Honestly? This whole mess started last Thursday morning when a buddy texted, “Yo, Prague next weekend?” Outta nowhere. Got me buzzing – yeah, cheap beer and old streets sounded perfect. But flights? Last-minute weekend flights are brutal.
Grabbed my laptop while my coffee went cold. Thought, “Okay, deep breath. Let’s not pick the first shiny ad.” Remembered hearing folks rave about that big yellow search site everyone uses. Typed in London → Prague, next Friday to Sunday. Bam! Prices flashed up like a punch in the gut. Seriously? £200+ for two days? Nah. Screwed up typing the dates twice, too. Felt dumb.
Decided to blast open a bunch more tabs. Figured comparing is key. Tried:
- The super clean European one with the map view. Nice, but prices seemed… stiff.
- The one that shows little calendar graphs. Handy, but navigating it felt sticky.
- The airline’s own dang website. Big mistake. Prices were higher than on the search sites. Closed it fast.
- That hipster-looking one people whisper about in travel groups. Actually… not bad? Found a £170 return. Better. Still felt heavy.
A voice in my head (and maybe my budget app) screamed “Budget airlines! You idiot!” Swore I checked them first. Clicked back to Yellow Site. Toggled that “Direct flights only” box. Suddenly, names like Ryanair, Wizz, EasyJet popped up. Prices? Dropped hard. Like, £80 return kind of drop. Nearly choked on my cold coffee. BUT – departure times? Savage. Think 6am Friday out, 10pm Sunday back. You pay with sleep, I guess.
Here’s where I got smarter. Or desperate. On Yellow Site again, spotted a tiny button: “Weekend Trip”. Game changer! Clicked it. Magic. Instantly showed me flights leaving Friday afternoon-ish and coming back Sunday evening-ish. Filtered out the garbage times automatically. Prices stayed decent, mostly budget airlines. Filtered by price low to high. Scrolled past the super-early ones still lurking.
The Big Reveal (Sort Of)
Turns out, Yellow Site actually nailed it once I forced it to understand I wanted a weekend break. Found the budget airline sweet spot hiding there all along. The specific “Weekend Trip” filter magic thingy? That was the secret sauce I was missing. That other hipster site was good too, but slightly messier.
Booked a £93 return. Not the absolute cheapest (would’ve been £80, but flight times were literal hell), and not my perfect Friday evening departure. Close enough. Budget airline, so adding luggage later probably stings. Still feels like a win. Prague on the cheap? Done. Mostly.
Lesson learned? Stop relying on one site blindly. Pound them all into submission, especially that weekend filter. Accept compromise or pay the sleep tax. Next time? Checking even earlier.
