English Listening Practice Travel Tips for English Learners
Planning a trip? Need help with English travel terms? Want to save money on flights? Today's English lesson is perfect for you! In this episode we focus on essential vocabulary, phrases, and tips on how to save money and navigate UK budget airlines. Improve your English fluency with us, using interesting real-world everyday English. 📚 #EnglishLesson
Learn: ✈️ Learn practical travel vocabulary. 💰 Get money-saving tips for flights. 🎧 Enhance your listening and speaking skills.
✔ Lesson transcript: https://adeptenglish.com/lessons/english-listening-practice-budget-airline-booking-vocabulary-guide/
And today we launch our NEW Activate Your Listening Course https://adeptenglish.com/language-courses/course-one-activate-your-listening/ Find out more at the end of the podcast!
Travel far enough, you meet yourself.
⭐ David Mitchell
You'll learn essential terms and strategies to save money and navigate common challenges. This real-life vocabulary helps make travel planning more manageable and this type of Listen & Learn lesson improves your English fluency while you enjoy the topic.
Just listening to this type of lesson enhances your understanding of English used in everyday contexts, bringing you closer to speaking fluently.
Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.
⭐ Gustave Flaubert
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More About This Lesson
In today's English lesson we share the best way to book flights online, saving you money, while improving your English fluency with practical tips and real-life examples.
Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.
⭐ Anonymous
You'll gain practical vocabulary and tips for booking flights online, especially with UK budget airlines. You'll learn essential terms and strategies to save money and navigate common challenges. This real-life vocabulary makes travel planning easier and enhances your English fluency through repeated listening.
It's a great way to learn English:
- Practical Vocabulary for Booking Flights You learn useful terms for booking flights online.
- Real-life Application of Vocabulary The lesson provides vocabulary you need when travelling.
- Cost-saving Tips for Flights You get practical advice on how to save money when booking flights.
- Understanding 'Budget Airlines' Terminology You learn specific terms used by budget airlines.
- Insight on Extras and Add-ons You discover how to navigate and avoid costly extras.
- Vocabulary for Airport and Air Travel The lesson includes terms related to airport and air travel.
- Tips for Booking Early You get advice on the best times to book for cheaper prices.
- Learning from Personal Experience The host shares personal tips and experiences, adding authenticity.
- Vocabulary for Seating Arrangements You learn terms like 'window seat', 'aisle seat', and 'extra leg room'.
- Advice on Luggage and Packing You get tips on packing efficiently to avoid extra luggage fees.
- Listening Practice for Fluency Repeated listening helps your brain with English language learning.
Are you ready to improve your English and save money on your travels? Subscribe to our podcast today and start your journey to fluent English with Adept English.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
⭐ Saint Augustine
Click subscribe wherever you listen or watch your podcasts, tune in now and take a step closer to fluency with real-life English you can use!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What essential English vocabulary should I know when booking flights online? When booking flights online, you'll encounter terms like "flight," "extras," "add-ons," and "demand pricing." Understanding these words helps you navigate booking processes and avoid unnecessary costs. For example, "extras" might include options like seat selection or additional luggage, which can raise the total price of your ticket.
- How can I save money when booking flights online? To save money on flights, consider these tips, Book early, Use flexible dates, Avoid add-ons, Pack efficiently.
- What does "budget airline" mean, and why should I consider using one? A "budget airline" offers low-cost flights by minimizing luxury and additional services. They are ideal for short trips where you prefer to save money on the flight itself. Examples include EasyJet and Ryanair. While these airlines may have smaller seats and fewer amenities, they provide affordable travel options.
- What are some practical tips for navigating budget airline websites in English? When booking on budget airline websites: Look for early booking discounts, Check for hidden fees, Compare dates, Understand luggage policies.
- How does the "Activate Your Listening" course help improve English fluency? The "Activate Your Listening" course enhances your listening skills, crucial for understanding and speaking English fluently. It includes: Structured listening material, Spaced repetition technique, Real-life conversations, Focused topics.
Embark on your journey to English fluency like booking a budget flight—navigate essential vocabulary for online bookings, save money with savvy tips, and experience real-life examples. Just as every detail counts in travel, every word learned brings you closer to fluency.
Most Unusual Words:
- Aeroplane: Another word for an airplane; a vehicle with wings that flies.
- Frills: Extra features that are not necessary and usually make something more expensive.
- Revamping: Updating or improving something to make it better.
- Budget: A plan for how to spend money; also used to describe something that is low-cost.
- Aisle: A walkway between rows of seats, such as on a plane or in a theatre.
- Add-ons: Extra items or services that can be added for an additional cost.
- Leg room: Space for your legs to move, especially important in seats on planes or cars.
- Hold: The storage area in a plane for luggage that is not carried in the cabin.
- Overhead locker: A compartment above the seats on a plane where passengers can store small bags.
- Duty free: Items sold without tax, often found in airports.
Most Frequently Used Words:
| Word | Count |
|---|---|
| English | 14 |
| Course | 14 |
| Listening | 10 |
| About | 9 |
| Might | 8 |
| Vocabulary | 7 |
| Means | 7 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
Transcript: Essential English for Cheap Flights
Making travel plans in English - booking flights
Hi there. Let's cover something really practical today. What are the English words that you need if you're booking a flight online? That's 'flight', F-L-I-G-H-T. And a 'flight' is a journey on an aeroplane or plane. 'Flights' mean that international travel is much more of an option, and many of us book flights to go on holiday. And I'm giving tips and advice today on how to fly for less money. And why a bag like this might save you quite a lot of money on a flight. Let's find out. Booking flights can be a challenge, especially if the website is in English. So this is useful real-life vocabulary for if you're planning a trip. When you book flights, you'll come across terms like 'extras' or 'add-ons'. And these can significantly raise the cost of travel. So to make it more interesting, let's look at how you might navigate these things. The cheapest ways to fly when you don't want to spend a lot of money, or you're on a budget. Some of this is really useful for booking, but also when you're actually at the airport. A very practical podcast today. And I'll throw in my opinion and experience too. I do like a cheap flight! Don't forget to listen a number of times so that your brain can do its English language learning and so that you're another step closer to fluency in English.
Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.
New Activate Your Listening
Before I do all of that, some news on the Adept English front. We have been busy behind the scenes at Adept English, revamping and reproducing our course Activate Your Listening. This was the first course we ever produced and it needed an update. We've improved the course practically. It comes now in an easy to download format, an audiobook and an ebook. We've also improved the course content. But all the good things about the course remain. It's 'Listen & Learn' for one. You'll hear me having conversations with three other English speakers, as well as lots of other material, including pronunciation practice. And the course covers vocabulary and topics which are necessary for anyone learning English. If you want more information on this course, then stay with us at the end of the podcast and you'll see a video which tells you all about the course. That's the New Activate Your Listening course. And you can buy this right now on our website at adeptenglish.com.
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Are expensive airline tickets a waste of money?
Okay, back to today's topic. So you've decided that you'd like to take a trip and you're using an English language website to book your flights. I'm based in the UK so I like to use EasyJet or Ryanair, the so-called 'budget airlines'. The word 'budget', B-U-D-G-E-T, is being used as an adjective here and it means 'lower cost'. They're sometimes described as 'no frills airlines'. F-R-I-L-L-S, meaning 'it's not fancy, it's not luxury, it's pretty basic'. But that's reflected in the price. They're really just getting you from one place to the other. I'm a fan of 'budget', especially if you're doing a relatively short flight. I don't see the point of paying for an expensive seat if I'm just flying within Europe. The experience of flying is hardly different if I've spent more. And I'd rather spend more on the actual holiday. So I'm a fan of budget airlines, even though EasyJet is sometimes called 'squeezy jet' because of the size of the seats. You have to 'squeeze' into them. More on that later.
📷
A hand holding a flight ticket with an airport checking in the background. Improve your English fluency with real-life travel vocabulary and listening practice.
Can you save money by booking flights early?
My first and most important tip - book early! You get a much better price. The way that the budget airlines work is called 'demand pricing'. They have a certain number of seats at a certain price. So those sell first. And when they've sold, the price goes up. For exactly the same thing, that is. And usually there are several price bands for each flight. So the longer you leave it, the more you will pay. The more seats they've already sold on the flights, the more expensive the next seats will be. There's no such thing as a 'last minute deal'. It's also cheaper to book on certain days of the week. My experience says Tuesdays and Wednesdays are good. But for some airlines, Sunday is the cheap day. So if you have flexibility and you can avoid the weekends, that's a good way to get the price down. It's always worth looking at the dates either side of the ones you were planning. It may be so much cheaper if your arrangements are flexible. And it can mean more nice meals in restaurants when you get there!
What do budget airlines charge as 'extras'?
And one of the things to be wary of with the budget airlines, the seats may be low cost, but you can end up paying a whole lot more for all the items that are 'add-ons' or 'extras'. What are they, you might ask? Well, if you and the people you're travelling with want to sit together, they charge you for booking a specific seat. Otherwise you're on what's called 'random seat allocation'. You could be sitting anywhere. So it probably doesn't matter as much if you're travelling with other adults. And Easyjet always guarantee that children will be seated next to an adult. So it might matter for nervous flyers or another group - if you need extra leg room. Andrew at Adept English will attest to this. If you are over six foot tall, it may be worth paying for 'extra leg room' seats. So an 'extra leg room' seat is one probably with an aisle in front of you, like the ones by the emergency exits or at the front of the plane.
Have you ever been charged extra for a seat on a flight?
Where there's more room for your legs. I don't need 'extra leg room' myself, but I know that this can mean travelling in great discomfort if you're tall and you don't take this option. And some vocabulary for booking seats, often they're in rows of three. So you might see them described as a 'window seat'. And that means exactly what it says, 'a seat by the window', a 'middle seat' and an 'aisle seat'. That's A-I-S-L-E, 'aisle'. There's a word in English whose spelling and pronunciation don't seem to relate that much to one another! An 'aisle' is a walkway, especially between seats. So a 'gap', if you like. There might be an 'aisle' at the theatre or the cinema, but we also talk about the 'aisle' on a plane. And in English, 'to walk down the aisle' has a very specific meaning. It means 'to get married'. And we're referring there to the 'aisle' in the middle of a church that people walk down when they're getting married. So there's an idiom for you. But when you're booking flights, you might find you want an aisle seat.
Don’t buy these with your airline tickets!
Other money saving tips? Never buy your airport car parking, your car hire, your hotel room or your travel insurance with your airline tickets. These are much cheaper if you research them and buy them separately. I found that to be particularly true with car hire. You can end up paying three or four hundred pounds more for a week's car hire if you book through the airline. Why would you do this? It's the same sort of car! And when I first started flying, the airline meal was a real treat. But now it's an optional extra, certainly on budget airlines, meaning that you can choose to pay extra to have it. So I tend to say 'no' to the airline food too, unless it's practical because you're on a 12 hour flight, perhaps. There's usually plenty of food to buy at the airport and it's much nicer and cheaper too than what's on offer once you're 'captive' inside the plane. However, I do sometimes like to start my trip with a G&T, a gin and tonic from the trolley on board the flight. The word 'trolley', T-R-O-L-L-E-Y, that's the word for the 'wheeled cart' that the stewards push up and down the aisle of the plane so that they can serve drinks and food. That's the same word as a supermarket trolley, of course.
Packing Challenge: Can you fit all your luggage in a small cabin bag?
But where can you save yourself the most money when you're booking flights? On your luggage, that's L-U-G-G-A-G-E or sometimes called 'baggage', B-A-G-G-A-G-E, the things you bring with you. In other words, the budget airlines in the UK allow you to bring a small bag 'into the cabin'. That means 'inside the plane' for free, something about the size of a rucksack. And it's a size restriction inside the cabin, not a weight restriction because it's about the space taken up. It needs to fit in the 'overhead locker', that's the cupboard above your head or underneath the seat in front of you. You may want to take more, in which case your bag will have to go in the 'hold', H-O-L-D, that means 'the bigger storage area underneath the plane'. Either like the boot of a car or in US English, the trunk of a car, that's the 'hold'. Either way, it will cost you a fair bit extra to take extra luggage, bigger bags. This can be more expensive than the cost of the flight - for the person I mean! And often you have to pay extra for each person and for each flight. So you can multiply the cost of baggage several times over. That's the cost of transporting your luggage. My answer? If you're going away just for the weekend or for a week in the summer, when you don't need bulky clothes or many shoes, squeeze everything into a cabin bag. If you're careful with your packing, it's surprising how little you need. And another tip, consult your airline's information on baggage size. I know that there are slightly different bag sizes allowed on EasyJet or Ryanair. Consequently, we have Ryanair bags, or like this one, this one is an EasyJet bag.
So it's exactly the right size for what's allowed. So you get to pack the maximum amount possible for the least cost. The bags are available online, they're not very expensive, and of course you reuse them. They cost far less than the cost of transporting your luggage. And of course it's a one-off cost. So that purple one is one of our EasyJet sized cabin bags. Great for a weekend. And yes, in the UK we still have those restrictions on flying with liquids. You can't take anything that's bigger than 100ml. Which is difficult for people like me if you have lots of needs of cosmetics and toiletries. Things like face cream, toothpaste and shampoo. What isn't quite so restricted though?
Make use of your Duty Free shopping bag!
Once you're through bag scanning, bag checking and into the International Departure Lounge, there are lots of shops. Even the budget airlines allow you one shopping bag of duty free as well as your cabin bag. 'Duty free' means all those lovely products they sell at the airport with no tax on them. So they want you to buy those! So one way of saving money, use your tiny cabin bag for shoes and clothes. And buy your toiletries and cosmetics at the airport. You can buy 100ml sized toiletries in places like Boots the chemist in UK airports. Another benefit, if space is a little bit tight in your cabin bag, you can just drop a few items in with your shopping. I don't think anyone's going to notice.
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So there you have it. My tips for flying on a budget. I don't fly a lot but I have booked several trips this year. No doubt you'll be hearing about them. And I don't believe in paying more than necessary. So if cheap airline tickets mean you can travel and expensive airline tickets mean you can't, it makes all the difference. It's worth saving the money.
So hopefully that's helpful information and certainly some great vocabulary for you. Don't forget to listen to this podcast a number of times and don't forget the New Activate Your Listening course. Keep watching to find out more on that. Enough for now.
Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
Hi there. If you've been learning English for a while but you're not yet fluent, this course is for you. Traditional language learning doesn't focus on listening, so the skill of automatic understanding is not well developed in many language learners. And yet this is the most important skill if you want to become fluent, both in understanding and in speaking English. This course is called activate your listening because it makes your listening more active and helps you focus on that skill, really improving your automatic understanding of English. Fluency is only possible if your understanding is implicit. This course puts the seven rules into practice.
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It includes structured listening material which helps you build your vocabulary and grammar knowledge gradually and automatically. It makes use of techniques like spaced repetition to help you learn. Spaced repetition means words that you may not know are introduced, explained, and then repeated in different contexts with a space in between. This gives your brain opportunity to do that automatic language learning that we were also good at when we were children learning our first language. Activate your listening focuses on three universal topics and their associated vocabulary. Topics are the UK and Britain, food and education.
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The UK and Britain topic uses vocabulary that's useful for describing any country and supplies interesting and useful knowledge about the UK. The food topic is of interest to anyone and gives in-depth vocabulary on food, particularly food that you might encounter in countries like the UK. And the last part on education, again much of it is universal and some of it is specific to the UK. It's a really good guide to talking about education generally but it's also an essential guide for anyone considering entering the UK education system. You may be a parent whose children are joining the UK education system or you may be an adult who's considering going to university in an English speaking country. Really importantly the course includes English conversation between four native English speakers so that you can practice with different voices. If you want to activate your listening and learn to tune into English conversation and speak more fluently you can buy this course right now. Just press the button, you can start immediately.
Goodbye
Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com
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