Good question. Yes, Alternative Airlines is a legitimate company and you're probably thinking that because this is written from an Alternative Airlines web page itself that it's going to be thoroughly biased right?
Find out all the answers below!
Alternative Airlines is an online travel agency (OTA) and a safe flight search and booking website where you can find hundreds of different flight results online. These can be to a wide range of remote destinations and well-known locations, and then you can book them all on the same website (no redirection!). Our speciality is providing travellers with a wider choice of flights with over 600 airlines in our flight search results that fly from anywhere to everywhere. We also accept a range of 40 payment types which are provided to suit the customer's needs, wherever they are in the world. For example, airtel, Tigo Pesa or Alipay for Chinese customers. You can find more information on Alternative Airlines through the About Us page. If you think we're missing out a particular airline, then let us know!
What's more, we do what many other flight searches don't do - is that we take the flight payment and send you the airline tickets ourselves. Alternative Airlines does it all, from finding you a suitable flight to sending the ticket confirmation to your email. You are also able to talk to our Customer Service team or search our help desk if you ever have any problems or have questions regarding airline tickets.
We want to make all destinations easier to travel to so that means providing an alternative way to fly. Think of many domestic flights to Safari destinations in Africa or the smaller airline carriers around South America, we want to provide access to these! We even sell tickets for domestic flights in the USA such as Allegiant Air and for commuter flights too.
I can reassure you that its safe to buy flights from hundreds of different airlines with the online travel agency Alternative Airlines as it is IATA certified and an accredited agent as well as ATOL protected. This is what makes Alternative Airlines legit. It is a UK based company but you can book flights from anywhere and to many destinations around and your e-tickets and booking confirmation will be sent to you by email. The company allows flight searches from over 650 airlines, has partnered up with over 40 different payment partners, with 160 accepted currencies to choose from! In 2019, we were awarded a place on the The Sunday Times Tech Track 100!
Your airline ticket payment, whether you choose to pay with PayPal, Affirm, Klarna, Visa or any other at the checkout page, is taken directly by us (no-one else) and we send you the ticket confirmation straight to your email.
So what do IATA and ATOL protected certified acronyms mean exactly?
IATA stands for International Air Transport Association and we would not be allowed to issue you or anyone else with over 600 airlines that we currently ticket if we did not have this! We are proud to to provide a range of alternative airlines all around the world so many customers are able to fly those airlines in their countries and regions that they are located in. The IATA association allows travel agencies like us to sell domestic and international tickets and the Alternative Airlines' IATA number is 91278600. Read more about airline terms and phrases.
ATOL stands for Air Travel Organisers' License which is a UK financial protection for travelers. You will find the certification logos on all our pages and you can always contact us and ask what our certification numbers are if you want more proof! Alternative Airlines' ATOL Certificate number is 84535.
We’re super proud of our Trustpilot rating, but don’t just take it from us. See why millions of others love booking their flights through Alternative Airlines
You may be searching for Alternative Airlines customer reviews after trying to determine if Alternative Airlines is legit or not. What do people say about Alternative Airlines? What have other people experienced? Well, we have so many great reviews from travelers all over the world. You might think I'm just making this up or being bias but the reviews actually say they love that they can search for flights to anywhere and use PayPal for example, or be able to spread the cost of flights over time. They also love that they can get in contact easily with the Customer Service team.
If you don't believe me, check out our Feefo and Trustpilot review pages as a testament to this or some of the reviews at the bottom of the page
The truth is, Alternative Airlines is a real company and www.alternativeairlines.com is a real website. I can vouch for this as I have been working here since 2017, with colleagues who have worked for the organisation for over 20 years. The online flight search is a UK based company located in Horley, alongside Flight Directors which is an airline General Sales Agency for the UK.
We have recently been in the Press for partnering with different payment partners like Klarna and launching new services such as the Travel Agents hub to help each and every customer get to where they want to in the world.
I hope this has reassured you that Alternative Airlines is a legit and trusted travel website. You are welcome to contact us to find out more.
Written by Sophie Georgalakis, Senior Partnerships and Marketing Communications Executive at Alternative Airlines
Wonderful experience. Fast, reliable good service in buying airline tickets with my Paypal account. We had questions and they were answered complete, to the point and in a expedite way.
Had to phone them with query regarding checked in baggage and then again when my debit card payment was being blocked. Both young men I spoke to couldn't have been more helpful. Excellent customer service from them.
Very Professional Service agents and very kind.
The ease of use of the website and the range of payment options available that included PayPal gave me a great customer experience allowing me to book the flights that I wanted without delay.
Alternative Airlines is safe to use as firstly the website is through a SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which means it is a protected connection for purchasing flights. Secondly, you can find all the ways to contact us via our Contact Us page, if you are still unsure of how to use the website as an one of the expert Travel Agents will help you with making a booking. We can help for many things including for buying flights in an emergency, special assistance or even flying with children. All you need to do is ask and Alternative Airlines will be happy to help.
Yes, Alternative Airlines is a legitimate travel company based in the UK. The company was set up in 2006 and now allows customers to search from over 650 airlines and accepts 40 payment methods, in 160 currencies! Customers around the world are given the choice to pay in a way that is suitable to them in the country that they are based. This can be from purchasing airline tickets in one transaction, financing flights in monthly payments or paying back every 2 weeks. The company's model is based on using a flight search website through a SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which means it is a protected connection for buying flight tickets.
Alternative Airlines is not an airline. We are a UK based online flight search, or a flight booking website if you prefer to call it this. We provide a search bar that allows you to input any airport, city or country that you want to fly from to a desired destination that you wish to fly to. Why the name "Alternative Airlines" then? I hear you ask. The reason for the name "Alternative Airlines" is because we wanted to provide the widest choice of airlines that you can't easily find anywhere else and therefore offer different airline options. Are you looking for an alternative to United Airlines for example? Or are you searching for airlines in Africa or flights to South America? So in simple terms, we provide an alternative airline to where you need to get to. This is what makes Alternative Airlines alternative. You can find flights from anywhere to everywhere on airlines that include, but not limited to, Swift Air in the US, Fly Ernest in Europe and many many more.
Yes, Alternative Airlines has a secure website through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which in basic English means it's a protected connection for making flight payments. We go to extreme lengths to make sure that this is safe as we offer a wide range of payment methods to pay for all the airline tickets that can be found on our search.
All the payment types we accept are safe to transact with on our website. Why are they safe? Our trusted partners including Affirm and PayPal ensure the highest security in their technology:
"We invest heavily in securing our infrastructure in close partnership with world-class security experts"
Source: Stripe
"Keeping your financial information secure is absolutely essential when buying online. Whether it's ecommerce, sending money or buying with debit or credit cards online, trust PayPal to help keep your transactions secure".
Source: PayPal
"We give customers the flexibility to pay over time for their most important purchases, on a schedule that fits their budget".
Source: Affirm
Alternative Airlines offers over 160 currencies on the website to pay for flights. Nope, not kidding. By providing over 40 payment options, it made sense to also offer a range of currencies suited to each traveler around the world. So not only do we offer GBP, USD and Euro, we also accept currencies for paying flights with Kenyan Shilling (KES), Canadian Dollar (CAD) and Thai Baht (THB). You can see all the currencies that be used to pay for flights with us.
It's a pretty simple process. Once you inputted the departure airport and desired destination that you wish to go into our Search Bar, as well as the dates that you wish to fly, you will have a list of airline results and times. If you are flying one way, you can select a result and and click "Confirm Selection". If you are doing a return journey, the best combination of outgoing and return results will be displayed and listed in ascending price, with the lowest price first. After you have chosen the best combination of flights suited to you, click the "Confirm Selection" button which will take you to the passenger details and payment page. That's right, it's all on one page. You can also find cheap flights or if you are not searching for particular dates to fly, you can use our Best Fare Finder.
If it's just for yourself and you have selected the flights you need, all you need to do is fill in 'Adult 1' boxes with your details and work down the page. If you have made a search for more travelers, for instance you, another adult and a child, then you will need to fill out the corresponding boxes such as "Adult 2", "Child 1". Dependant on flight route and airline, passport details may need to be required but we will ask this as you go down the page. Your contact details are then required so we can contact you in the event of any scheduled flight changes and to send you your e-ticket.
You can even choose to select a seat and have baggage added at a small fee, which is dependant on the airlines.
Yes, we at Alternative Airlines provide a wide range of information on special services and requirements on flights. This includes information on mobility assistance, flying with children to bringing a pet on a plane. We are happy to help with any specific request you have, just contact us through www.alternativeairlines.com/contact.
After you have inputted all your details in the Passenger Details page you will then have a choice of payment options to choose from to pay for your flights. Hmmm choices choices. But we make sure that the process is really simple for you with any of the options that you choose. You can see all the alternative ways to pay for flights that we accept. You can pay instantly in one transaction with PayPal, Klarna, Visa or Mastercard or you can even pay with a payment plan suited to you. There is a wide range of payment methods and the checkout process is secure and quickly done.
Again, that is a good question. Alternative Airlines accepts 40+ payment methods because we want to make buying flights accessible for travellers all over the world. Apart from offering a wide range of airlines, this is something else that we are proud of and makes us alternative. This can be paying instantly with PayPal, Visa Checkout or buying on finance or spreading the ticket cost with Affirm, Sezzle or Klarna. Alternative Airlines ensures it's legitimacy by partnering with a wide range of payment types to make buying flights online easy.
We also offer Fly Now, Pay Later plans for UK residents to spread the cost of flights over time. Why? Because it's convenient and we know that buying flights can be an expensive purchase if you're doing it for your whole family. You have to go to your distant cousin's wedding on the other side of the world and need to be able to afford the air travel? Well buying flights on finance is a pretty helpful and useful method to pay for flights.
Split Your Payment is another payment method we find effective too. You can use a combination of two payment types such as either visa or credit cards and PayPal and pay for your airline ticket transaction that way.
You can see all the alternative ways to pay for flights that Alternative Airlines' accepts.
Yes. Do you want to use a fast mobile wallet to buy flights? We accept PayPal as well as Visa Checkout and Alipay o rM-Pesa for our Kenyan customers and many others. Or do you need flexibility with your air travel arrangements? You can buy flights on finance with Affirm if you are a US resident, Klarna if you are based in the UK or even buy flights with PayPal Credit. If you have an Amazon account, you can even buy flights with Amazon Pay through us!
Yes, definitely. Affirmis a legit personal loan US based company and Alternative Airlines allows you to use their financial services to purchase flights and pay over time. So you can buy travel with Affirm through Alternative Airlines and it is safe to use. Subject to status, you can apply for 0% APR for flights up to $500. Affirm's Split Pay (4 interest free payments) for smaller purchases is also accepted. A soft credit check is made when you apply and then a real-time decision done instantly.
We understand that flight reservations may have to be canceled, whether it is due to a sudden death or family illness, or you just want to spend more time on holiday, we can help you with the process of cancelling. You can read all information on canceling your Alternative Airlines' flight booking and see what the next steps are to take. There is also information that we provide on flight ticket refunds. Find all Covid-19 related questions for your reservation on our COVID-19 Travel Advice page.
You can contact Alternative Airlines' Customer Service through the main Contact Us page for any enquiries. We pride ourselves on having a dedicated Customer Service Team which many other online flight search agencies don't have. So for your reassurance, there is a human at the end of the phone to talk to about your airline ticket inquiries. The Customer Service team is available everyday, from 9am - 9pm UK time. You can also contact via the Facebook and Twitter pages. So, not only are you searching for flights online to anywhere and everywhere, you also have someone to talk to and help you with your flight-related questions. We also have a live chat feature where you can reach out to our customer service advisors.
The team can help with many flight-related questions including medical assistance, special assistance and even adding frequent flyer membership numbers.
Yes, you can use the Alternative Airlines website, www.alternativeairlines.com, in the USA and anywhere else in the world! You can use the flight booking website in any country because we want to make sure that you have access to your local domestic airline or to fly international, we have no boundaries! You can find any Southwest airlines, Frontier airlines flights and many more US based airlines. What's more is that you can change the currency on the website to suit you too! Alternative Airlines accepts over 160 currencies for any flight ticket.
Yes, Alternative Airlines has a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to display all the latest flight promo offers and engage with our customers. The Alternative Airlines' blog is also good to get insight of the Alternative Airlines' teams travels and worldly knowledge. We also provide travel tips such as Cheapest day to buy flights or Cheapest countries in Europe to visit.
You can also check out the Alternative Airlines LinkedIn page to find out the latest news and features we are continuously rolling out.
If you're interested in finding out more about why Alternative Airlines is the best in the business, take a look at the following guides:
