Top 20 Ways to Find Cheap Flights (Really!)
Cheap Flights
With just a little flexibility, a sense of adventure, and quick decision-making skills, you can find cheap flights all over the world for less than what you might pay for a flight to Disney.
Cheap Flights through SecretFlying.com
SecretFlying.com is my all-time fave and a great starting point to find cheap flights. Subscribe to their email list and get the latest in great flights and hotels every day at 4:00pm EST. Subscribe to their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feeds to get instant alerts including "error fares" or mis-prices. Imagine, hotel rooms for $17 a night! If you are quick enough, you can to snag an amazing deal before it gets corrected. Once you see something you like, you are directed to www.Momondo.com, a travel fare research engine (more on Momondo below). This is from an email recently (Jan 16, 2017). And yes - I was able to find flights from Boston to Copenhagen for these prices.
[caption id="attachment_199" align="alignnone" width="568"] Secret Flying cheap flights example[/caption]
Cheap Flights through Scott's Cheap Flights
ScottsCheapFlights.com is similar to SecretFlying, but not all of it is free. There are free email alerts, but get the real deals when you pay a token $39 annual fee. After reading several emails in the free mode, I received the message that I missed an amazing deal. And, if only I signed up for the paid version, I would have known in time. Not very nice, but effective. Apparently, Scott only sends out about 1/3 of the deals he finds to non-subscribers, about 30 minutes after the subscribers see them. That is usually just enough time for an error fare to be caught or all the cheap seats to be sold. So, yes, I am now a paid subscriber, and, yes, it is worth it to find cheap flights. Here's a sample of an error flight posted on January 17, 2017:
[caption id="attachment_228" align="alignnone" width="720"] Scott's Cheap Flights example[/caption]
Cheap Flights through TravelZoo
TravelZoo publishes offers from more than 2,000 travel, entertainment and local companies. Sign up here for their emails and get immediate access to cheap flights as well as some of the best overall vacation deals available. Here is a sample of one of their recent vacation offers: 4 days in Cancun including air and hotel for $649 - that's less than a normal hotel stay.
[caption id="attachment_474" align="alignnone" width="599"] TravelZoo Cheap Flights and Vacations[/caption]
Cheap Flights through Momondo
Momondo.com is a another great search tool, especially when looking for cheap international flights. Have you ever searched Orbitz, Travelocity, or Expedia? Did you know that Expedia owns all three? Did you know Priceline also owns Kayak, Booking.com, and Acodo? All this really means is that you are researching two places.
Momondo is an independent aggregator that looks at all these sites, other travel agent sites, and over 600 airlines directly. It even includes smaller, less-known airlines to give the cheapest prices possible. Do you know where you want to go, but your date is flexible? A day-by-day fare chart will appear, making it easy to find the best days of travel. Have a week off, but you're open to the destination? This is where Momondo shines. Similar to Google Flights, you can enter your home base and leave the destination blank to see the lowest fares around the world. Momondo also includes many more airlines and smaller agencies in the search for cheapest flights. Here's a recent one from Boston to Geneva, Switzerland, for only $340 round trip.
[caption id="attachment_467" align="alignnone" width="1012"]Momondo Cheap Flights Example[/caption]
Cheap Flights through SkyScanner
Like Momondo, SkyScanner is not affiliated with any airline or travel agency so their search results truly reflect the best cheap flights you can find. Here's a flight from Newark to Rome for only $337 roundtrip:
The Others
I still use Google Flights, Priceline, Travelocity, Kayak, and a host of others to compare prices for cheap flights. I then try to book on the airline site itself if the price is the same. Currently, WOWair and Norwegian Airlines have some amazing deals.
ThePointsGuy.com suggested a card that got me the most amazing credit card points deal By signing up for a certain credit card, I was able to fly to New Zealand for free! While he is known for his expertise on getting the most out of credit card points, his site also tracks great vacation deals. Watch for my upcoming blog on Credit Card Points, Just go to the Deals tab on his site to see the latest flight and hotel deals.
Tossing your Cookies - Have you ever heard that you should clear your cache or use an incognito window to avoid having your cookies tracked when looking for airfare to avoid an increase in price? The fact is, this was never really proven and flight prices change constantly anyway. Just to be safe, it wouldn't hurt to clear everything and use Google’s Incognito mode for searches just to be sure.
Once You Get There
Don't forget to sign up for Uber and Lyft. Depending on your travel plans, they may be cheaper and easier than renting a car.
How about you? Have you found any good deals out there? Please let me know if any of these sites worked for you.