Wouldn't we all like to know about this. Hell if I can get free tickets for writing up a few articles I would be traveling around the world by now.

I would be very careful with these offers. Just like the free iPod websites which are centered around affiliate schemes (complete these offers bla bla bla, making the site owner cash by generating leads for credit card companies and so on )

TT

I have not heard of anything like this. Are you sure it is not a scam. There are so many going around. Here in Australia I am a member of Jetstar online (Jetstar is one of the bargan airlines) and it is there 3rd birthday coming up, last night they where offering flights for $3.00 to the first 30,000 around Australia only. I missed out by an hour.

tay wrote:

I have not heard of anything like this. Are you sure it is not a scam. There are so many going around. Here in Australia I am a member of Jetstar online (Jetstar is one of the bargan airlines) and it is there 3rd birthday coming up, last night they where offering flights for $3.00 to the first 30,000 around Australia only. I missed out by an hour.

I agree with Tay and Toptraveller. This sounds a bit fishy. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a scam.

Tay: Ryanair used to advertise tickets for $19 around Europe. The problem is, at these prices they operate at a loss.

So they used to charge another $30 or so in fees (taxes, airport fees). The luggage was pretty limited too, and they had only about 10 tickets for the entire plane. Needless to say that those were sold out a second after the portal opened and some people started to question if there were ever any available.

Well everyone else had to pay more.

So don't feel bad that you were an hour late. My guess is that you just saved yourself some headache and frustration since those tickets are next to impossible to get. Some people with a pretty beefy internet connection who stayed up all night (to book at midnight) didn't even get any of those tickets (maybe they had less then 10?)

Just recently Ryanair faced a lawsuit since they charged people for providing a wheelchair at the gates. They argued that everything was calculated so tight that they couldn't afford free chairs. Of course that is called discrimination and they had to apologize.

I am not sure I trust any of these low cost operators. Somehow they have to make a profit and if you look at the numbers I wonder where they are cutting back.

Recently I read another study and surprisingly cheap carriers had more modern planes (that cost less in maintainance) then established airlines. But then again, a well maintained older plane might still be more reliable.

Oh did I mention they charge you a lot of money for food?

Andre

Travel Photography

Those taxes and fees that RyanAir charges go directly to the governments of the countries involved and to the airports to cover landing fees.  International law prohibits waiving those fees.  Even when you use frequent flyer miles for a ticket, you must pay them.  Since they are included when you pay for a ticket, you never really notice them.  Next time you get a ticket on a regular airline, look at the breakdown and you will see the same fees and taxes.

The budget airlines run the flights at cheap, cheap fares for their part of it as a publicity stunt and to get people to try their airline.  RyanAir gets tons of publicity for offering oddball fares, so they get a return by getting free advertising.

Those cheap seats really are available, but as you say, not easy to get.  AirAsia does this a lot.  They recently had a huge number of free seats available. 

The OP signed up under a different username and pitched a poorly designed website (joomla standard website) that obviously ran a scam to get people to contribute content. There was no clear indication as to how those tickets could be obtained.

I have banned the IP of that user.

The bottom line is:

There is no such thing as free tickets for a few written words. Don't fall for scams or all your effort will be in vein.

It would have been more believable if it was a few words for a slight discount on tickets, but completely free...that's almost dead giveaway.  I commend you for banning them.  Something like this could really hurt a lot of people financially if they fell into that scam.

Just follow some basic rules. If a deal is too good to be true, well then it most likely is.

Use  your good judgement and don't get too greedy, because thats when you are most vulnerable to scams.  Many people throw away good common sense when they hear the words free.

TT

I don't argue the fact that there are fees and that they need to be paid. However the way the ticket price is advertised is not correct and the way its broken down.

Essentially  you might end up paying less buying a ticket on an established airline for $100 then a special on a discount airline for $30.

Also why are the taxes and fees twice as high on discount airlines? Since they have their hubs outside the major city airports, those fees should be cheaper if anything.

Andre

Travel Photos 

I haven't noticed that the taxes and fees are higher.  I'll check the next time I fly on Spirit. 

 When I get e-mails from the airlines advertising deals, they always say something like "$139 to San Juan".  Then you find out that is each way, plus taxes.  There are always great sounding deals to the Dominican Republic, but they charge such high landing fees and taxes that you can usually go somewhere else for less or the same.

 Thanks for banning the OP.

I have found the site - if you google it. The girl who started the site is featured on the front and she goes to the same uni. I will let you know if I catch her on campus. What I figured out is there is another site for the sponsors who want the stories, and it has only just started.

How and where do you get the cool images to go with your comments?

Welcome to the Forum.

I have removed the google query, as I still believe its a dishonest project (are you the same person again?).

So the site for the sponsors just started, however she is already offering writers free tickets? Does she pay them out of her pocket? I didn't know Students are this rich. What if no sponsor is willing to sign up? You can get article writers for a fraction of the cost of a ticket. There are too many things that simply do not add up.  

Those Images are Avatars. After you logged in, go to "my account" in the left navigation bar, then to edit and scroll down to where it says "Picture". There will be a browse button for you to upload a picture.

Andre

Travel Photos 

This is really hard to believe. Now a days you get nothing for free. To me it sounds like a scam. I would be careful about getting involved.