The rise of the budget (sometimes called "low-cost", or "no frills") airlines has been great for air travellers within Europe. You can now fly to the continent at very low costs, with simple online booking making things easier than ever before. Indeed, the expansion of the budget airlines routes into Eastern Europe means that you can now travel even further at great prices.

For those looking at longer flights (long haul), you can still find bargains but you'll need to be a bit more imaginative if you want to find the best deals. It helps if you can be flexible, to ensure that you can travel at times of the week (or day) when flight prices are at their cheapest.

It also helps to be flexible when it comes to selecting which airline to travel with. Sometimes it's worth shopping around. As well as the familiar names (such as British Airways, American Airlines and others) don't forget that a number of European carriers offer inter-continental flights from UK airports. Some alternatives worth considering are Virgin, KLM and Singapore Airlines. The latter, as their name suggests, specialise in flights to the Far East and also offer some exceptional deals on routes to Australia and New Zealand.