Below you'll find the airlines and aiports that offer access to the greatest ski resorts, plus some good-value ski packages, often in less obvious resorts. We've included the latest baggage charges for a fuller picture of the costs of your trip. We don't yet know how sharply the economic chill will have bitten the ski industry but reintroducing free ski and snowboard carriage on flights would make ski holidays more attractive, and boost sales of ski equipment in the UK. The no-frills airlines currently impose hefty baggage charges. With Ryanair, for example, one 20kg suitcase and a pair of skis can add up to £130 each way. All accommodation prices are for one week unless stated otherwise.

Austrian Airlines

Flights from Heathrow (via Vienna) to Innsbruck, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Graz. Also direct flights to Innsbruck from Bristol, Manchester, Belfast, Stansted, Birmingham and Edinburgh. Prices start at £149 return. One piece of hold baggage plus a single pair of skis or snowboard per person is carried free of charge on all flights, apart from those to and from the US and Canada.

Suggested holiday The village of Alpbach is an hour from Innsbruck. The Alpbach Tourist Board (+43 5336 600, alpbachtal.at) has a four-night stay in a guesthouse, including one night free, from €169pp B&B, including a four-day Alpbach Valley ski pass. The offer is available between tomorrow and 15 January, with flexible start days.
• austrian.com

British Airways

Flights Gatwick to Innsbruck, Salzburg, Turin, Venice and Verona; Heathrow and City Airport to Zurich and Stockholm; Heathrow, Gatwick and City to Geneva; Heathrow to Helsinki, Lyon, Munich, Nice, Sofia, Toulouse, Milan, Oslo. City to Chambéry. Flights from £78 return. In economy, one checked piece of luggage is carried free and the second is £30 each way.

Suggested holiday Bankso in Bulgaria is good for beginners, with modern lifts, 65km of pistes and most of the instructors speaking English. Sofia airport is 160km away. Stay at the three-star Eagles Nest hotel from £317pp room only through British Airways, including return flights and transfers.
• ba.com/ski

bmibaby

Flights Birmingham to Geneva (Saturday and Sunday); East Midlands to Chambéry (Saturday and Sunday), Toulouse (Sunday) and Geneva (up to four times a week) £44 return. One piece of baggage plus one pair of skis or snowboard carried free of charge.

Suggested holiday Baqueira Beret is a purpose-built resort in the Spanish Pyrenees, two-and-a-quarter hours from Toulouse airport, with 115km of surprisingly good pistes. Ski Miquel (01457 821200, miquelhols.co.uk) offers half board at Chalet Hotel Salana, including five days' ski guiding, from £513pp.
• bmibaby.com

easyJet

Flights Geneva (daily) from Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Manchester, and Newcastle; Zurich (daily) from Gatwick, Luton, and Manchester; Innsbruck (daily) from Bristol and Liverpool; Salzburg (daily) from Gatwick and (Saturday and Sunday) from Luton. Returns from £48, plus £10 each way for each piece of checked baggage, and £25 for ski equipment.

Off-piste at Chamonix. Fly easyJet to Geneva from 12 UK airports. Photograph: Alamy

Suggested holiday Chamonix is an hour from Geneva airport and has some of the world's most challenging skiing. Pierre & Vacances (0870 0267 145, pv-holidays.com) has a studio sleeping four in Résidence La Rivière in Chamonix Sud, 300m from the Aiguille du Midi cable car and five minutes from the resort centre, from €229.
• easyjet.com

Flybe

Flights Geneva from Exeter, Isle of Man, Jersey, Southampton; Berne from Southampton; Chambéry from Birmingham, Exeter and Southampton; Salzburg from Exeter and Southampton. Flights from £86 return, plus £30 each way per piece of luggage or ski equipment.

Suggested holiday St François Longchamp, a village in the Maurienne valley less than 80km from Chambéry, shares a 95km ski area with Valmorel. Erna Low (0845 863 0525, ernalow.co.uk) has a self-catering chalet sleeping four (in the purpose-built Le Village Gaulois) from £463.
• flybe.com

Helvetic Airways

Flights Bristol to Zurich and Cardiff (via Bristol) to Zurich on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Returns from £145. Ski and snowboard equipment is carried free, but notify the service centre in advance on +41 44 2708500.

Suggested holiday Laax is about 90 minutes from Zurich, has 220km of pistes and is popular with snowboarders and freeriders. Book a dorm bed at the Riders Palace hotel and hostel (riderspalace.ch) from £182 through PowderBeds (0845 180 5000, powderbeds.com). Top international acts rock the in-house club at weekends.
• helvetic.com

Ryanair

Flights Bratislava from Stansted, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Luton, Bristol; Grenoble from Stansted; Munich Memmingen from Edinburgh, Stansted and Manchester; Milan Bergamo from Bristol, East Midlands, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, Stansted and Manchester; Graz, Lourdes Pyrenees, Plovdiv, Salzburg, Trieste and Turin from Stansted; Venice Treviso from Bristol, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford and Stansted; Oslo Rygge from Gatwick, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted; Oslo Torp from Edinburgh, Liverpool and Stansted; Verona from Edinburgh and Stansted. Returns from £64 (based on Stansted to Grenoble), plus charges from £25 each way for each piece of checked luggage, and from £40 for skis or snowboards.

Suggested holiday The village of Flachau is in Austria's vast 860km Ski Amadé area, with over two dozen resorts sharing one lift pass. It is just 60km from Salzburg airport and offers easy access to the resorts of St Johann im Pongau, Alpendorf, Wagrain, Kleinarl and Zauchensee. Interhome (020-8877 6370, interhome.co.uk) has one week in a two-room self-catering apartment (sleeping four) in Haus Dachstein from £338.
• ryanair.com

Swiss

Flights Birmingham, City, Edinburgh, Heathrow and Manchester to Zurich; City and Heathrow to Geneva; City and Manchester to Basel. Checked baggage and ski equipment carried free. Returns from £74 (Manchester-Basel).

Suggested holiday Flaine, about an hour-and-a-half from Geneva, is in a snow-sure bowl in France's large Grand Massif ski area, with 265km of pistes. It has 64 runs in total, and good nursery slopes in and outside the village make it an ideal spot for families. Pierre & Vacances (as before) has a one-bedroom apartment sleeping up to five in convenient Résidence La Forêt on the upper level of the resort from €640.
• swiss.com

Snowjet

Flights Gatwick and Stansted to Chambéry; Stansted to Sion (Switzerland), from £98 return (Chambéry), plus £10 each way for checked luggage, £4 for boot bags, £18 for skis or snowboards.

Suggested holiday Anzère is a south-facing resort 15km from Sion airport. It has a pedestrianised centre and, being less well-known than neighbouring Crans Montana, is cheaper and quieter. It has 40km of pistes, a snowpark and cross-country trails. Lagrange (020-7371 6111, lagrange-holidays.co.uk) has a studio for two in two-star Les Résidences from £206.
• snowjet.co.uk

Felice Hardy is co-editor of ski information website welove2ski.com