Being able to recognise what is, or isn’t, a good flight fare (even if it’s an advertised 'sale' price!) can be tricky—especially if it’s somewhere you don't travel to regularly.
Fare pricing can depend on loads of different factors:
- Distance
- Competition on the route from other airlines
- Airport taxes from a particular country or city
And, fares often fluctuate without any warning! This makes it difficult to know a good fare from a typical one, unless you're actively tracking each route for months, which can take a lot of time and effort.
This is made even harder with the trend of budget airlines branching out on long-haul routes, where low base fares can skew your idea of a good deal (before you remember you have to pay through the nose for meals and luggage). Unfortunately, it’s not just checked bags these days — sometimes, even cabin bags are considered an ‘extra’.
So, how can you tell whether a deal is truly a good flight fare?
Luckily, that's what we do as Flight Finders, and we’re here to share our knowledge.
Here we’re listing what is a good flight fare for flights from the UK, Europe and the USA with a range of different airlines. To make things simple, we’ve categorised these airlines into three buckets—read on for the specifics of each.
Note: The prices we’re listing below aren’t the cheapest we’ve ever seen, and you may see prices go lower than this if it’s a particularly good sale, or one of the error fares we spot lands in your inbox. But if you book a fare within these price ranges, we think you’ll have bagged yourself a good deal.
While the initial price is listed in GBP for the UK, Ireland & EU fares, the exchange rate and expected price is close enough to stand in for EUR estimates as well :-)
Airline Categories:
Full-service Airlines: These include Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, EVA Airways, Qatar Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, Fiji Airways, etc.
- They all include a checked bag, meals, and a great in-flight service.
- It’s worth noting that you can still expect to pay considerably more to fly with a 5-star airline according to SkyTrax’s ratings.
Chinese Airlines: These include China Eastern, China Southern, Air China, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen, etc.
- This kind of airline includes some of your full-service perks, but lacks in some other areas, which often makes them cheaper than their counterparts.
- For example, they include a checked bag (on most routes), and meals, but won’t offer the same in-flight service as a 5-star airline, and you’ll often have a lengthy stop-over on your way to your final destination.
- If you’re not sure what to expect with this kind of airline, it’s worth reading through recent reviews (like this blog about flying with China Southern) to get a better idea.
Middle-ground Airlines: These include Lufthansa, TUI (long-haul only), British Airways, SWISS, Austrian, Scandinavian Airlines, Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, United, American Airlines.
- They all include a cabin bag, but on most routes, will charge extra for a checked bag.
Low-cost Airlines: These include Condor, Norse Atlantic, Pegasus, Corendon, Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Norwegian, Spirit Airlines etc.
- They don’t include a cabin bag, checked bag, or in-flight meals — these will be charged as extras.
From the UK & Europe
Note: For most of these routes, you can expect to pay anywhere between £50-£100 extra to fly from a regional airport (such as Inverness, Newcastle, Stavanger or Aarhus) or to a regional airport (such as the South island in New Zealand, or Salvador in Brazil).
North America
- Full-service: under £550
- Middle-ground: under £450
- Low-cost: under £300
Central America
- Middle-ground: under £550
- Low-cost: under £450
The Caribbean
- Middle-ground (non-stop): under £400—expect to pay around £50-£100 more to fly with British Airways
- Middle-ground (1 or 2 stops): under £500
- Low-cost (non-stop): under £350
South America
- Middle-ground: under £600
You can expect to pay around £700-£750 for spots that are harder to reach, and less likely to come into a deal range, like Argentina and Uruguay.
Australasia
- Full-service: under £750
- Chinese airlines: under £650
Expect to pay an extra £100-£150 more on flights to New Zealand compared to Australia—Auckland tends to be the cheapest airport in NZ.
South Asia
- Full-service: under £500
- Middle-ground: under £400
Expect to pay an extra £50-£100 more on flights to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, or Nepal.
Southeast Asia
- Full-service: under £550
- Chinese: under £450
- Middle-ground: under £525
- Low-cost: under £400
Nepal
North Africa
- Middle-ground: under £225
- Low-cost: under £150 (non-stop/1-stop)
West Africa
- Full-service: under £500
- Middle ground: under £450
East Africa (excl. islands)
- Full-service: under £550
- Middle-ground: under £450
African Islands (e.g. Mauritius, Seychelles)
- Full-service: under £550
- Middle-ground: under £500
Expect to pay around £150-£200 extra to get to Madagascar.
South Africa
- Full-service: under £550
- Middle-ground: under £500 (expect to pay a little extra from regional airports)
Middle East & Central Asia (excl. Turkey/Cyprus)
- Full-service: under £400
- Middle-ground: under £350
- Low-cost: under £250
Turkey & Cyprus
- Middle-ground: under £200
- Low-cost: under £150 (expect to pay a little more from regional airports)
Mauritius
From the USA
Europe
- Full-service: under $650 USD
- Middle-ground: under $550 USD
- Low-cost: under $450 USD
Central America
- Full-service: under $400 USD
- Middle-ground: under $350 USD
- Low-cost: under $300 USD
The Caribbean
- Full-service: under $450 USD
- Middle-ground: under $400 USD
- Low-cost: under $350
South America
- Middle-ground: under $600 USD
- Low-cost: Under $400 USD
Australasia
- Full-service: under $1000 USD
Hawaii
- Middle-ground: under $400
- Low-cost: under $350
Expect to pay around $100 less if you’re flying from the West Coast
South Asia
- Full-service: under $750 USD
- Middle-ground: under $650 USD
Expect to pay an extra $100-$200 for the Maldives & Nepal.
Southeast Asia
- Full-service: under $850 USD
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Full-service: under $850 USD
- Middle-ground: under $700 USD
Expect to pay an extra $50-$150 for Mauritius & the Seychelles.
North Africa & Middle East
- Full-service: under $700 USD
- Middle-ground: under $600 USD
Hopefully, this helps give you some idea when you’re browsing for your next holiday! Or, let us do the hard work and get the cheapest trips straight in your inbox.
You can visit our ultimate guide to finding cheap flights to anywhere, if you need some more pointers on how to find great deals.
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Still have questions? Feel free to drop us a message on
[email protected] and we'll be happy to help.
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