If you know anyone who has traveled around Europe, you have probably heard the term 'budget airline.' If you haven't, let me break it down for you: cheap flights. Before you hop online and book your flights, let me share EVERYTHING you need to know about budget airlines because, let's face it, they can be confusing! Between confusing descriptions of baggage allowance and whether or not you need a printed out boarding pass to how to find the cheapest flights, there's a lot that can go wrong when searching for cheap flights. And there's a lot that you might want to know before getting on one of these budget airlines. If you want to save yourself the trouble, read on!

Before I dive into the details, let me start with outlining the budget airline experience so you know what you're getting into. Most allow only 1 bag onboard and are strict about it, food and snacks cost extra, there's not much legroom (I'm only 5'6 but have long-ish legs and even my knees were up against the seat in front of me), the seats have thin backs and are uncomfortable, and what is least known about budget airlines is they shorten the seatbelts. If needed, passengers are able to request seatbelt extenders but only if you're not in an exit row/extra legroom row (which would be the first row on either side of the plane as well as the emergency exit rows). If you can or don't mind squeezing into a seat and being uncomfortable for a flight in order to save money, now you know what to expect on a budget airline; otherwise, I would recommend looking into full-fledge airlines such as British Airways or Lufthansa for a slightly upgraded experience.

When I first arrived in London, I was wondering how people found cheap flights to travel around Europe. I had heard of people scoring flights for $40 and thinking it was a scam. You can in fact find flights this cheap, and it's all about how and when you look for them. If you look months in advance, flights can actually be cheaper than looking just a few weeks in advance. Conversely, if you wait until the week before, the price will be much higher. PRO TIP: look for flights between 2-4 weeks in advance. Skyscanner.com and Google Flights are the best places to search for flights. They will show you a variety of times from several airlines and the price difference between certain times since flying at different times of the day can change your cost. The best part of these sites, though, is that you can let the site pick what destinations and what days are the cheapest! FLEXIBILITY is the real key to scoring cheap flights. If you aren't set on where and when you want to visit places, you can truly get around Europe on a reasonable budget. Visiting a summer destination in the winter or vice versa and traveling on off-peak days like during the week or Saturday/Monday can save you big bucks. PRO TIP: Flying on a Friday afternoon/evening and back on a Sunday afternoon/night is the most expensive combination. If you can, consider traveling Thursday-Saturday or Thursday-Monday or any other combination that isn't Friday-Sunday to maximize your spending dollars. StudentUniverse.com also has cheap flights for students.

For example, my flight from London to Paris on a Friday afternoon was around $120 whereas my flight from Paris to London at 6 am cost only $27. My flight from Barcelona back to London would have only been $40 had I booked it a few weeks advance like I wanted to but by the time my boyfriend and I got around to booking the flights, my one way flight ended up being a steep $240. I also used Google Flights to show me the cheapest days in May to visit Nice to minimize the cost a return flight and found a flight for a whopping $30. PRO TIP: On Google Flights, select "Everywhere" for the destination and/or "Chart View" for dates to let it show you the best places and times of the year to travel. On Skyscanner, you can you select "Cheapest Month" for a given destination.

So what's the BEST budget airline to fly? It really depends on your preference, and to help you out, I'm gonna break down each and every one of the airlines I've flown and explain their confusing policies to help you decide! In my experience, I prefer different airlines depending on what kind of trip I'm taking in terms of how much luggage I have.

A few things to note that are the same across the board:

1) Make sure you check in online and get your boarding pass before arriving to the airport or else you will have to pay to check in there!

2) Have your boarding pass (hard copy or mobile) out before you reach security since often times you will have to scan your boarding pass in order to reach the security area.

3) The weight of carry on suitcases matters less than their SIZE. Buying a hand-held luggage scale is a good idea but I stopped using mine because I was almost always slightly over the carry on weight limit (usually 8kg or 10kg depending on the airline). But this didn't matter as long as my suitcase fit their sizer; they'll usually assume your bag is under the limit as long as it fits their dimensions, so make sure you bring/purchase a carry on suitcase that will fit all their airlines. I splurged on an Away Carry On suitcase, which was well worth it because of its unique features, but more importantly because it fit EVERY SINGLE budget airline!

Now onto the budget airlines themselves... what's the difference between them?

Ryanair might be the worst in terms of accommodating passengers of different sizes but is definitely one of the cheapest out there, so if you can deal with them, they are not a bad option. The trick with Ryanair is following their policies down to the T. For one, boarding passes will say you need to get a stamp for a visa check at the airport in order to board the plane; however, this is only for if you check in AT the airport. The line for the visa stamp can be insanely long and up to 2 hours, and I've waited an hour in line just to get to the front and ask the guy at the desk who told me since I checked in ONLINE I didn't need the visa stamp and I should've gone straight to the gate. This is because when you check in online for European flights, you input all your passport information so they can check all this on their end. Just make sure to PRINT OUT your boarding pass after checking in if you are not a European citizen - Ryanair says you can go on the app and receive a mobile boarding pass but this is only if you are an EU citizen. Another tricky thing about Ryanair is baggage allowance. If you read carefully, on their website it says "Ryanair allows passengers to board with 1 small item, such as a handbag or laptop bag. Passengers with Plus/Flexi Plus tickets or who pay a fee can also bring 1 piece of carry-on baggage to stow in an overhead bin. Otherwise, carry-on-sized bags are gate-checked for free." This means, unlike what it might suggest on your boarding pass, you actually are allowed to bring on a carry-on bag to gate-check for no extra cost. If you want to play it safe, you can pay $6.64 (5 pounds) extra for Priority Boarding; this means you get your 1 small item like a handbag under the seat but also 1 carry on bag, AND you get to be in priority boarding. I paid for Priority Boarding every time I flew with Ryanair because for only ~$6 more a flight ($12 for both flights in a trip) you get the peace of mind of having both your bags on board (and thus saving you tons of time by not needing to claim any baggage) and you don't have to wait in the INSANELY long Economy Boarding line. Trust me, just get Priority Boarding and you will not regret it. PRO TIP: I have read Ryanair is extremely strict with baggage allowance but have found they are pretty lenient when you have Priority Boarding. For example, the boarding pass for Priority says you get 1 carry on bag for overhead and 1 SMALL ITEM like a purse. Once, I had a carry on suitcase and a huge backpack (that still fit under the seat but was way larger than a small purse and the 'small item bin check'), and surprise, no one said anything about the size of my 'personal item.' Sometimes when I'm wearing a scarf, I leave it draped down either side of my neck to cover backpack straps since they only look at you head on.

EasyJet is my next preferred budget airline because I found they had less leg room and more expensive flights than Ryanair. EasyJet allows only 1 carry on item but there's 2 clever ways to get around this. For at least $17 more, you can pay for an Up Front Seat (which gives you Priority Boarding) which gives you an additional personal item to stow below the seat in front of you. I paid for the Up Front seats when I needed a backpack my personal item whereas if I just had a small purse than I really couldn't stuff into my carry on, I could go with this second, trickier method. PRO TIP: Almost all airlines allow 1 bag of airport shopping on board. Buy a bottle of water or a snack and get a plastic bag for it, then stick your small personal item in it (I usually will try to put whatever I bought or scarf on top of my purse so that's what shows if someone bothers to peep inside). Better yet, save any plastic bag you've gotten from airport purchases to reuse them. I've accidentally used bags blatantly from a different country's airport and no one has noticed or said ****anything. My go to purse was Madewell's Transport Mini Crossbody and I was always able to stuff it into an airport shopping bag. Often I would take my jacket off and drape it over the arm I carried the airport shopping bag with for extra coverage - if it was cold, I would do this and then once I passed through the boarding pass check I would throw my jacket back on. EasyJet is definitely easy when it comes to boarding passes - you can get yours on their app!

Eurowings is a German budget airline, so don't be confused if you are an unmarried female and it says Mrs. on your boarding pass - for some reason there is no option for a Miss or Ms, but it doesn't matter for identification check/boarding the plane. You can get your boarding pass emailed to you as a PDF for scanning. Eurowings has two levels for tickets: BASIC or BEST/BIZ. Eurowings BASIC has a confusing baggage allowance so know this: you are allowed only 1 carry on but also a small personal item. You get 2 carry on items with BEST/BIZ.

Wizz Air can have very inexpensive Basic tickets, but note the price goes up exponentially for their different tiers of tickets, with each allowing more baggage allowance. With the Basic ticket, you are allowed 1 carry on item. Only with WIZZ Priority are you allowed 1 small personal item. If you need to check a bag as well, it can sometimes cost less to pay for a Plus ticket or a Priority ticket (both include the checked bag, the carry on item, as well as the small personal item - the only difference is with Plus your checked bag limit is 20 kg and Priority the limit is 32kg) then to pay to check a bag with a Basic ticket. The weight limit on the checked bag is strict. If you do book a higher tier ticket than Basic, book IN ADVANCE or else you can end up paying $150 for a one way ticket. You MUST check in online before and print your boarding pass or you will be charged $50 to check in at the airport and print a boarding pass there. My Australian friend Lochie fell victim to this but luckily had enough time to make our flight with his emptied-out wallet.

WOW Air is similar with 4 tiers of tickets you can purchase: basic, plus, comfy, and premium. Any customer is allowed 1 small personal item to stow in front of you and you may purchase additional baggage allowance for a carry on item online. If your personal item doesn't fit in their carry on sizer then they will gate check it for the same price it would cost to purchase a carry on item online. You ARE allowed 1 bag of airport shopping.

So, will you be trying any budget airlines soon?! Which one do you think sounds like the best?