Flying too far-flung destinations with nothing but the bag on your back and thirst with adventure is every backpacker’s dream. The medium of travel, however, is a question one must think about carefully as the choice of the airline you take depends on a variety of factors such as the location you are flying to, the cost you are willing to incur and the comforts you seek during the flight.
It is to clear the confusion around these that we at Travset have done some research on the difference between the two for you.

1. The flight cost

Budget airlines as you might have guessed are those for on a budget and is, therefore, cheaper than the more traditional airlines. Do however read the fine print as simple things such as checking in at the airport can have you charged.

2. In-flight services

It is not unusual to see passengers being served with inflight entertainment on flights aboard traditional airlines. Such inflight entertainment, however, is not provided within budget airlines unless paid for separately.

3. Flight destinations

Most budget airlines prefer to fly shorter distances to keep fuel and maintenance costs down. Intercontinental flights, therefore, are most likely to be onboard the more traditional, long haul airlines.

Do however cast your search for cheap flights wide. Budget airlines are now starting to offer flights on more popular routes and beginning to compete with more established airlines on price. Think AirAsia X, Scoot and Jetstar.

4. Luggage

Budget airlines allow their passengers to take carry-on luggage only. Traditional airlines, however, allow its passengers to have carry-on luggage and checked luggage as well. For this reason, the planes belonging to traditional airlines are much bigger.

5. Legroom

Planes belonging to budget airlines owning to the sort distance they fly are usually small, making the amount of room you have to stretch your legs rather short. You can, however, ask for seats with more legroom, but this might cost you a bit more!

Traditional airlines, however, offer more legroom to their passengers.

6. In-flight meals

Traditional airlines sever its passengers with meals during the flight whilst passengers on budget airlines have to pay separately for it.

7. Departure and arrival hours

This is what you should consider if you make stopovers and take multi-city flights. Cheap airlines operate in the cheapest fare hours at airports but it can cost you unplanned accommodation or crash at the airport (if it’s open at nights!)

8. Strikes

Recent Ryanair strike affected thousands of passengers across Europe and caused wasted vacation time from work. Hotel bookings social media hatred towards the airline. And of course, strikes happen in cheap airlines more often than regular and premium operators.