How To Find Cheap Flights

Often, your flight is a big part of your travel expenses, so knowing how to find cheap flights will allow you to travel more affordably and more often!

I’ve traveled to 60 countries, 48 of them in the 4 years before the pandemic. In the year prior to the pandemic, I visited Greece, Portugal, Israel, Italy, Prague, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and South Korea.

If I told you I spent a little under $4,000 for all this, you may not be very impressed. If I then told you my flight costs in 2019 averaged $.09/mile, you may be curious how this compares. I was curious too, so looked for studies.

I found a great one by Rome2Rio. In their report on Global Flight Prices, they analyzed and ranked 200 airline companies after looking at 1.5 million global, economy fares.

As they used US$/km, I had to convert my miles to kilometers. Doing this, my average flight cost for 2019 became $.057/km. The lowest cost carrier in their study, Tiger Air Australia, was $.06/km. The highest was Chaterlines at $1.26/km. Therefore, my average is below all 200 airlines in their study.

I also went back and looked at my 2018 flight costs and found my average was even lower, at $.055 (for 11 countries).

How do I keep my flight costs low? By understanding the key factors in finding low cost flights and leveraging as many of them as I can, and using the top search engines to research options, before finalizing details.

Key Factors In How To Find Cheap Flights

The following are some of the biggest factors in how to find cheap flights.

Optimal Booking Window

Buying a ticket within the ‘optimal booking window’ is one of the best ways to find cheap flights. Cheapair.com’s 5th annual flight study advises this is 4 months to 3 weeks in advance of your flight. They say that booking later than this is pushing your luck.

Chart credit: cheapair.com

Flexible Travel Dates

Being flexible with travel dates is another way to get the best price. I’ve seen prices vary up to $1,000, solely based on the day of the week. And although it’s usually cheaper to fly mid-week, I’ve also seen big mid-week price variations.

Before finalizing your dates, do a search to your destination to see the lowest cost travel days. It may mean starting/ending mid-week, but not always.

Flexible Travel Times

Airlines usually offer the lowest prices on flights that take off very early in the morning, or are overnight flights. They discount these less popular flight to drive sales. Take advantage of them!

Use Flights With Connections

Flights with connections are usually cheaper than direct flights. Yes, this is annoying, but a fact. Time is money. People prefer direct flights, so they have a premium cost, even though the distance is shorter.

Use Different Airlines For Those Connections

Some people are understandably nervous about using two different airlines for connections. After all, if the flight is delayed, or cancelled, the other airline will not wait for you. You can, however, save hundreds of dollars by doing this. Just minimize the risk by leaving ample time between flights.

How long should your layover be? Consider the length of the flight and how busy the airports are. Do you need to retrieve and re-check luggage? If so, you will need to go through security again. Do you need to go through customs?

I once had a low cost flight from Seoul to San Francisco that landed 2 hours late. I had to do all the things above, yet still made my flight as I planned for a 3 hour layover. Whew!

I use different airlines for connections routinely. I’ve never missed a connection to date and I’ve found it to be one of the best ways to find cheap international flights.

Check Fares From Alternate Airports

Check fares at airports near you. Especially larger, busier airports, or ones that have an established route with a low cost carrier.

You can save hundreds of dollars by taking a train, or bus, to that airport. In fact, fares may even be low enough to justify flying there via a low cost carrier. Don’t forget to look at Southwest separately as their flights are often not included in search engines.

Not all search engines provide low cost carriers in their search results (like Google Flights). In addition, I’ve found connection opportunities on my own. Even after using sites that do provide them in their searches…and not seeing them.

Check Fares To Alternative Destinations

Likewise, consider alternative destinations. Especially in Europe as they have several low cost airlines, as well as great train and bus service.

Most of the top search engines allow you to search by country, rather than a specific city. You can even use ‘Anywhere’ as a destination to get a list of the lowest cost flights to every destination from an airport.

Sometimes, when I’m overseas, I use ‘USA’ as a destination to find the lowest cost city to fly to. Then I look at connections to Phoenix.

Be creative! Consider the journey to be part of the experience, stopping in smaller, less touristy cities along the way. If you need inspiration, Airwander lets you explore cost savings for ‘additional stops’ between your start and final destination.

Use The Top Search Engines

Flight search engines, or aggregators, are an important resource in how to find cheap flights. Some of the top ones include; Skiplagged, Skyscanner, Momondo, ITA Matrix, Google Flights, Trip Advisor, and more.

You can’t buy tickets directly thought these sites, but they will provide options to book through an OTA (Online Travel Agency), or the airline itself. Surprisingly, sometimes OTA’s offer lower fares than the individual airlines sell them for!

If you’re not comfortable booking with the OTAs offered, just use the search engines for research, then book directly with the airline(s).

I, however, have never had a problem and have booked with many unknown, small, OTAs. Including ones in obscure locations where smaller airlines don’t even have direct booking.

The Top 3 Search Engines are Skiplagged, Skyscanner, and Momondo

Frommer’s recently announced the top 3 search engines for 2020 as Skiplagged, Skyscanner, and Momondo. And I agree!

I’ve used Skyscanner and Momondo for years and have consistently find cheap flights with them. And although I only learned about Skiplagged in January 2020, I immediately found a fabulous deal with them.

I saved $87 over Skyscanner and $534 over Momondo! And there was only 1 connection. Based on this, they’re my new favorite too!

Each search engine has their own strengths and weaknesses, so unfortunately, I can’t narrow it down to just one.

Sometimes one, or the other, will show a lower fare, so it’s best to use more than one. All three is even better, as they all provide different options.

Note on Skiplagged: If you’ve never heard of them, Frommer’s ranked then #1 of all airline search engines in 2020.

Although it gets it’s name from the dubious practice of skipping one of the legs of your flight, called ‘skiplagging’, or ‘hidden city’. You can remove these flights from the search results by deselecting ‘hidden city’ in filters.

I always turn off this feature as I don’t want to mess with this and I still find cheap flights. Note: the flight I found with them above was not a ‘skiplagged’ fare.

1. Search To Determine Your Best Travel Days and Start/End Locations

First, do a few searches to narrow down to your preferred travel days and start/end destination.

All three of these sites have calendars or graphs to guide you as to when the lowest flights are, but don’t follow them blindly, as they’re not always accurate. Unfortunately you still need to drill down into specific days to verify. They are, however, directional, guiding you to the best flight.

The advantage of Skyscanner and Momondo is the ability to enter countries, over cities, as destinations, to do a broader search.

The advantage of Skiplagged is the simple graph with each search that shows 30 days of fare peaks and troughs. Even though it’s not 100% accurate, I find that it leads me towards lower fares faster than the other two.

The disadvantage of Momondo is that I often find their fares higher. I also find the lowest correlation shown on their calendar and actual fares. Try them for yourself, however, as others swear by them.

My personal favorites are Skiplagged and Skyscanner, as I consistently find cheap flights with them.

2. Save Flights/Set Up Price Alerts

If you found the best price in the first step, great! Move to step 5. If not, ‘save’ your favorite flight(s) and/or set up price alerts for your favorite ‘searches’. Ideally do this on all 3; Skiplagged, Skyscanner, and Momondo.

Unfortunately, only Skyscanner and Momondo allow you to save a specific flight. You can save ‘searches’, which is a range of flights, with all three search engines.

3. Review Price Alert Information

To see updated pricing for a saved flight, you need to log into the search engines.

For the “search” price alerts, each search engine will email you updates. Usually daily.

You need to go to their site, however, to verify the cost and make sure that the flight they suggest is acceptable. Sometimes the best fare of the search has 2, 3, or more connections, which is not ideal.

Momondo adds in a ‘buy’ recommendation, if the past history shows prices increasing. This is nice, but past history does not always predict the future.

Use this ‘wait time’ to research options trending in your search. Are there additional fees for luggage or seat selection? Which OTAs are listed? Do you feel comfortable with them? Do the individual airlines offer a better price?

Also remember that the ideal booking window is 4 months to 3 weeks prior to your flight. If it’s getting close to 3 weeks out, it’s doubtful you will see lower fares.

4. Select Your Flight

When you see a price you like, be prepared to jump on it! If you’ve followed the steps above, you will be.

Before you book however, make sure you’ve checked the other search engines and the price(s) on the individual airline(s) website first. Also, make sure you’ve checked for hidden fees, if you haven’t already done so.

5. Book the flight

Book your flight with the airline (rather than the third party offering the flight). Booking direct with the airline often provides and even better price, but also is best for managing issues if something does come up. It’s just a little more complicated dealing with a third party supplier if flights are canceled or you need to make a change.

After you’ve booked it, remember to turn off your price alerts. Once you’ve made your commitment, it’s best not to know. 😉

Also, if you’re given the option to cancel the flight in 24 hours, double check your search, again, before this expiration.

I know this is a lot of work. But it can save you hundreds of dollars. Money better spent on doing something fun on your trip.

Unfortunately, there is no magic one place to always get the best price. You have to work the system.

Note on Google Flights: Many articles on finding low cost flights suggest starting with them to use their calendar feature to narrow down on your search dates. Although this search engine is rated high for its ease of use, they do not provide low cost carrier fares, so their prices are usually the highest. Based on this, I think it’s a pointless first step.

ITA Matrix is alternately suggested, but this is the software that drives Google Flights, so the search results are similar.

Other Tips On How To Find Cheap Flights

Buy, or fly, Off-Season

Shop in January, when a lot of airlines have sales. Alternatively, you can fly off-season to get the best fares. This can very by location.

Check For Hidden Fees

Airlines routinely advertise bare bone prices with hidden fees for luggage, seat selection, meals, boarding priority, and other things. Always check the details.

Stick to Carry On Luggage

Most carriers now have very strict rules for carry on luggage and charge extra for checked luggage.

Create a list of the carry on limitations (sizes and weights) for your favorite carriers and verify your luggage is within spec.

If you need to buy new luggage, bring the sizes and a tape measure when shopping. Sometimes the tags don’t include the size ‘with the wheels’.

Earn Airline Miles

Sign up with multiple carriers to get miles. Learn who their partners are and get miles for them when you’re flying overseas. If you’re not sure who partners with your favorite airlines, a quick google search will tell you.

Airline Credit Cards

Earning miles through credit cards is a well known way of getting low cost flights, but did you know that some airlines credit cards will waive your baggage fee? Check your favorite airlines.

Airline Miles With Purchases

Some airlines also offer you miles when making retail purchases through them. I do this with United and American Airlines. Delta has one as well. Sometimes you earn 1 mile per $, sometimes it’s 5 miles, or more.

Using these routinely really adds up. I’ve seen promotions for Apple at 5 miles per $ spent, which is fabulous if you plan to buy a new phone or iPad. Just make sure to read the fine print on how returns are handled.

Hide What Country You’re Booking From

Sometimes, carriers will charge more based on the country you are booking from. A VPN service will hide your location, theoretically getting you the best price.

If you’re using a site that you’re signed up with, change your country, currency, or both, to see if you get a better price.

New Airline Route Announcements

When airlines announce new routes, they usually offer great deals to fill up seats before the route becomes established. Listen for these announcements and take advantage of this!

Airline Newsletters

Make sure you’re signed up to receive alerts, emails, or newsletters, from your favorite carriers. I recently received a 20% off discount on my birthday. I had to book within 5 days of my birthday, but next year, I’m going to be ready for that!

Sign Up For Low Fare Alert Services

Join low airfare alert services. Most offer a free service as well as a paid, premium one.

Alternatively, visit their sites when looking for deals as you can quickly get overwhelmed with emails from them. After a few visits, you will learn which one(s) are best suited for your travel style.

Some of the more popular ones include:

• Going.com
• Secretflying.com
• TheFlightDeal.com
• AirfareWatchdog.com
• DollarFlightClub.com

Follow Airlines on Social Media

Does your favorite airlines use social media to announce promotions?

Other Considerations

Flight Buying Myths & Misconceptions

There are a lot of myths, or misconceptions, on how to find cheap flights. For example, you hear people say its best to buy tickets on Tuesday, or to do your search ‘incognito’ to get the best price.

After years of buying a lot of tickets, I am convinced that this is baloney.

If you want to discover for yourself, do your own research. Set alerts on a few fares and watch them, randomly, go both up and down.

Or create two different accounts with the search engines, one for searching and one for booking. See if you get different prices.

Return Ticket Requirements

Some countries require you to show proof of a return flight ticket or proof of onward travel before you get on the plane to that destination. You need to be aware of this and research it in advance (via official govt. sites).

There are a few creative options if you’re not ready to buy another ticket.

Buy a Refundable Return Ticket

Buy a Refundable Return Ticket, then cancel after you arrive at your destination and pass through customs.

However, make sure you read the fine print to understand how you are refunded. Is it cash? Or credit for another flight?

Find A Low Cost Onward Travel Ticket

If you can’t find a refundable ticket you want, buy a cheap onward travel ticket. This is a great time to use ‘Anywhere’ as a destination. See if you can find something for $20 or $30 and just plan to cancel later. This is one of the best options as there’s only a small amount of money involved.

Rent A Ticket

Yes, you can rent a ticket! See my post on Buying a Return Ticket at places like Onward Ticket and Best Onward Ticket. They are not perfect, and still a risk, but an option.

Final Thoughts

I hope that by understanding and leveraging the the information here you can find lower cost flights, allowing you to travel more affordably and more often. Especially as prices have risen so dramatically over the past year!

Consider looking at the $/mile (or km) cost of previous flights and see where you compare on Rome2Rio’s study. See if using these tips brings that down.

If it does, send me a comment and let me know! Also let me know if you have other tips not mentioned here.

Safe Travels!

Julie