Airline travel on the cheap made easy
November 20, 2006 6:24 PM   Subscribe

WhichBudget.com: a site that helps you find a low cost airline flight for your destination
posted by champthom (40 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
The background to the site is even blue™!
posted by basicchannel at 6:29 PM on November 20, 2006


Pepsi Blue. But flat Pepsi Blue.
posted by oaf at 6:47 PM on November 20, 2006


I have a bad feeling about this one...
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:47 PM on November 20, 2006


This is completely bogus. I clicked through airlines leaving from Montreal Canada and regardless of the destination it just linked to the main website of whatever airline happened to be referred.
posted by furtive at 6:48 PM on November 20, 2006


Okay, I'm a cynic. I saw what looked like a Pepsi Blue post from a brand new Mefite (even newer than I!) and immediately thought that our new friend chapthom must be spamming us.

But then I saw that this wasn't a simple one-linker. Not at all. We are also pointed to a Wikipedia list of low-cost airlines. When a man has the depth and credibility of a Wikipedia list backing him up, no room is left for dissent. Certify this on BOTW.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:56 PM on November 20, 2006


Total crap. The "bargain fare" from Boston to Dublin was $179 one way with the "One-way fares excl. taxes & fees of up to $45 eastbound and $80 westbound and $2.50 September 11th Security Fee for each enplanement at a U.S. airport. Fares not available on every flight. Plus we get to keep your kidneys and stuff some C4 in your luggage if you have a layover in England."

Thank you. Thank you for this shit.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:57 PM on November 20, 2006 [1 favorite]


Missing most Delta and Northwest hubs. Really helpful.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:06 PM on November 20, 2006


Enplanement?

Is that really a cromulent word?
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:09 PM on November 20, 2006


Aw, c'mon. You guys are too skeptical. Did you actually click the link? I bet you didn't even click here to meet their staff.



Jesus.

That looks like a page from the FBI's serial killer profiling workbook. Robertas Pogorelis especially looks like the quiet type who keeps to himself.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 7:11 PM on November 20, 2006


Good for Simferopol, not so good for Cincinnati.
posted by Arcaz Ino at 7:12 PM on November 20, 2006


I've lurked here for three years, and now that I can actually say this:

This is definately not best of the web.
posted by champthom at 11:12 PM CST on November 13


lolz
posted by IronLizard at 7:12 PM on November 20, 2006


The comments make me feel like junior high all over over again. As in, I try to fit in with the cool kids but I end up looking like a dork. Except it's all over the Internet and it's not the good hip kind of dork but the "Too dorky for the Internet" type of dork.

I tried not to be SingleLinkFilter. I just posted this as I use it mainly to get an idea of cheap airlines for places I want to go to. I just thought I'd share, that's all.

I guess I should go back to lurking now.
posted by champthom at 7:25 PM on November 20, 2006


furtive: LMAO, even though that's me. I only signed up for that site because of a MeFi link.

NOW it's really like junior high.
posted by champthom at 7:27 PM on November 20, 2006


burn the witch?
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 7:34 PM on November 20, 2006


Good idea- wish it was better executed (no listings of flights from NYC LGA to Tampa, a route I fly all the time).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:37 PM on November 20, 2006 [1 favorite]


champthom: furtive's link is blocked by my company's internet filtering software. What gives?

btw, although it looked like a self-link of some kind at first, I don't think the site is all that bad, apart from the nauseating design.

It's actually good to see a bunch of apparent amateurs (in the true sense of the word) maintaining an informative site like this (said from the point of view of a serial backpacker who would have found this very useful before shitty budget airlines lost their appeal / necessity).

It's a also a nice kind of flashback to the 90s when there seemed to be more of this earnest passion, and less of the corporate glitz on the intartubes.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:11 PM on November 20, 2006


This isn't the prettiest of websites, but it looks like a good resource, and I might check it out next time I do some heavy travelling abroad. And it isn't the best FPP I've ever seen, but who gets it right the first time out?

You're welcome to sit at my lunchtable any time, champthom.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 10:02 PM on November 20, 2006


It doesn't seem useless to me. If you're flying to some random country like Spain, how do you find out what low-cost airlines fly to all the local airports?
posted by smackfu at 10:15 PM on November 20, 2006


WhichBudget does not tell you how to buy your ticket, nor does WhichBudget keep its information up to date.

But WhichBudget is ALWAYS the first site you check before any trip within Europe. Because major travel sites, like travelocity, simply don't know about the truely cheap airlines, like RyanAir, Jet2, AirBerlin, etc.

WhichBudget simply tells you which budget airlines are remotely interesting. You must check out the details yourself because cheap airlines don't play by the same rules.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:30 PM on November 20, 2006


NOW it's really like junior high.

Hey, nothing personal here. I just seriously dislike posts that look like a commercial. This does because the site looks like total crap and just covers ground that had been done bigger and better by brands we already know and hate.
Besides, as I was pointing out by quoting you above, you're not exactly above criticizing other's posts, now are you?
posted by IronLizard at 10:35 PM on November 20, 2006


For example, I was once living in Manchester, knew budget airlines were very useful, and saw an advertisment that Jet2 was starting service, but completely forgot it since I wasn't interested in the listed destinations. But I found Jet2 flew elsewhere pretty quickly when I checked WhichBudget.

I only wish WhichBudget would add a map interface, finding nearby city names can be difficult for the geographically challenged.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:40 PM on November 20, 2006


First off: AAAAAAAH MY EYES!!!! AAAAAARG! IT BURNS!!

Then: Why so limited?
posted by Pollomacho at 10:53 PM on November 20, 2006


The "budget" in the site name is referring to budget airlines like RyanAir, which is why it's limited to them.
posted by smackfu at 10:57 PM on November 20, 2006


I know I've seen the font in their logo on fliers before. Is that Comic Sans 2.0?
posted by brundlefly at 11:36 PM on November 20, 2006


BTW, I don't fly often, so I'll leave the worthiness of this post to others...
posted by brundlefly at 11:37 PM on November 20, 2006


This does because the site looks like total crap and just covers ground that had been done bigger and better by brands we already know and hate.

Which bigger and better site tells you what budget airlines fly to what city?
posted by dirigibleman at 12:56 AM on November 21, 2006


Which bigger and better site tells you what budget airlines fly to what city?

Exactly. This is the first site I've seen that does that. The design is pretty nasty, but (for Europe at least) I think this is a nice find.
posted by jontyjago at 1:04 AM on November 21, 2006


Yes, I'll find this useful - thanks.
posted by paduasoy at 3:06 AM on November 21, 2006


Thanks, this will come in handy this summer.
posted by signal at 4:38 AM on November 21, 2006


furtive, you're an asshole. Why post to the guys online profile, exactly what does that accomplish (other than proving you're a backed up and impacted asshole)?

I'm familiar with champthom from another site and he might've posted a sucky link but he wouldn't purposely shill for a corporation.

Personally, the site doesn't work that well for me because my closest hub is Northwest (and from flying for years from Northwest hubs I understand completely why they wouldn't be linked from a budget travel site) but for other departure points I could find useful flights.
posted by substrate at 5:33 AM on November 21, 2006


A much better site to find low budget airlines is skyscanner.net, where you can choose an origin (country, city or airport), and everything else is optional (destination, month, day, whatever). It shows prices for the flights directly from the airline website, and tells you which other airlines fly that route but are not checked by the site. (I found it either in AskMe or at the ThornTree, so thanks to whoever it was!)
posted by jacalata at 8:02 AM on November 21, 2006 [2 favorites]


Thanks. I'll use it this summer too to figure out which budget airlines in Europe to check for flights within Europe.
posted by Amizu at 10:03 AM on November 21, 2006


Just found a <$100 (without taxes) flight to get me from Puerto Rico to NY. Don't burn the witch.
posted by conch soup at 11:07 AM on November 21, 2006


If this thread hadn't been coopted by kewl kidz being kewl, jacalata's post would have been far closer to the top, and an already useful post would have been compounded in usefulness.

Instead, we have five or six screens of bitching before there's a useful contribution. Kewl.
posted by lodurr at 12:52 PM on November 21, 2006


jacalata

Believe SkyScanner doesn't reach as many airlines as WhichBudget. Granted the interface sucks but it does have a pretty good list of budget airlines. I'm flying to Latvia this weekend, I had no idea what cheap airlines would service Riga, and WhichBudget helped.

Get off the guy's back...
posted by jckll at 12:53 PM on November 21, 2006


jacalata - the skyscanner is great, thanks!
posted by tellurian at 2:07 PM on November 21, 2006


cklennon

I'm not jumping on the guy, I'm helping him (and others interested in cheap flights). I have used WhichBudget too, but I think skyscanner is better.

As an aside, I use skyscanner to find which airlines serve an airport by selecting that city as my origin, and leaving everything else open. For, say, Riga, this gives me exactly the same information as WhichBudget, with better presentation.

um...I have nothing to do with skyscanner (I feel like I'm pimping it), I'm just very interested in cheap travel.
posted by jacalata at 2:12 PM on November 21, 2006


Loving Skyscanner, especially all the "Choose later" options.
posted by signal at 4:09 AM on November 22, 2006


champthom: "I tried not to be SingleLinkFilter. I just posted this as I use it mainly to get an idea of cheap airlines for places I want to go to. I just thought I'd share, that's all."

Dude, that's exactly what the filter should be about: find something interesting, post it. Don't worry about padding things out.
This is a fine post.
posted by signal at 4:11 AM on November 22, 2006


I was unimpressed when I tried skyscanner before, but it seems much better this time around, love teh map interface. Skyscanner may miss some "charter" flights on Whichbudget, but still seems worth checking skyscanner first, just for the map.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:57 AM on November 22, 2006


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