A note: I work for the US Navy at Naval Air Station Sigonella (NASSIG), in Sicily, Italy. As such, I am eligible for two round trips each year on military aircraft on a space available basis. Therefore, I will start with a quick description of that. If you are not eligible for these types of flights, just skip the next section.
Space Available: My first choice for travel to somewhere with an AMC terminal is space-available. Now, this is generally only going to work if you are trying to travel to one of the bases that have regular flights from wherever you are. For NASSIG, that includes Norfolk, VA; Rota, Spain; Souda Bay, Greece; and Ramstein, Germany. Flights go to other destinations as well, but are less reliable (don't happen as often), and place you at more risk. Don't take this type of flight if you have nonrefundable hotel reservations or connecting flights, since missing the flight could wipe out your savings, and maybe your whole vacation. We really like to take this option to travel back to the states for the summer, since buying five round trip flight to the US can set us back $5000 or more, making waiting to get on a flight worth the hassle and time.
Ryanair: If I am going to buy tickets to somewhere in Europe, my first search is always Ryanair. They are very cheap, as long as you follow a few simple rules. First, I have to drive to either Palermo or Trapani, since those are the only two airports on Sicily that they fly from. These airports are two and three hours from me, respectively, which is a big consideration. However, when I can get tickets to Pisa for 12 euro, round trip, it makes the drive worth it. The second thing about Ryanair is that their ticket costs can vary widely, from as little as 6 euro each way, to hundreds of euro each way. Ryaniar makes it easy to compare ticket prices for flights on different days of the week, and sometimes leaving on a Friday instead of a Saturday can save you big bucks.
The other thing I do to save money is to go where the tickets are cheap. If you are determined to take a trip to London for Christmas, you will have to pay whatever the prices are for that week. However, if you just want to go somewhere for Christmas, you can check a bunch of destinations, and pick one with lower fares for that week. Right now, for example, a flight from Palermo to London, December 22-29, is 180 euro round trip. Now that doesn't sound too bad, but you can go from Palermo to Marseille for just 80 euro round trip if you go from Dec 21-28; or Trapani to Rome for just 93 euro. Maybe you still want to go to London, but if Marseille and Rome are on your list of places you want to go to, then maybe you pick one of them instead. The key is that if you are flexible about where and exactly when you go, you can save money on travel, then go to London later, when that is the cheaper destination.
One key part of Ryanair travel is that it is only cheap if you follow their rules. First, you have to pay an extra 6 euro each ticket as a service fee when if you pay by credit card rather than debit card. Second, if you do not print out your ticket from home before you get to the airport, they charge you something like 60 euro to print it out for you at the airport. Third, they have pretty high checked baggage fees, which get even higher if you do not pre-pay for it (15 to 30 euro for the first bag, depending on flight and time of year, for pre-paying, but 60 to 130 euro at the airport). They have a strict 20 kilogram limit on checked baggage, and charge 20 euro PER KILOGRAM for exceeding that. They allow one carry-on bag only (you can't even carry a purse or book as a second item, all must fit into a single bag), and the weight limit for this is 10 kilograms, or you have to check it at the gate (at 50 euro extra). The carry-on also must meet strict size limits (55cm x 40cm x 20cm), or you will have to check it, and pay. We have luggage that exactly meets the carry-on size limits (bought at IKEA for under 50 euro each), and always bring a small baggage scale to weigh our carry-ons so we don't get caught by surprise. For a complete list of Ryaniar fees and rules, check out http://www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-tableoffees.
One of the reasons Ryaniar can be so inexpensive is that they offer no free extras. For the ticket price you get a seat and a single carry-on. If you want to check any bags, you pay. If you want a reserved seat, you pay. If you want priority seating (get to the front of the line to board first), you pay. If you want a soda or water on board, you pay. On top of that, a Ryanair flight is like flying inside a SkyMall catalog, as the flight attendants go up and down the aisles selling smokeless cigarettes, lottery tickets, duty free chocolates and perfumes, calling cards, and snacks.
One thing to watch out for with Ryanair is that they generally fly into smaller airports, which can sometimes be much farther from the city that the better-known airports. For example, when flying to Paris, Ryanair does not go into Charles de Gaulle or Orly, the two airports that most airlines use, but into Beauvais, which is about an hour outside of Paris. On the other hand, in Rome, the airport they use (Ciampino) is actually closer into the city than Fiumicino. Because of this, make sure you do some research on how to get into the city.
Skyscanner: I try not to make any travel decisions without looking at the alternatives. As much as I generally find that Ryanair is the cheapest way to fly, I always like to check out other airlines. In the states, I used to use sites like Expedia and Kayak. However, I have found that in Europe, these sites tend to miss the low cost airlines (like Ryanair). Skyscanner, however, does include these European low cost carriers. I use it to check out options from Catania (the nearest commercial airport to where I live). Now, Ryaniar is usually the cheaper option, but sometimes I am willing to pay a little more to avoid the extra three hours of driving to Trapani or Palermo.
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