Any ideas for good, reliable and inexpensive airlines to use to fly within Europe (Italy-France-Scotland) for September 2012?

Ryanair.com or easyjet.com -watch the hidden charges otherwise awesome deals

Agreed, ryanair is very inexpensive and surprisingly reliable. Nothing about it is good though.

You just named two good qualities

easyjet. I've been told ryanair customer service is awful. We did easyjet a couple of months ago when flying from Madrid to Paris and I was happy with the price and service. Just be aware both airlines do not assign seats (except for a price) and so it is first come, first serve meaning you need to line up at the desk if you want a good seat or if you have a large group that wants to sit together. They also charge for checking in luggage but carry on's are free (one only).

agree saying that you cant argue with 1c flights

both are good, exept ryanair take off and land far away from the city sometime. Paris for example, with easyjet you land in paris, near subway and everything. with ryannair, you landing in Beauvais a city outside of paris, far outside of paris. so event if ryanair is a bit cheaper, i don't think it's worst it

Hey Tom, ryanair's model is more based on regional airports but some cities like Dublin, Barcelona, Rome etc are straight into main airports, others like Stockholm are at least 100km away and the best I've come across is Vienna which you actually fly into Bratislava in Slovakia saying that, its less than an hour from there. ryanair is very much buyer beware, read the fine print, research the airport location and be within your hand luggage allowance and you're set. Again if you're price sensitive and not pushed on the extra frills they're a great airline to fly with just don't expect Cust Service at any North American standards

Jenny, they offer the same services; they both crunch you through as fast as they can (although impersonal, a rather good quality).
Don't expect customer service or perks.
Do bring only one piece of carry-on luggage.
Do read the fine print.
Do book the cheaper airline
BUT do include total transit costs to and from airports in your cost evaluations (and likewise for travel time, if you're in a hurry)

Thanks for all the tips guys!

did the whole europe thing for6 months. flybee, easyjet, ryan air are cheapest. ryanair is crap but cheap. when booking, they try and grab you on picking a seat (uncheck it it saves you like 20$) and baggage. Trying to fit it into a smaller bag!