Almost weekly, I read about a new airline starting up flights, and I'm sure there are lots I haven't read about. As an example, unless I read about it, how would I be expected to know that Air Berlin flies from Stansted to Palma? Is there an easy way to find all the airline options and destinations in one place? Google it? I'd get five million matches for “airlines destinations”, most of which say something silly like “buy airline destinations on E-bay”! What I need is a website that lists all airlines and charters flying out of the UK and their destinations and weblinks. Does it exist? Ivan Erlick, London

Times Online Travel News Editor, Ginny McGrath, responds: Your question is a common one Ivan, and all the more pertinent as travellers turn to the web to research their holidays. I refer you back to the answer I gave to Claire Churchill a few weeks ago to her enquiry about flights from London to Rome:

Sadly there is no free database for travellers that shows all airlines that operate between specified airports, and the relevant flight schedules. If you are willing to pay, OAG has a subscription-based website, www.oagflights.com, which allows you to search by route and date, returning the full schedules of all airlines, including low cost carriers, which operate the route. However, the website is not comprehensive because it does not include all charter airlines, and the odd flight can slip through the net (see below).

An annual subscription for OAG flights costs £99, although if you want to use it for a one-off search, you can register for a free 14-day trial in seconds. OAG.com also offers a range of free services that will display all airlines that fly direct between airports, but will not display schedules. The site also offers free access to useful tools that display flight durations, which destinations are served from specified airports, which airlines use which airport terminals, and a destination search within a specified flight time.

Alternatively, there is Amadeus.net, a free service offered by Amadeus, a company that works with airlines to distribute theirs fares through travel agents. It is quick but does not list most low cost airlines. Additionally, there are a host of commercial websites that search for multiple carriers on specified routes, such as Cheapflights.co.uk, Skyscanner.net and Traveljungle.com.

We also heard from a reader, Frosti Sigurjonsson, earlier this month who recently launched Dohop.com. It allows people to search worldwide flight schedules, suggesting possible connections, and giving people tools to filter and sort the results until they find the most suitable itinerary. Links are provided to airline websites to do the booking.

Need to know

www.oagflights.com
www.amadeus.net
www.cheapflights.co.uk
www.traveljungle.com
www.skyscanner.net
www.dohop.com