Contents of Post
When travelling long distances we’ve found that the most expensive part is normally the flights. We’ve made many a mistake in the past causing us to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on flights that could have been gotten a lot cheaper. To save others from that unfortunate fate we have compiled our top 5 best websites for finding cheap flights. After all saving on flights is one of the best ways to save money while travelling. These sites are sites that we either use or have used regularly and absolutely swear by.
All of the following photos that show searching for a specific flight will use a one-way trip from Vienna to Mexico City on September 2nd for comparison purposes.
5. Google Flights
Google Flights is great for a few things. Searching for flights to specific is not one of them. However that being said, we have found google flights to still be a great website for finding cheap flights.
When you first open Google Flights it takes your nearest major airport in mind and gives a few cheap flight options beside a map below the search bar. Clicking that map will bring up a movable world map that shows prices for flights to different major airports. This map is one of our favourite parts of Google Flights as it gives some great prices.
When you either search for a flight or select one on the map it will bring you to a page with different flight options. On the top right, you can select either “Date Grid” or “Price Graph” to see how the prices compare on your chosen date to other dates around.
We love Google Flights for planning a spontaneous trip to a random place.
4. Momondo
Momondo is absolutely one of the best websites for finding cheap flights. In fact, it is the first place we go to compare prices when we are searching for flights. Not only is Momondo super pleasing aesthetically, but it is also super user-friendly.
As soon as you search for your flight it loads the cheapest, the fastest, and what it considers the “best”. At the top, there is a graph that allows you to compare the price for the same flight on different days. Then on the side, like most great flight search engines, it has different options that you can choose to limit what you are seeing.
Momondo also offers something called “Hacker Fares”. These are fares that take two one-way tickets from different providers and put them together to bring you the best deal. This is one of the main reasons we use Momondo to compare flight prices.
3. Secret Flying
Secret Flying is an interesting service that we stumbled upon a while ago. Having both a website and a phone app, Secret Flying focuses on finding and bringing its users information on “error fares” as well as cheap fares. These are fares that are cheap and deviate largely from the normal price.
Both the website and app are free. With the app, you can set your local airport or continent. The app will then send you notifications of these cheaper flights. You just select the place or places whenever they find them.
On the website, you can either select a given area of the world or type in the search box your airport of choice. This will bring up a list of all the recent error fares from that location that you could book.
As well as bringing users error fares and cheap fares for flights, both the website and app give the option to look for similar large price discrepancies for hotels. Some of these prices are absolutely insane! When it comes to free flight price drop notifications Secret Flying is one of the best websites for finding cheap flights.
2. Going (Previously Scott’s Cheap Flights)
Going, previously Scott’s Cheap Flights, is an incredible tool that is similar to Secret Flying. Yet where Secret Flying focuses on error fares, Going searches for all sorts of deals. From error fairs to national and international discounts to rare bucket list deals. Those deals are vetted by the team at Going to avoid sending you “deals” from bad airlines. They can do this since they use a payment model as opposed to making money through your booking from their recommendations.
Going offers two different plans. Premium, which costs 49 USD per year, is great for those that usually fly economy. Elite, which costs 199 USD a year, also brings you deals for business and first-class. No matter which you go with these deals are curated for you based on the airports that you choose. There is also a Limited Free plan that only brings
These plans are great because unlike Secret Flying you won’t be constantly spammed with deals you may not be interested in. Plus if you were to only book one flight per year through either of these plans you would save significantly more than you paid.
With any plan, you also get a full report of different costs, such as whether or not the airline is waiving change fees, if there are extra fees for bags or seats, the flight times, layovers, and aircraft details, and how long the deal will likely last. That is a major difference from Secret Flying which only gives you the most basic information.
Unfortunately, we don’t use it anymore as it is specific to America. As soon as it goes global we will absolutely be signing up again.
1. Skyscanner
Skyscanner is, in our opinion, the best website for finding cheap flights. We have found that Skyscanner consistently finds and give the best deals for flights. Through Skyscanner, we have saved thousands of dollars over time.
There was one trip in particular that we had several flights we needed to take. Skyscanner had the total of all flights to be 1538 USD. Everywhere else we checked for the same flights had the costs at 1800-3000 USD. Crazy price differences.
Skyscanner is also arguably the best when it comes to flexible travel. If you don’t know where you want to go you can choose “everywhere” to get options for flights to various places during the dates you choose. Making it a great comparison tool with Google Flights. You can also set a price alert where you get notified if the price goes up or down before you are ready to book it. That’s how I ended up going from Alberta, Canada to Beijing, China for less than 450 CAD.
Another option that Skyscanner gives that we love is the “Greener Choice”. That shows you the flights that will create fewer CO2 emissions than the average flight within that search. It will also show you by what percentage.
What do you think the best websites for finding cheap flights are? Which of these have you used and loved or hated? Let us know!
