Find cheap Transavia flights

Transavia is the low-cost airline of the Air France-KLM Group and it’s among the better European discount carriers in my experience. Technically it’s two airlines under one brand: Transavia France and Transavia Netherlands, with bases in Paris and Amsterdam respectively.

It’s a growing carrier with quite a few interesting destinations even beyond Europe, and it’s taking delivery of many new A320neo family aircraft as we speak. Well worth considering for your next trip.

What to expect flying with Transavia

Transavia is a low-cost carrier and that means you pay for everything a la carte, from seat selection to food and drinks and everything in between. It is relatively no frills but you can pay for extra comforts, baggage and so on. And the basic offering even with no added perks is good – no miserable knee-crushing seats and angry service here.

Cabin crew (and even pilots) tend to be friendly and warm, at least on all the flights I’ve taken. On one recent flight, the Captain even made his announcement while standing in the aisle, which is something I love to see. That sort of thing goes a long way to improving the experience and I’ve found it tends to reflect an airline’s overall culture.

The one real difference between flying Transavia versus most other low-cost options is that they participate in the AF-KLM Flying Blue programme. That means you can earn and spend miles with Transavia, which is a rarity – and it’s one more added incentive.

The fleet

Transavia has traditionally operated a fleet of Boeing 737s but is now transitioning to a fleet of A320neo (Transavia France) and A321neo (Transavia Netherlands). From a passenger perspective, they are essentially identical. They’re modern and comfortable aircraft that offer a clear upgrade for passengers.

You won’t generally be able to pick and choose the aircraft but if you see Transavia has an A320 family aircraft on your flight, you can expect a good experience. That said, the 737s are not at all bad either.

Destinations

Transavia’s destination list is surprisingly interesting and far-ranging. The combined airlines serve more than 100 cities. Though at first they may appear to be mostly focused on European holiday destinations like Catania, Corfu and Reykjavik.

Look closer though and you’ll see many cities across North Africa such as in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco (over a dozen in the latter alone). In the vicinity there’s several spots in Cape Verde too, and even as far south as Dakar, Senegal.

Further to the east Transavia serves Dubai, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Amman. Plus five cities in Turkey. And even Tbilisi, Georgia. While you could say some of these are long flights (5+ hours) to spend in an all-economy class single-aisle aeroplane, it’s also great to have more options for reaching these places.

Transavia France also flies point to point from a number of cities in France besides Paris. For example out of Lyon you can find Transavia flights to Palma, Fes, Faro and Tirana among others. From Marseille you can hop on a Transavia domestic flight to Nantes or Brest, or you can go further afield down to Marrakech or Dakar.

Onboard experience

The first thing that will stand out to you upon boarding a Transavia flight is the color of the seats – a very striking green. I happen to really like it. Some may say it’s a lot of colour for an aircraft cabin, but I think they’ve chosen a really nice shade that’s unique and memorable.

Transavia’s is an all-economy class offering as you’d expect. The seats don’t recline, but legroom is reasonable and the seats themselves, especially on the newer aircraft, are quite comfortable. Plus: the newer A320s come with USB-C ports for charging devices, which is fantastic and not a perk I would normally expect on low-cost.

I’ve found it’s a much more dignified low-cost experience overall when compared to the likes of Ryanair and Wizz Air. And if it works for my schedule and route I do seek it out over most others.

Food & drink

The food you can pay for is fine – nothing too gourmet but if you’re hungry it’s perfectly serviceable. The drinks list is standard as well. It’s a little on the pricy side but again, nothing unexpected.

In general you’ll find a selection of hot dishes as well as sandwiches and snack boxes, plus of course the usual chips and sweet items like muffins, chocolates and so on. They won’t always have everything listed in the menu though so don’t get your hopes up too high for any one item before you’ve enquired about what they’ve got that day.

Wi-Fi & inflight entertainment

Unfortunately, Transavia offers no Wi-Fi, and I really wish it did because it would be a nice further point of differentiation from most other low-cost airlines. Then again it is a costly service to install and there’s likely a good reason why most low-cost airlines don’t.

There’s also nothing in the way of onboard entertainment. Although they do have a nice inflight magazine, which I’m always happy to see. But if you want to watch something or be productive while on your Transavia flight, be sure to load up anything you need in advance while on the ground!

“Hand luggage” vs. “cabin bag”

Like many low-cost airlines, you’ll need to pay extra to bring aboard a full-sized cabin bag on Transavia flights. When they say hand luggage is included, they mean a small item that fits under the seat. “Cabin bag” on the other hand is a chargeable item, measuring up to 40 x 30 x 20 cm. Think of a small rolling bag that can fit in the overhead lockers.

Fare types

Transavia recently unveiled its list of fare types and it’s worth understanding what you get with each of the three: Basic, Plus and Max. Here are the basics.

Basic fare

For this, you get a randomly assigned seat (you can pay to add seat selection after), a piece of hand luggage that fits under the seat in front, and a small number of Flying Blue miles and XP, the counter towards elite status in the programme.

Plus fare

This fare gets you all the Basic items plus an additional 20kg of hold luggage and you’re able to select a “standard” seat (meaning not one of the better ones) for free. Changes also come with no change fee up to 14 days out from the flight. You also get a few more miles.

Max fare

Max gets you all the bells & whistles including a full-sized cabin bag, 30kg hold luggage, a choice of any available seat, and no change fee until 2 hours prior to departure. You also have Zone 1 boarding and fast track security at certain airports (including the hubs).

Combined itineraries with KLM

It’s worth keeping an eye out for those itineraries connecting in Amsterdam that combine KLM and Transavia flights. This opens up a wider range of destinations for you the passenger but the onboard experiences are quite different and it’s not always made clear what to expect.

Most importantly KLM is a full-service airline with a business class and free food and drinks in economy, whereas Transavia has neither.

Also note that if you book a mixed itinerary through KLM you won’t be able to select your desired seat on the Transavia portion without then pulling it up on Transavia’s site, and sometimes you can get errors in this process. For someone like me who cares a lot about where I’m sitting, this can be a source of irritation.

Loyalty programme

As mentioned earlier Transavia is part of the Flying Blue programme which is the loyalty programme of Air France and KLM and is also used by TAROM and Air Corsica. That means you can earn useful miles on your Transavia flights and also redeem for Transavia trips.

Note that if you hold elite status with Flying Blue, that won’t get you any perks at the airport or on board when flying Transavia (such as lounge access or priority anything). However, your elite status will earn you some bonus miles on your Transavia flight.

The hubs

Transavia Netherlands uses Amsterdam-Schiphol as its hub and that’s pretty straightforward because it’s where KLM is based as well. So connections between the two via Amsterdam are quite easy.

Transavia France on the other hand uses Paris-Orly as its hub, which is very convenient for Paris itself but doesn’t lend itself to as many connecting opportunities. Air France’s hub at Paris-CDG to the north is a major reason we don’t see the same kind of interline partnership with AF on Transavia France flights.

Another bit of good news is that Transavia France uses Orly’s newer and more modern Terminal 3 for its flights. Not only is it a more pleasant experience flying through there compared to other terminals at Orly, you’ll also find the entrance to the gleaming new Orly metro station a very short walk from the arrivals hall.