You get what you pay for

Recounting his experience of flying Ryanair, Dr Martin Spillane (The Sunday Times, January 14) proves that you only get what you pay for. If you choose to fly with the budget airlines, by the time you add on the extras, it is not inexpensive any more and you do not have a reserved seat.

If you have Internet access and are prepared to book your flight well in advance you can often get flights to and from Malta at favourable fares, even using Air Malta and GB Airways (British Airways). A return midweek GB Airways flight from Manchester booked now is less than £100 - BA standard, reserved seats, but no food.

Air Malta flights can be as low as £140 and includes meals and wine. We, in the north of England, do not have the luxury of low-cost airlines flying to Malta. BritishJet do fly from here but is often as expensive as Air Malta. At least with BritishJet you do have food and a reserved seat.

The main drawback of living in the north of England is that from November 1 until May we can only fly Air Malta or BritishJet and only from Manchester. This means that it is quite difficult to get seats at peak times in winter.