that’s before they charge you the difference for the new ticket price. My fifty dollar flight turned into a three hundred dollar replacement. Regular airlines at least pretend to care and let you change stuff.
- You’re going to be uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.
Picture being crammed into a space designed for someone who’s five foot nothing. Your knees are touching the seat in front. That seat doesn’t move back even an inch. The person next to you is basically sitting in your lap. Three hour flight like this? Absolute torture. I’m not even that tall and I wanted to cry.
- That early flight will destroy you.
Six in the morning sounds reasonable when you’re booking it. Then reality hits. You’re setting an alarm for 2:45am. Driving to the airport half asleep. The whole first day of your trip you’re a zombie. I did this for a wedding once and almost fell asleep during the ceremony.
- Connecting flights are a gamble you’ll probably lose.
Booked two separate cheap tickets with a stop in between? Pray your first flight isn’t late. Because if it is, that second airline will take off without you and not lose a second of sleep over it. Happened to my brother. He slept on airport chairs and bought a whole new ticket the next day.
- Help? What help?
Try calling them when something goes wrong. I dare you. You’ll be listening to hold music until your phone dies. And when someone finally answers, they’ll tell you there’s nothing they can do. You’re solving your own problems.
- The math doesn’t always work out.
Once you add everything up, regular airlines having a sale will beat budget carriers half the time. I’ve seen it happen over and over. That’s why I stopped looking at just the ticket price.
Learn from my mistakes. Cheap flights are fine, just know what you’re getting into first.