Altenburg Airport (near Leipzig)

Has anyone flown from Altenburg airport near Leipzig or Chimnitz. Is it easy to get to. What are the facilities like.
Do flights only go to Barcelona and London from there ? I booked a cheap Ryanair ticket from there, It was so cheap that
surely there must be a catch.

Wow looks like a cowshed terminal with only 2 flights (Ryanair Typical)

Can you call that Leipzig?

Altenburg Airport

It's a bit of a pain in the arse to get to.

There are a number of different possibilties to do it however:

1. Train to Leipzig Hbf, then airport bus from outside station - check http://www.thuesac.de/PV/Ryanair.htm for bus times, I think it costs around €12 oneway.

2. Get a lift share at MFG ( http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ ) - although lifts directly from Dresden to Altenburg are hard to come by. Maybe a liftshare to Leipzig, then another to airport..?

3. Some kind of train/bus/MFG combo - knock yourself out!

The airport only serves Ryanair routes to Stansted and Barca. Facilities are limited but adequate - there's a reasonably priced cafe (which also sells the english papers), an ATM and not much else. After you've cleared security, there's a tiny little convenience store selling monster bags of M&Ms and the like - be sure to get some proper food beforehand. The toilet serves as the unofficial smoking area once in the departure lounge.

Safe journey.

The interesting about Altenburg airport is that it's in the middle of a wood. They had to close the airport for a while because some trees were too tall. I believe it was an old Russian air-base. If you survive the landing and taking off bit, it's a relaxing place to fly from and to. I usually drive and park my in the free car park there. However, it's a real bugger to find. Not directly in Altenburg but it the middle of nowhere. As other people have said it's quite a trip away from Leipzig.

There's no "catch" to the cheap Ryanair prices, apart from the obviously less-than-desirable location of the "airport" that they use. Ryanair are the pioneers of low-cost air travel so they know how to keep prices down: only one model of plane to keep maintenance costs to a minimum, very short turn-around times to maximise each plane's use, and micro-management of flights - offering seats that otherwise won't get filled at a very low price to people who otherwise wouldn't fly. Although they offer some bargain flights, most of their seats sell at considerably higher prices, which is why just last week they could announce record profits - up 33% to €400m.

The thing that annoys me about Ryan Air is there web-site. You start off with a price of 0.99 €. Then the tax is added. Then a charge for baggage. Then travel insurance (admittedly you can avoid this but it's easy to get snagged with it), then credit card fee. So by the time you've finished the price has gone up dramatically. Usually still a good price but not the real bargain you thought it was. I also find the staff a bit young and spotty for my liking.

Personally I prefer to fly from the real Leipzig/Halle airport with Air Berlin. It's a lot easier to get to and from Leipzig/Halle Airport. Air Berlin's service is excellent, they're not expensive and they have a frequent flyer bonus system.

Amen to that, Vicar. And once they've got you right where they want you, they start flogging you nasty pieces of food for a similar price to that of your ticket. On a peanut M&M come-down, I shamefully admit to succumbing to a piece of what Ryanair call "pizza" for €6. For that price, I want it fed to me by a Leprechaun while singing Danny Boy - but it's a will power thing I suppose. On the other hand, the friggin bloody ruddy scratchcard hard-sell thing might just force me on to the more expensive BA, who now fly from Dresden to Gatwick.

Another alternative is EasyJet. They fly from Berlin to different UK airports. I was quite impressed last time I flew with them. The crew were all east Europeans as far as I could make out. They were very friendly and spoke excellent English. During the flight a passenger in the row behind me fainted and was in a bad way. (Nothing to do with me I hasten to add). They took really good care of her. Giving first aid and generally helping the pasenger out. Maybe I'm being unfair, but I couldn't see the Ryanair crew doing the same.

Easyjet is a good alternative, but i don´t think there prices are as good as ryanairs. In terms of cost i think ryanair is better.

The thing you have to remember about RyanAir is that they are notorious in the industry for abruptly cancelling flights last-minute, with no alternative accomodations provided. Sure, you'll get your money back, but you're most likely already at Frankfurt Hahn or some godawful place (anyone who's looked closely at their airports knows that many of them have no business bearing the name of a city that is actually more than an hour away) and now you somehow have to find your way to a proper airport with other airlines where you will be forced to buy a last-minute ticket at absurd prices.

Sure, this doesn't happen each time but it is something of a gamble. For low-cost air I have little actual first-hand experience (I take the train unless there is absolutely no alternative based on my needs, schedule, etc.) but I've spent a lot of time trying to plan trips with them and of the trips I've taken, I've had great experiences with both GermanWings and ThomsonFly. I've also heard good things about AirBerlin and HLX. About RyanAir I've only heard horror stories.

Take it for what you will.