It’s Raining Bargains in Intra-Europe Air Travel

Flights within Europe always seemed to cost a fortune. And so for decades, trains were the first choice of American travelers moving from one European country to another. And as the continent’s railroads develop faster and more affordable service, the train is still often the cheapest way to go. The rental-car option, meanwhile, remains for those who want maximum independence.

But it’s time to look again at air fares inside Europe. Especially if your time abroad is tightly limited, or you’re considering an itinerary with a lot of intra-Europe mileage--London to Rome, say, or southern Italy to Northern France--it may pay to study the suddenly reasonable offerings of several European carriers.

After decades of high prices and a marketplace of government-sponsored airlines and noncompetitive routes, European Union leaders are phasing in reforms that loosen airlines’ access to airport gates and drive prices down. Several carriers have joined to offer a new air-travel coupon program for Americans in Europe, and several new no-frills carriers have sprung up as well.

For North Americans only: Though the idea of flight-coupons for Americans in Europe has been around for about a decade, nine European carriers pushed it to a new level this spring when they announced the EurAir Pass. That program charges Americans $90 (excluding airport taxes) per nonstop flight for travel among more than 50 cities in 18 European countries.

Under the program, EurAir (telephone [888] 387-2479) sells three or more coupons to U.S. travelers before they leave this country, each coupon good for one flight segment and valid for 120 days from purchase. Reservations for specific flights can be made from the U.S. or step-by-step in Europe, but once booked, tickets are nontransferable and nonrefundable. Participating airlines include Aer Lingus, Virgin Express (based in Brussels), Augsburg Airways (Munich), AirOne (Rome), PGA Portugalia, Spanair, Air Greece, Air Baltic (Riga, Latvia) and VLM (Antwerp, Belgium).

Several other carriers run similar programs with fewer partners, typically selling flight-segment coupons for $90 to $150 each (often with a minimum purchase of three). Among them: British Midland’s Discover Europe Airpass (tel. [800] 788-0555)--which the editors of Consumer Reports Travel Letter in April named as their favorite such program before the EurAir Pass had been announced--along with Air Canada, Austrian Airlines and Delta’s jointly run Visit Europe (tel. [800] 221-1212); Lufthansa’s Discover Europe-Pass (tel. [800] 645-3880); Air France’s Euro Flyer Pass (tel. [800] 237-2747); British Airways’ Europe Airpass (tel. [800] 247-9297); Iberia’s Europass (tel. [800] 772-4642); Alitalia’s Europlus Air Pass (tel. [800] 223-5730); Malev’s Hungarian Pass to Europe (tel. [800] 262-5380 from California); KLM and Northwest’s joint Passport to Europe program (tel. [800] 225-2525); and SAS’s Visit Europe Air Pass (tel. [800] 221-2350).

Some packages can be bought independent of your transatlantic ticket, leaving you free to use frequent-flier miles or consolidator discount tickets and simply use your favorite U.S.-based carrier for the flights to and from the U.S. Several other programs, however, are only available to North Americans who are buying their intra-Europe tickets in conjunction with transatlantic tickets.

Once you’re there: Several new carriers, and new subsidiaries of old carriers, are offering no-frills service throughout Western Europe. Because they’re not promoted in the U.S. or integrated into travel agents’ computer systems, they may difficult to book from this country. But these carriers could be money-savers if you’d rather make travel decisions after you’ve crossed the Atlantic.

Easyjet (tel. 011-44-1582-700-004), based at Luton Airport 40 minutes north of London by train, started service in October 1996. It flies daily (and often two or three t1imes daily) from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva and Nice.

Ryanair (tel. 011-353-1-6097-800), based in Dublin, also flies to Kerry, Cork and Knock in Ireland, along with Oslo, Stockholm, Brussels, Paris, London (Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports) and nine other destinations in England and Scotland. Ryanair aims for high frequency between the U.K. and Ireland, with at least eight daily flights from London to Dublin (round-trip fares: $133 to $302, excluding tax, or $98 for a same-day trip).

Debonair Airways (tel. 011-44-541-500-300), headquartered at London’s Luton airport, also flies to Barcelona, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Madrid, Munich, Nice and Rome.

Virgin Express (tel. 011-32-2-752-05-05), a subsidiary of Virgin Atlantic, has hubs in London (flying from Gatwick and Heathrow) and Brussels (using a code-share agreement with Belgian carrier Sabena), with flights to cities including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Madrid, Milan, Nice and Rome.

Go (tel. 011-44-8456-054-321), newest of the intra-Europe ventures, is a subsidiary of British Airways, with its hub at Stansted airport, about 40 minutes northeast of Central London by train. Service began May 22 with flights between London and Rome; service to Copenhagen is to begin Friday.

Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips. He welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053 or e-mail chris.reynolds@latimes.com.