How to find cheap flights? 3 simple tips to get the best deals
How to get cheap flights
The secret ? Compare results from comparison websites : Where Can I FLY?, Skyscanner, Kayak, Google flights, and more.
Lot of possibilities are offered to you : specialized search engines, travel agencies, airlines websites, … The abundance of choices is overwhelming, and planning trips alone can seem difficult, takes a lot of time, and doesn’t always brings the best result.
See below real advices from a frequent traveler, which planned himself trips on more than 600 flights to more than 45 countries, and actually created this website for a reason : to get for himself the best prices on the internet, and help others getting them as well.
Cheap flight websites
There is no best flight search engine in all cases, and you should always compare several of them, to make sure that you got yourself the best deal.
Sometimes, by simply checking for the exact same flight on another website, you can save 10% or more, on the exact same flight, but sold by a different online agency.
Try these websites every time you look for a flight, and see for yourself which is the best flight search engine in most cases.
Where Can I FLY ? Cheap flights and hotelsSkyscanner cheap flights
Kayak
Google Flights
International flight booking
Even if departure and arrival times, or the travel time, are not flexible, best result is always found in less than an hour by using the main flights comparators, Skyscanner, Kayak, Google Flights, or Where Can I FLY ?
A good starting point is Skyscanner website. This search engine compares flights from hundreds of companies, and allows to search precisely by :
- known arrival and departure dates,
- monthly rate comparison,
- yearly rate comparison,
- known or unknown departure and arrival airport (yes – it is possible to lookup by country or just to compare prices for all available destinations).
If you do not know which is the closer airport to your destination, and if it is served by direct or indirect flights from your favorite airport, the map will help you find it out.
Skyscanner cheap flights
A chart will be displayed, letting you choose the number of nights you want, and showing the average prices found at that dates.
These numbers are based on other people searches, meaning it will show the prices that have been found for previous searches on this specific route at specific dates, and might be obsolete.
However, they will usually give a good idea, for example to see if it is cheaper to leave mid or end of the week, and during which time of the month it is better to travel.
In case of a big convention in either the departure or the arrival city, for example a car show dragging lot of people, the prices might go up a lot, but the weeks before and after might be very cheap.
Once your dates and places are chosen, you can for example only display flights leaving at a given time frame, and play with more specific filters: how many stops, outbound and inbound departure and arrival time, flight duration, price range, airlines, and more.
When the right connection has been found, click on it, and a a list of offers from the website partners will be shown.
You will then be directly redirected to an airline or travel agency, where you will be able to book your flight.
Each partner of the website will propose different price, and this is why it is important to check on more than one search engine, to be sure to find the agency that offers the best price on the Internet for that specific ticket - it will most likely not always be the same one.
It is even possible to find different connections on another website.
Best flight search engineCheap last minute flights to anywhere
A short example ? I am in Geneva, and want cheap flights to anywhere in Europe for a weekend. I do not want to take a day off for this personal trip, and so, want to leave on a Friday after 6pm, and come back on Sunday afternoon. I am flexible to go any weekend in December, I only want a cheap last minute flights to anywhere.
I start with a search from my departure airport, Geneva in my case, to everywhere, for the whole month.
The cheapest destination is Spain, which works for me.
I check the destinations within the country, and the first choice is Barcelona, which sounds good for me, let's see the schedule.
The calendar show the cheapest rates found in previous searches from all website users, and I want to go a Friday after work, back on a Sunday, so I choose what seems to be the cheapest one.
Now, I have to filter, as I want to take off after 6pm, and be back at night on Sunday at the latest.
The flight found was at 78€, which seems great. Now, I double check on other websites for the exact same flight, and this is the result, for the exact same flight, simply performing the same search on several comparison websites.
Find extremely cheap last minute flights
For a flight from Geneva to Barcelona on weekend of 7th of December, leaving after 6pm, the cheapest flight price found :
- Where Can I FLY ? 76€,
- Google Flights 77€,
- Skyscanner 78€,
- Kayak 97€.
And that's it, the cheapest price has been found on wcifly.com, I book on that website from the links provided !
When are plane tickets the cheapest
Another check which is good, when being flexible, is to check rates for the flight the months before and after for example, to see if the prices offered are according to the general market price.
However, it is generally cheaper to book flights from 4 to 6 weeks before departure for intercontinental flights, and from 2 to 4 weeks before departure for continental flights.
To know it, simply do the check, open wcifly.com or another comparison website, and check prices for the same days of the week, at the time when you want to go, 2 weeks before departure, 4 weeks before, 6 weeks before, and 3 months before for example.
If what you have found is cheaper, then book now ! If it not, then wait, the prices will most likely go down.
Links and credits
SkyScanner cheap flights comparison toolWhere Can I FLY ? Airlines information
Cheapest airline tickets, how to find them?
The cheapest airline tickets can be found using online price comparison engines, such as SkyScanner, Where Can I FLY?, or Kayak.
But, another way to find the cheapest airline tickets, is sometimes to go directly on their websites, and to check with them, as they might have exclusive deals available only on their websites.
For example, Qatar airways offer some of the cheapest airline tickets with exclusive promotions directly on their website:
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Sri Lanka,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from India,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Kuweit,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Jordan,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from China,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Taiwan,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Nepal,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Bangladesh,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Japan,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Hong Kong,
- Qatar Airways cheapest airline tickets offers from Maldives.
By simply going over one of these links, you will find the cheapest airline tickets with Qatar Airways!
Frequently Asked Questions
- What practical strategies can travelers use to find cheap flights, and how can they effectively apply these tips?
- Practical strategies include booking in advance, being flexible with travel dates and destinations, and using flight comparison tools. Applying these tips effectively involves regular monitoring of flight prices, considering alternative airports, and taking advantage of last-minute deals if flexible.
Michel Pinson is a Travel enthusiast and Content Creator. Merging passion for education and exploration, he iscommitted to sharing knowledge and inspiring others through captivating educational content. Bringing the world closer together by empowering individuals with global expertise and a sense of wanderlust.