One of our latest flights to Spain was from the UK’s Gatwick airport to Alicante on the Costa Blanca. With millions of Brits traveling to Spain every year, it’s useful to know which UK-based airlines are the best ones to book from the UK and which ones to avoid.
British Airways – One of the best airlines to fly from the UK to Spain, British Airways offers year-round low fares, convenient flight times and superb customer service. They offer flights only, hotel and flight packages, and hotel, flight and car packages, depending on what you’re looking for. With flights to 30 Spanish cities, British Airways covers most of Spain and, with current deals to cities like Malaga as low as £58 one-way, flying to Spain is cheap.
Easy Jet – Not always one of the best airlines, they’re definitely one of the cheapest. Easy Jet flies to almost 20 Spanish cities, at rates as low as £41.99 from Gatwick to Madrid, you can get there and back for less than 100 quid.
Ryan Air – The airline we say “Avoid unless you really want a hassle”, Ryan Air is cheap but, like they say, you get what you pay for. Ryan Air flies to more than 16 Spanish destinations including Madrid and Granada, but with carry-on baggage allowance at only 10kgs and a hefty payment required if you want to check in a bigger bag, as well as dismal food and not always the price advertised (they neglect to mention their added on taxes and fees), unless you enjoy grief, we say give Ryan Air a miss.
Don’t forget too, half of their flights go to airports you’ve never heard of and miles away from your actually Spanish destination. I don’t know about you, but we don’t fly to Spain to spend another three hours on a bus.
Bmibaby– The airline with the odd name, it’s another UK-based low-cost carrier that, actually for the cheap fare price, is quite decent. Bmibaby flies to eight Spanish airports – with Barcelona and Alicante included in these – their baggage allowance is better than every other budget airline (22kgs in the hold and 10kgs in hand luggage), and they let you pool your luggage with whoever’s traveling with you so you’re less likely to have overweight charges. If I had to choose the best low-budget carrier out of the UK to Spain, I’d be hard pressed to think of a better one than Bmibaby.
Monarch Airlines – One of the most dismal low-budget airlines we’ve ever flown, Monarch may be cheap but it’s policies are ridiculous. Only allowed a check-in bag weighing 20kgs (and they are strict!), your carry-on bag can’t weigh more than 5kgs and you have to shove your handbag or laptop in there too, as you’re only allowed ONE bag onboard.
We just got back from two awful flights with Monarch so, yes, they might fly to more than 10 Spanish destinations and flights might cost as low as £34 one-way, but when you have to put up with unfriendly staff, a ridiculously low baggage allowance and the high-prices of onboard food and drink as, god knows, there’s nothing free, they’re on the bottom of our ‘avoid pile’ just above Ryan Air.
Photo – One of Bmibaby’s jaunty planes arriving in Barcelona, Spain