Venere.com offers a helpful post on budget European airlines that can save you money and time after you get to the continent:
Many travellers end up settling for the well known names because the price seems low and it then saves them the hassle of searching the market for other options. The first problem with this is that you may end up paying more than you have to, although in the cut-throat market conditions of today any price differences are likely to be slight. The real problem is that by narrowing the choice of airlines passengers are also limiting the options of airport they can fly to and from. This often means people travelling many miles out of their way on the ground to get to an airport from which their chosen airline flies when they could have travelled from an airport closer to home. - click here to read the breakdown from venere.com