Our most flown routes also have something to say about German rail

Flyla is growing, like a soaring airplane in the sky. In May 2023, we witnessed an impressive fourfold increase in bookings compared to December 2022. One of the reasons for this surge is the fact that more than a third of our bookings come from loyal customers who appreciate the value Flyla provides.

We're aware of the environmental implications of flying so we do our best to operate as carbon-consciously as possible; suggesting to airlines to discount the leftover seats, that would otherwise go unused, and automatically carbon compensating every flight. 

Having said that there may be a reason that our most travelled routes are booked so often. What are those routes?

Berlin (BER) – Cologne/Bonn (CGN)
Hamburg (HAM) – Stuttgart (STR)
Dusseldorf (DUS) – Munich (MUC)

Flyla has emerged as the preferred platform for students seeking to streamline their journeys across Germany. Let's delve into the reasons behind this trend:

Student flight fares come with a range of benefits, depending on the airline. In the case of our partner, Eurowings, they offer flexible rebooking options until the day of departure. This means that if a last-minute change arises, students can easily contact our service team to request a date change.

While last year witnessed strikes among plane personnel, this year it's the rail industry that has faced disruptions. During rail strikes, the image of train travel suffers, leaving passengers stranded at stations and enduring overcrowded trains. Moreover, it seems that train delays have worsened since the onset of the pandemic. Comparing a 6-hour train journey from Hamburg to Stuttgart, which is likely to be delayed, to a 1-hour flight, it's understandable why many people find air travel more desirable.

The €49 ticket now means that everywhere in Germany the transport to and from the airport is included in the ticket.  This means that the ticket price covers the entire journey, without any additional expenses. Let's compare Flyla.com student prices with Deutsche Bahn:

Berlin (BER) – Cologne/Bonn (CGN): €75 on Flyla vs €143 with Deutsche Bahn
Hamburg (HAM) – Stuttgart (STR): €75 on Flyla vs €173 with Deutsche Bahn
Dusseldorf (DUS) – Munich (MUC): €90 on Flyla vs €175 with Deutsche Bahn

Flyla provides an opportunity to travel affordably, enjoy flexibility, and experience reliable and comfortable journeys. Join the Flyla community today and embark on unforgettable adventures.

What our most flown routes are telling us about German rail

All our deals for the next two weeks in one place

Almost every airline has a student programme dating back a couple of decades or more. But only 1 in 20 students know that student flights exist. So the only way we can drastically increase familiarity and awareness is by being as transparent as possible.

We knew we couldn't onboard every airline at once and that it would take time to explain the huge upsides launching student flights have to airlines, particularly on routes that are competing not just with other airlines but other modes of transport. So while pursuing integrations with all the airlines and negotiating student fares we also offered non-student flights. For our customers to understand which were and which weren't student flights we simply included a label:

We repeatedly got told that it was unclear if students were saving at all and how much they were saving. So we rebuilt our requests to handle not one set of flight details which automatically would just filter the top flight sorted by price to the top but to separate sets of flight details: one set containing student flights, the other containing non-student flights, and our system would compare the prices. If the non-student flight is more expensive (which it usually is) we now show it on the search results page as a strikethrough price.

Armed with our ability to tell the student exactly how much they are saving we set out to show the student all routes and days on which they are saving the most which tend to be the two weeks before take-off. We built a colour-coded Deals Calendar to give our customers an overview of what dates those flights are still available and where to. As every airline operates with slightly different rules, e.g. flexible rebooking and varied age restrictions, our first version is displaying Deals airline by airline.

Dozens of customers have already used this function all the way to a completed booking and we're hoping that while we improve it even more we're adding transparency to this opaque world of student flights.

Ben