I have booked hundreds of flights and in today’s article, I am interested in sharing with you the free websites that I always check before booking tickets. I’ll also show you how to use them, so you can be confident you’re getting the best price on your next flight.
Kayak is the first website to check out when looking for flight deals. Kayak compares flight prices across airlines so you can easily see all your flight options in one place. What makes Kayak unique is how easy it is to find what they call hacker fare. Hacker Fare combines two one-way tickets to find new, cheaper options than a traditional round trip search, where you fly both ways with the same airline.Â
In this example, flying from Boston to Los Angeles, we can get there and back for $664 on a round trip flight ticket with JetBlue Airlines. If we scroll down and enable Hacker fares, we will see flight options that combine different airlines to give you the best flight. You’ll find that you can fly to Los Angeles with Delta and then back to Boston with American Airlines, for a total cost of $581. Instead of sticking with JetBlue for both legs of the journey and paying a total of $664, Remember to use Kayak as well as the other websites on this list to find flight deals, but then go directly to the airline’s website when booking.
So in this example, I would check the flight details on Kayak, and then use the links to delta.com to book a flight out of Los Angeles, and then go to RCom to book a flight back to Boston. You always want to book on the official airlines website, since Kayak, Online travel agencies like Expedia and Priceline play by their own rules and if you book with them, you may miss out on benefits like free flight changes, full refunds. and prioritize customer service. If something goes wrong while traveling, the following website is a complete game changer as it will show you flight options that can give you two vacations for the price of one. Air Wonder is a website that will help you find flights with stopovers.Â
A layover is a connection between flights that lasts less than 24 hours Normally, we don’t like them, but a stopover is a long break between flights that lasts 24 hours or more. When you book a flight with a stopover, you will stop in another city en route to your final destination. Instead of waiting at the airport for hours before you catch your next flight, you get to explore the new city for days, so you’re essentially exploring two destinations for one price. My parents used stopover flights many times, and recently spent a few days exploring on a stopover before catching a flight to mainland Portugal for the rest of their vacation. Sometimes you will find that booking a flight itinerary that has stopovers for a few days is cheaper than booking a direct flight.Â
Another website that’s going to reveal hidden cities en route to your destination is Skip Flights, but this tool works in a completely different way. Skip Flights is a unique and somewhat controversial flight search tool known for uncovering hidden city fares.ectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
This involves booking a flight with a connection and then intentionally not completing the last leg of the trip For example, if you want to fly from city A to city B, Skip lagged can find a cheap ticket that goes from city A to city B to city C. You book this cheap ticket and then get off at city B and don’t take the ticket to city C. Last Flight to C You can find some incredible flight deals at Skip Laggard, But be careful because airlines don’t like passengers using this loophole. And there are multiple reports of travelers getting into some legal trouble after using the trick multiple times. And if you decide to use a hidden city fare, it’s important not to check any bags, as checked luggage will usually be sent to the final ticketed destination.Â
So in our example, it would be City C, which you don’t tell us in the comments if you plan to check a bag on your next flight. I do not plan to check bags on my next flight or any upcoming flights.
Something a little different from the other websites on this list is Hopper. Hopper uses historical data to predict the best time to buy a flight. So it’s not just a website that compares different flight ticket prices, but also gives you insights on when to buy your tickets to get the cheapest deals.
This can be very useful if you have travel dates and destinations set and you’re trying to decide exactly when to book. Hopper claims to predict flight prices with 95% accuracy, and its color-coded calendar makes it easy to see when prices are estimated to be cheapest. Signing up to receive flight deals is a great alternative to searching for flights on your own. Two tools I always recommend are Fare Drop and Fare Drop are great for tracking multiple routes, and will alert you to significant price drops from your home airport to your chosen destination. This is a great way to save money without ever missing out on a deal. The second service I mentioned is running, And you may be familiar with the former name of Scots Cheap Flights. By signing up, you’ll receive alerts for heavily discounted flights. Depart from your home airport. This is especially useful for flexible travelers who are ready to pounce on a good deal, as Go is great at finding hidden flight deals and even wrong fares.Â
Note that flights departing from North America are subject to the 24-hour rule, which allows you to cancel the flight and receive a full refund within 24 hours of booking. Incredible flight deals don’t last long,
So if you see one that you might be able to take, you can always book the flight and then take the next 24 hours to decide if you can actually take the flight. And if you can’t, you can cancel it with a full refund and no penalty, even if it’s a refundable ticket. I’ll leave more information about the 24 hour rule, as well as any exceptions you need to know in the description. Fare Drop and Go both have free plans you can try out, but before signing up, it’s important to note that both sites favor US departures.Â
So for my fellow Canadian and European friends, these sites may not be the most useful. A big mistake when looking for flight deals is underestimating the power of community driven platforms like Facebook groups to help you find the best flight deals. These groups often focus on specific airports and give you access to incredible deals found by real people.
For example, you would post the top flight offers departing from Montreal. While the YYZ deal focuses on Toronto departures. The community approach means real people sharing real deals they’ve found. So joining these groups is like having a network of savvy travel buddies. Keep an eye out for the best deals. Do a quick search on Facebook, Because I’m willing to bet there’s a group sharing flight deal from your city And if you have access to exclusive booking portals, be sure to check them for deals, especially if you’re looking for last-minute tickets. Major credit card issuers such as American Express, Capital One, Chase and Citi have their own portals that offer unique deals on last-minute flight car and hotel bookings.Â
If you have access to one of these portals, it’s always worth keeping an eye out for special deals, especially if you’re booking a moment ticket in 2024. It is important to know that the ITA matrix will show you the flight itinerary as well as the associated price, but it will not give you a way to actually solve the flight booking. This is to copy a flight itinerary that you find on ITA matrix and paste it on a website called booking with matrix.com and it will give you a link to book the flight. The problem is that it often links you to a third-party booking website like Priceline or Expedia to purchase tickets instead of directly to the airline’s website. Due to advanced options as well as booking complexity, Google Flights is going to be a better option than ITA Matrix for most travelers. Google Flight and ITA Matrix are both owned by Google and built on the same technology.Â
So by using Google Flights, you get most of the same search capabilities with a much more user-friendly interface. Even the ITA Matrix website recommends you to use Google Flights. Google Flights is very easy to use, and you can find fantastic flight options, Even if you have basic knowledge of how to use it. One of the best features of Google Flights is that it links you to the airline’s website and then gives you the option to book directly with the airline by filling in the flight information you’ve already searched for.
