The Best Sites for Cheap Flights

When it comes to traveling, we’re all looking for the next best thing...or to be more accurate, the next best price. Popular sites like Expedia and Hotwire are the default for many of us because of their ability to let us see one airline’s pricing over another...but what if I told you there were better sites for locking down a cheap price? Like, WAY better sites. I suppose I did just tell you, but now I’ll show you (just promise these flight booking secrets stay between us).

Google

• My main go-to for cheap flights is Google Flights. I don’t think it gets enough credit for its greatness, but not only does it show you the full range of flight prices to your desired destination on any given day, it has this great feature that allows you to leave your dates open ended; it then will show you a graph so you can track, down to the day, just when is the best time of year to book your trip. A GRAPH, PEOPLE! You can even choose to leave your destination open ended and check prices to anywhere around the world from your starting point. So what I often do is pick a date, click on the map and select random cities to see which itinerary is the lowest cost; if you’re looking to travel and don’t have a specific destination in mind, this is by far the most economical way to bounce around the globe. Since the site shows you if your flight has a layover, I then use this information to check out the pricing on two one way flights using their multi city option, and build in an extended stay at the layover destination - often at a lower cost than if I had booked the single ticket.

Skiplagged

• I’ve only used Skiplagged on Domestic flights within the US, so I can’t speak to its efficacy on an international level. However, in the times I’ve used the site, I’ve saved on nearly half the price. The way the site works is it exposes a loophole in travel itineraries: a flight might have a layover in your final destination, even though it continues on to another city, so you book the ticket and just skip the second leg of the flight. The only caveat is that you can’t check a bag...otherwise it will get transferred onto the second plane and end up in the final city.

Momondo

• If you can’t tell by now, I’m a sucker for anything that lets me easily compare prices on different days, and this site does just that (in the most colorful way possible). Momondo crawls airfare sites to find you the lowest price. Usually you get the best price by mixing and matching airlines, and this site shows you the most cost effective combinations. And of course: GRAPHS!

Honorable mention goes to Skyscanner, which is yet another site that lets you search according to the cheapest travel dates!

There are far too many flight aggregators out there to count, but I can vouch for these. And if you don’t want to do the searching yourself, sign up at Scott’s Cheap Flights or Cheap Tickets to get notifications of fare sales and airline error pricing sent directly to your inbox.

Take a look at these before booking your next trip, and check back in to let me know what amazing deals you find!