Have you ever wondered what you need to do to find cheap flights?  Of course, you have.  We all have. Insert smile. The answer is not a simple one.  With so many good options, it is hard to know where to start.

Overall, there are three different types of options when searching for cheap flights.  You can book directly with the airline, use an online booking site such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and CheapTickets (did you know these are all owned by Expedia) or travel aggregator sites such as Skyscanner, Momondo or Google Flights.

Sites such as Expedia serve as online travel agents where you can book flights directly. Meanwhile, sites like Skyscanner, Momondo, and Google Flights pull prices from hundreds of websites to find the best prices. Once the best price is found, you book directly from the specific source and not on Skyscanner, Google Flights, or Momondo.

What is the best website, you ask? There is no one best website to find cheap flights, but there are some great websites and apps that can be used in combination. It’s like shopping for anything: You can have multiple great stores, but they don’t all offer the same price or discount on the same day. It always pays off to look around.

---

Deals Come Deals Go

When I’m searching for our next destination, I sign up to receive notifications from sites such as Secret Flying or The Flight Deal. These free sites constantly scour the internet for the best airfare deals.

Secret Flying

Secret Flying is one of my favorite free apps/websites.  I have found shockingly cheap flights on Secret Flying.

I especially like their error fare section.  This is when airlines post fares by mistake for less than they intended.  One example is $40 from Oregon to Hawaii.  Can you believe that? 

Error fares go fast, so I’d recommend signing up for their notifications. They do send a lot of notifications, but it is worth subscribing, especially while looking for airfare.  You can always unsubscribe later.

The Flight Deal

The Flight Deal is similar to Secret Flying in that they post deals regularly.  Select Flight Deals and the departing city you choose, and enjoy the amazing deals!  I have found a variety of airfares that cost hundreds of dollars less than other sites.

Going

There are also paid sites that provide similar deals.  One example is Going.

They offer free and premium versions. The premium version costs $49 a year and gives you access to all the best deals, including error fares. When you sign up for their email, they will send you a 20% discount code for your first year.

With all of their amazing deals, you can make up for the annual fee in what you save on just one flight.  Don’t let the subscription fee hold you back. They do find cheap flight deals!

Hopper

The Hopper app is another great tool for finding cheap flights. When you enter your departure and arrival cities, it provides a color-coded calendar predicting when it is cheapest to fly. This is a great trip-planning tool, especially if you know where you want to travel but have not decided when.

Hopper also offers Deals Feed and Flight Watch features. The Deals Feed will show the best current deals out of a specific airport and prompt you to book a flight. If you aren’t ready to purchase but would like to be notified if fares drop, just select Watch This Trip, and they will do all the work for you.

 

 

 

Hitlist

I like the Hitlist app for two reasons. When searching for a destination, it provides upcoming date ranges with the best prices. It also offers a variety of fun categories, like Unbelievable Islands, Tropical Getaways, and Trending Destinations, that can help you find a location you’ve never considered. Hitlist is definitely worth checking out if you are looking for cheap flights.

 

 

 

---

The Big Three – Skyscanner, Momondo & Google Flights

Skyscanner, Momondo and Google Flights use flight aggregator technology.  This means they search for and gather information from hundreds of websites providing a higher likelihood of finding cheap flights than travel booking sites like Expedia.

Skyscanner

Skyscanner has become my consistent go-to resource for finding cheap flights.

I especially like its everywhere search and map features because they are great for determining the cheapest destinations in any given month.

Instead of entering a city in the “to” field, enter everywhere and it will show you cheap airfare worldwide for the selected time frame.

In addition to entering everywhere, I like to select the map feature.  This allows you to zoom in and zoom out to see the best prices worldwide for a given date or time frame.

If you don’t have specific dates in mind, Skyscanner also allows you to search by month, which can open up a wider range of cheap flights.

Momondo

Don’t shy away from Momondo just because you may not have heard of them before.  Momondo is definitely worth checking out as they have been known to have cheaper prices than Skyscanner or Google Flights.

One of my favorite features from Momondo is their Flight Insights feature.

This provides you with useful information for booking cheap flights such as the cheapest day and month to fly to a specific airport or destination.

Google Flights

Google Flights is also a good option to search for cheap airfare, although I have found Skyscanner and Momondo to have cheaper flights and more options.

When planning your trip.  Start with the Google Flights and then select the Explore Destinations link.  This is similar to Skyscanner’s map feature, but I like that Google Flights provides options to search by price range and how long you want to be gone.

Additional helpful features include the date grid, price graph, and nearby airport features.

Google Flights’ date grid provides options to find the best combination of dates to fly in and out of a specific location.

The price graph feature shows airfare prices over a period of time and provides the option to compare prices by adjusting the number of days of the trip.

The nearby airport feature compares airfare prices by nearby airports.

Best Cheap Airfare Deals

The best cheap airfare deal depends on more than just prices.  For most people, it includes the flight times, flight duration, number of layovers, and length of layovers.  It is always worth doing your research and comparing prices on multiple sites to find the flight that works best for you.

For more information on saving money check out 10 Secrets to Optimizing Your Travel Rewards.