Are You a Member of the ‘Backpack Lunatic Fringe’?

If the idea of flying a low-cost European airline with “spotty brand identity” from the U.S. to Europe this summer appeals to you, then aviation consult Michael Boyd would say you qualify. Boyd’s rather bizarre remark appears in a noteworthy USA Today story about European discount carriers entering the U.S. market. Airlines such as Marinair, Eurofly, FlyGlobespan and Condor are now offering budget travelers trans-Atlantic alternatives to the major carriers. They offer cheap flights but have a few drawbacks. “Because these airlines target European leisure travelers, they fly to a limited number of U.S. cities (most notably Orlando, Las Vegas and New York),” the paper reports. “Some flights are seasonal (usually May through October), and frequency varies.”

Photo by pj mac via Flickr (Creative Commons).

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