The growth of the Internet and budget airlines has turned last-minute flights into a huge industry you can just be surfing around, and then, right there, theres a flight cheap enough for you to buy on impulse and go away this weekend. If youre thinking about booking last minute flights, however, there are a few things you need to know.
An important point to make is that you cant trust the prices you see quoted in advertising for last minute flights. This is because of the common practice of excluding booking fees, airport taxes and all sorts of other little extras from the price these all get added on just when youve got your card out and youre ready to pay, in the hope that by then you wont want to back out.
Also, you should realise that just because a flight says it goes to a big city like London or Paris, it doesnt mean that the airport is actually anywhere near. Budget airlines use smaller airports to avoid paying the higher airport charges at the larger ones, and these smaller airports can be as much as two hours away from the city centre by often unreliable public transport. In some cases, you can end up paying as much as you did for your plane tickets...