Everyone wants to save money when booking travel. Airfare uses up a huge portion of your vacation funds, so finding the best flight deals could mean getting a better hotel room or Airbnb apartment, more money to spend on activities, or a meal at a really great restaurant. If you save enough on booking your flights, you may even be able to extend your trip by a few days or put aside some cash for your next adventure.
How to search for cheap flights to save money
No matter where you use the extra money, you always want to get the best deal possible on flights. Here’s a quick primer on how to hunt down the best flight deals.
First, let’s talk about the two different types of websites you’ll be checking for your cheap flights. The websites you visit when looking to make travel arrangements are likely to be either OTAs (online travel agencies) or metasearch engines.
An OTA is just like an online travel agency staffed with humans. You book directly with the OTA, and if you need to change or cancel your travel plans, you return to the OTA to resolve your problem. Some OTAs charge fees, much like a regular travel agency does, and many will charge you for changes in plans.
A metasearch engine is like a search tool that sends your request to multiple search engines and puts all the results together in one list. Sites that do this are also called aggregators. Basically, they search different websites as well as OTAs and gather all the info in one place. When you decide to make a purchase, the metasearch engine will redirect you to another website for the transaction. Sometimes you’ll be sent directly to the airline’s website; sometimes you’ll be sent to an OTA.
Note: Southwest does not allow OTAs or metasearch engines to list the prices for their flights, so you must go directly to their site to search their options. It may be worth the hassle, though. Southwest’s low airfares, free checked bags, and ease of changing plans may be your best bet sometimes. Even after their meltdown over the 2022 Christmas holidays, they are still a great option for many travelers.
Even after searching through the sites listed below, it is usually best to book directly with the airline once you find the flight you need. Booking through a third-party site makes it much more difficult to be compensated or reimbursed, should the need arise. You’ll often walk away with substantially less than what you originally paid for the tickets. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.
…twice. After losing over $500 between the two cancelations, I won’t mistake again.
When I’m on the hunt for the best deal on flight tickets, I use all five of the tools below.
Here are five of my favorite airfare search engines that save me money when I’m looking for the cheapest flights.
Skyscanner
Metasearch engine
Features:
- You can book air, accommodations (hotels, hostels, apartments, resorts), and car rental all in one place, so it’s like a “one-stop-shop” for your entire vacation.
- Ability to search for round-trip, one-way, or multi-city trips.
- Allows you to include airports near the departure and arrival airports in your search.
- Suggests activities at your destination.
- Has many filter options for the search results, including the number of stops on the flight (layovers), departure time, flight duration, airlines and alliances to include or exclude, airports, and flights with a lower-than-average carbon footprint.
- Can also filter by best flight, fastest flight, or cheapest flight. How is “best” determined? According to Skyscanner, “We think these flights offer the best combination of price and speed. We also consider factors like number of stops and amount of hassle. And if your preferences allow, we’ll personalize your search results.”
- It has an “Explore everywhere” option, which is loads of fun to browse when you don’t have a particular destination in mind or when you’re daydreaming about where to go next. I use this option all the time to discover new destinations or alternatives to the most popular, most expensive destinations.
Screenshot: Skyscanner.com
- Has the option to search for specific dates or even whole months, from 1 month to 12 months.
- If your dates are flexible, it gives the option to see a calendar with example fares.
Pros:
- Ease of use.
- You can search for a specific destination without dates to find the best options.
- You can also search for specific dates and see different options for desdestinations
- No added booking fees.
Cons:
- Searching for a particular destination without specific dates is kind of clunky.
- You can’t input your baggage to get a better idea of the final price until you’ve chosen the flight. From there, bag selection varies depending on where you’ve been routed to purchase the actual ticket.
- No interactive map option for your flexible (“explore everywhere”) searches, which is a feature that others on this list offer.
Is there an option to set up price alerts?
Yes
Where can I find the app?
Kayak
Metasearch engine
Features:
- Can book stays, cars, packages, and train and bus fares. However, the search for trains and buses is not great and looks like it’s still being developed.
- Can book by exact dates, exact dates +/- up to 3 days, weekends (can choose arrival and departure days to make it a standard or long weekend), or month (you pick the earliest departure date and the number of days you’d like to be there. It then shows you a calendar with options for up to 4 weeks out from the date you chose).
- Has an awesome explore feature: just choose a departure city and then you get a clickable map with loads of possibilities. You have the option to specify dates or not with this feature.
Screenshot: Kayak.com
- A flight tracker, which is absent from the other options in this list.
- There is an interactive map showing international COVID travel restrictions by country.
- It has a trip planner, where you can keep all your trip information, like flights and hotel bookings, in one place.
- The fee assistant option on the search results page allows you to input the bags you’ll be taking on your flight so it can calculate the bag fees for you.
Screenshot: Kayak.com
- You can filter the search results by the number of stops, takeoff and landing times from each end, flexibility (including whether there are change fees), airlines or alliances, airports (if there are multiples to choose from), price, duration of flight legs and layovers, cabin (basic economy, economy, premium economy, first, mixed), layover airports, type of aircraft, booking sites you’ll be redirected to (you can choose to search airlines only, or you can include other metasearch engines and OTAs), flight quality (wi-fi availability, “hacker fares,” red-eyes, “longer” flights, and flights with layover transfers, flights with self-transfers), and type of aircraft.
- Option to hide flights with two or more stops on the search results page.
- Shows the baggage allowance for each option on the search results page.
Screenshot: Kayak.com
- Can sort search results by cheapest, best, quickest, least CO2, earliest or latest takeoff or landing each end, highest price, or slowest (really).
Pros:
- So many filters!
- Ease of use.
- Clean design removes distractions.
Cons:
- The occasional popup asking if you want to compare with other sites.
Is there an option to set up price alerts?
Yes
Where can I find the app?
Momondo
Metasearch engine
Screenshot: Momondo.com
Features:
- Most features are exactly the same as Kayak, but in brighter colors. When I went to the Google Play store to get the link for the app, I saw that the app developer is Kayak.com. So, there’s that.
- Momondo does a better job than Kayak with showing alternate options. Above the search results, there is a graph showing higher and lower prices of days near the dates you put into the search.
- It also tells you whether the prices displayed are good, or if you should wait to book until prices go down. If thinks prices are going to increase, it will recommend you book before they do.
Screenshot: Momondo.com
- And this is the coolest feature: it will tell you exactly how to get the best deal by showing you the analytics. Click on “Flight Insights” to get the info.
Screenshot: Momondo.com
Pros:
- It’s more visually appealing than other flight search sites. If you like seeing information displayed in graphs instead of having a bunch of words thrown at you, this is a great option for you.
Cons:
- The site can be a bit slow to load.
Is there an option to set up price alerts?
Yes
Where can I find the app?
Google Flights
Metasearch engine
Features:
- Shows Southwest flight options, but you still have to go to the Southwest site to find prices. This is good if you’re looking for specific flight days and times that are not offered by other carriers.
- Can search for round-trip, one way, and multi city routes.
- Once you’ve put in your departure and arrival cities and dates, if you opt to sort by “best flights,” it will give you the 3-5 best flights at the top of the search results. According to the site, ““Best flights” are ranked based on the best trade-off between price and convenience factors such as duration, number of stops, and airport changes during layovers. All other flights are ranked by price.”
Screenshot: Google Flights
- Gives a green/yellow/red rating on whether the price is low, average, or high based on historical price information. If you click on “view price history,” it displays a graph showing the price history over the past 60 days, as well as the typical price spread over the past 12 months.
Screenshot: Google Flights
- Can sort by best flights, price, departure time, arrival time, duration, or emissions.
- Lots of filters: number of stops, airlines (alliances/partners is nested here), bags, departure and arrival times for both outbound and return flights, emissions, connecting airports (layover duration is nested here), and duration.
- There is a price tracking option, and you can choose to track prices for exact dates, or you can choose “any dates,” which will set you up to receive alerts when prices are considered low by the algorithm.
Screenshot: Google Flights
- There is a price grid, which shows what prices would be for dates near your chosen dates.
Screenshot: Google Flights
- Price bar graph shows prices for a trip of the same trip duration for different dates, and you can also adjust the trip duration by clicking on a +/- button to find better fares.
Screenshot: Google Flights
- Google Flights also has an “explore” option.
Screenshot: Google Flights
Pros:
- The site is really fast. Search results update immediately when you start choosing filters to narrow down your search.
- It’s a Google product, so it’s really easy to use.
Cons:
- After looking at other sites, this one seems a bit boring, but that’s minor when you consider all of the features.
Is there an option to set up price alerts?
Yes
Where can I find the app?
There is no app, but finding the website could not be any easier. Just Google “Google flights.”
Kiwi
OTA
Features:
- When you add the flight details, you can toggle a box that will also search Booking.com for accommodations.
- Has an option to search anywhere, if you are looking for inspiration.
- Can search for return (round-trip for the Americans), one-way, multi-city, and nomad flights.
Screenshot: Kiwi.com
- Nomad flights are a unique feature. You can put in a list of destinations you’d like to visit in one trip, the search engine is supposed to sort those destinations into the order that makes the most sense. When choosing your destinations, you can choose airports as well as train stations. When I tested this feature, it worked very well if I only chose to fly between destinations. The routes came out in a logical order, and then I had the option to purchase the entire trip in one go. When I tried adding a train between Paris and Versailles, which are right next to each other, the site “couldn’t find” what I was asking for. Hopefully Kiwi.com can work the kinks out of this.
Screenshot: Kiwi.com
- Can add cabin and checked bags on the search results page.
- Can filter results by the number of stops, whether or not you’ll need to self-transfer, whether you are willing to fly out of or into a different airport, carriers, countries to exclude, departure and arrival times for both ends, duration of travel time and any layovers, price, and which days of the week you prefer to fly on both ends.
- Can also sort flights by best, cheapest, fastest, earliest departure, and earliest arrival.
- In search results, each option will show if baggage is included in the fare or not, and the weight restriction on cabin bags is included where applicable.
Pros:
- The nomad search feature is very exciting.
Cons:
- Annoyingly slow to load at times.
- The nomad search feature needs some fine-tuning.
- It has so many more options than the other sites, making it more difficult to stay on topic. I found myself doing different types of searches just to see what it would come up with. So maybe not exactly a negative aspect, but more of a distraction.
Is there an option to set up price alerts?
Yes
Where can I find the app?
Searching for great deals on flights can be overwhelming. Finding and using the right tools can ease much of the frustration that comes along with vacation planning.
I regularly use these five tools to ease the pain of finding those cheap plane tickets.
Which one will you use when planning your next vacation? Let me know in the comments!
