TUIfly is German based budget airline that offers services around western Europe as well as to Turkey, Israel and northern African destinations. Generally speaking the flights are a little more expensive than you may pay with ryanair but there are frequent special offers on.

Personally I have flown with this airline three times, one from Cairo to Germany and twice within Europe and found them to be an above average service for the price. All three flights left and arrived on time and provided little extras that budget airlines do not normally have- complementary meals and drinks, even catering for vegetarians and dietary requirements such as allergies. Also it is possible to check in baggage without a charge-one piece up to 25kg. Sports baggage and seat reservations do have an extra charge however. I found the airline to be clean, well-maintained with no dubious broken parts inside and the chairs quite comfortable. I found leg-room to be similar to other budget airlines.

As with the other other reviewers I always found the staff extremely friendly and they speak perfect English on all services for those whose German isn't up to scratch. I found on my flights there were also English language papers offered (The Times) and in the language of the country I was flying from/to as well as German.

From the UK the airline only connects to Newcastle and Manchester so is a little limited for reaching the continent, however, for getting around from Germany and connecting to north Africa this is one of the broadest services I could find.

For both of my European flights I was able to check-in online and the process at the airport was very straightforward. From Cairo I had to check in at the airport but the staff were effecient and the whole thing straight forward and relatively quick.

My main reason for writing this review other than to back up what was said in previous reviews is to point out the brilliance (and I think unique feature of this airline) of their fly and rail offer. Any flight going to or from Germany can add Euro25 or 20 pounds to their flight cost and get a rail ticket with Deutschebahn to anywhere in Germany, for use on the day of the flight and includes the super-fast ICE trains. From Cairo I flew to Munich and was able to get the ICE to Mannheim which, had I bought a normal ticket, would have cost me Euro122 (and no flights from Cairo come in any nearer to Mannheim). Potentially you could cross the whole country. For anyone who does not live, or is not going to travel near where the flight comes in this is an excellent value for money service.

Organising the fly and rail is staightforward as you simply click on the appropriate box when buying your flight online-no need to specify where you want to go and you will receive an email of the fly and rail conmfirmation. Then on the day of your flight/after you arrive you can simply get on any train with room going to or from the city you fly from.

I believe TUIfly offers an efficient and reliable service for reasonably low prices-and their fly and rail offer makes it much cheaper to get around Germany when you arrive.