Updated March 2012
People often ask me “What’s the best search engine to find a cheap airline ticket?”
The simple answer is that there is no one best search engine, rather, it depends on where you’re going and when you can go and your flexibility in both of these. In short, you’ll find the cheapest airline ticket when you’re flexible about your dates and about your destination. Note that I’ve including coupon codes where applicable.
So, what I’ve done here is compile all the best search engines for finding cheap plane tickets. They are categorized depending on what type of travel resource you’re looking for.
It’s essentially an Ultimate List of Cheap Airline Ticket Search Engines.
Below I’ve listed the category of travel search engines/websites — for instance, International Travel Search Engines or Domestic Discount Airlines — then I’ve given a brief description of when to use those sites, and then I’ve listed the best sites within that category.
For people who frequently search for cheap airline tickets, there are a few sites and tools that may even be new to you — like those in the Market Comparison section.
Without further ado, I bring you the:
Find Cheap Airline Tickets Cheat Sheet
Market Comparisons/Buy or Wait
Before you buy a ticket, check out these sites to see average fares, price history, and if prices are rising or falling. Again, check these sites out before you start looking into airfares to get an idea of what you should expect to pay.
Farewatch (Shows average fares)
Kayak (after searching click on ‘show chart of fare history’ in left hand corner)
Farecast (for tickets in the next 30 days shows if prices are rising/falling)
Aggregators
The best search engines for searching for airline tickets. You don’t book through them, rather they redirect you to the airline’s homepage. (This is what makes them different from online travel agencies.)
Kayak or Sidestep (same company now)
TripAdvisor
Farecast
FareCompare
International Searches
When you’re searching for an international ticket, I have found these search engines to be best for finding a cheap airline ticket.
Vayama
Mobissimo
Skyscanner
Momondo
Trabber
Trax
And Wotflight.com is a great place to look for cheap flights in Australia.
Non-Aggregators/Online Travel Agencies
These sites allow you to search for cheap tickets and buy through them. This means that you deal with that company and not the airline if something goes wrong. (I generally advocate booking directly with the airline.) The online travel agencies may charge ticketing and booking fees for booking through them.
Orbitz and Farecast (30 day window)
Flexible Dates Flying on Weekends
If you’re looking for a flight on an upcoming weekend, these sites are best.
Flexible Destinations (including last minute travel)
If you don’t care where you’re going, you just want to go somewhere cheap, these sites list destinations with cheap airline ticket prices.
Last Minute (formerly Site59)
GoToday
Kayak Buzz
Farecast
Mobissimo Activity Search
Airfare Watchdog
Airport Parking
Finding parking at airports is critical to success in finding a cheap plane ticket. Here are some sites that allow you to do that:
Holiday Extras offers low prices and great choice of Luton airport parking – both on-airport and off-aiport locations.
Airport Transfers
Suntransfers offers airport transfers between airports and your destination – worldwide.
I hope you find this Cheat Sheet useful. Please consider bookmarking it with your favorite bookmarking site, so that everyone can learn how to find a cheap airline ticket.
What are your favorite travel search engines?
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Why are you encouraging flying on a so-called ‘green travel’ site?
Flying is one of the most polluting things we do. thumbs down
D
@Dave — Thanks for the feedback. We actually have a post for Thursday about this issue. We don’t advocate flying all the time – but unfortunately it’s sometimes necessary. We believe that people should get out there and explore the world because this cultural exposure is part of being a green traveler.
It’s a great list. I want to share it with my ‘seniors’ who always looking for less expensive ways of traveling.
@ Cathy – You are more than welcome to share this list with your seniors. Once you’re retired you should be able to afford to travel (even in this economy.)
Seriously? “People often ask” you?
Let’s be honest here. How about “someone asked me once”, or even more realistically, “I like to imagine that someone might ask me someday”.
Give me a break.
@ Bud well considering the author writes for a webpage on travel, I dont think it is out of the realm of possibility that she gets asked that question quite often.
Elizabeth,
Thank you so much for this awesome “cheat sheet” I wasn’t aware there are so many ways to get cheaper airline tickets nowadays. I knew for Orbitz and Traveocity, but didn’t have any clue for others.
Keep it up,
Ela from SR22 Guide Guide
@ Bud – Not really sure exactly what you’re problem was with that statement. As I’m sure most other travel writers do, we get a lot of emails asking about our favorite travel search engines.
Great list. I don’t think some peop[le realise how hard it is to get a quality list like this. There are so many fraudulent sites out there that will just direct you to a bad deal. Thank you!! P.S. Two other sites I found quite good in the past are http://www.opodo.com/ and http://www.ebookers.com/
I just found your site through Get Rich Slowly but wanted to comment.
I live in Europe and there is http://www.airninja.com that searches through the discount airlines in Europe.
I looked for such a site for a long, long time and finally found it mentioned on a forum somewhere.
@Becky – Thanks for the suggestion about AirNinja. I’ll check it out!
wao whats great suggestation. Thanku very much for sharing.
Nepal Treks
very nice tips thanku very much
Nice list. Even helpfull for a travel agent to get nice deals for their guests. Thank you for the list.
This is really good resource for those looking for cheap flights tickets for any destination.
thank you.its good for the who are roaming for cheapest tickets.
what a good offer.thank you.
what a good offer.thank you.
You missed a site – dohop.com is one to look at as well!
Ya, This is good way to get cheapest and cheapest, I suggest to you all. If you want to know about Nepal you have to log on this site or you can call too.
Thank you
Madan Sitaula
+977-1-4263044
+977-9851055467
yes, I have seen it, it is really cheap and best. Tell me please, DO YOU KNOW ABOUT NEPAL?
That was a very useful tips,thanks for sharing
Thank you for the great information! I have some free domestic tickets so can fly out from anywhere. Is there a way to search websites showing only the final international destination and find out which domestic city is cheapest to fly out of?
Fabulous article with useful info – Ultimate List of Cheap Airline Ticket Search Engines. Thanks to GoGreenTravel for this one.
Another recommendation:
For flights in Thailand you can see a list of all routes and times from all airlines here: Thailand Flights
This was a nice info for those who looking for cheap air tickets
Great Post, your words are really true. It helped me a lot and I hope it will help others too.
i was looking for this kinda site for long time..thnx
It was a great list I have just stumbled it
I found a really great service that provides airport meet and greet services for parking your car when I went on a trip to Hong Kong. It’s provided by yQ Now. It was great being able to drive right up to my terminal and have a member of staff go park my car for me. They also met me off the plane when I arrived and fast tracked me through customs, which really made my trip through the airport alot better than usual.
It is so informative article. I got new information in it that is why i have stumbled it.
Besoin de credit rapide, de credit bail et crédit bail , demande de crdit rapide, le crédit bail et de trouver les meilleures affaires du au taux le plus bas au financeimmo.
It is so informative article.
very nice information about cheap flights ! thanx
I take pleasure in, cause I discovered just what I was looking for. You’ve ended my four day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye
Nepal Environmental Trekking, Best Trekking agency in Nepal.
Great .That is one huge memorial ! It IS different from all,Thanks a lot for the post. Im a massive fan of the blog,I’m reading every word here.
I’m all about Kayak nowadays. I never understood why they named the website kayak (I guess something to do with comparing rates side by side like people in a kayak ride side by side) but it’s really helpful, especially if you travel a lot.
Great post..I would definitely consider most of the facts in this post to promote my online travel site!! Thanx for the info
Thanks for the helpful cheat sheet, I just used it to book my cousin’s flight!
Hi Elizabeth, actually right, cheap airline ticket can not be found by search engine. It depends on our destination where we want to go.
This is really good resource for those looking for cheap flights tickets for any destination. Thanks for your very informative article
I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
I am always looking for cheap flights, I will give these tips a go and see if it works for me.
Hello! I simply wish to give you a huge thumbs up for your great information you have here on this post.
I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.