How to find cheap flights?

[tmm99]

I was just browsing Expedia (only because I had some rewards points I could redeem if I used Expedia. I usually use Travelocity), and ended up booking because a round-trip from Toronto to Tokyo was only $605 CAD via Delta. (Initially, the dates I picked weren't cheap dates, and Expedia suggested to shift the dates by one day to get the $605 fare. After more poking around, I realized that I could only get the $605 fare if I left on certain dates (2 possible dates) and came back on a certain date (1 date). Granted that this trip will be in March-the off-peak season, but $605 CAD is like $480 USD, and that is crazy cheap. The strange thing was all other flights by other airlines were much more expensive (around $1,100+).

OK, so this time around, I happened to lucked out. How can I repeat what I just experienced? Is there a way to do a query on some website that searches for very cheap flights? Any way to query "Give me the cheapest flights from here to there between this range of dates with around 6-8 days stay?"

 

[Nemo2]

Any way to query "Give me the cheapest flights from here to there between this range of dates with around 6-8 days stay?"

Some search engines, such as Fare Boom, offer 'Flex Search':

https://www.fareboom.com/

 

[Starsky]

I found this site recently and it seems great for finding the lowest fares from one city to another although I haven't booked anything yet: https://www.skyscanner.com.

 

[Johanson]

I watch for deals here: Mileage Run Deals - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Omalley]

Not sure if the site includes airports in Canada, but Airfare Watchdog is good for locating deals. The deals are usually for travel 1-6 weeks away.

Omalley

 

[tmm99]

Some search engines, such as Fare Boom, offer 'Flex Search':

https://www.fareboom.com/

Thank you. Have you used this site? It gives me estimated best prices, but when I click on them, they usually show actual prices higher than the estimate.

 

[Nemo2]

Momondo will provide prices for the date you select, plus price estimates for the month:

Cheap flights - Search and Compare Flights with momondo

 

[Nemo2]

Thank you. Have you used this site? It gives me estimated best prices, but when I click on them, they usually show actual prices higher than the estimate.

Can't recall if we've ever booked through them, but we (pretty much always) use about a half dozen search engines for comparative purposes, since some don't include all available airlines.

Rarely is it 'quick & dirty'.

(One caveat when comparing prices.....ensure the checked baggage isn't an extra cost.)

 

[tmm99]

I found this site recently and it seems great for finding the lowest fares from one city to another although I haven't booked anything yet: https://www.skyscanner.com.

Thank you for this. Although it needs some tweaking, I can see some things fairly clearly on this website. It has a good, user-friendly output layout. It is a PITA though that you cannot filter to narrow down the duration of the flight until you pick specific flights, which makes the tool kind of useless... ARGH

 

[tmm99]

Rarely is it 'quick & dirty'.

Thanks. I am starting to find that out...

 

[Nemo2]

Thanks. I am starting to find that out...

And triple check the flight duration - you don't want to 'save' $20 and find out you have a 20 hour stopover somewhere.

 

[tmm99]

And triple check the flight duration - you don't want to 'save' $20 and find out you have a 20 hour stopover somewhere.

...Or a 50 minute layover (too short if you are going from Canada to US or US to Canada IMHO).

 

[spud99]

My favorite cheap fare finder:
https://www.google.com/flights/explore

It lets you use regions instead of specific cities if you want, as well as trip duration.

 

[tmm99]

My favorite cheap fare finder:
https://www.google.com/flights/explore

It lets you use regions instead of specific cities if you want, as well as trip duration.

Thanks. The problem with all the websites I checked out so far is that I cannot seem to be able to restrict the duration of flights at the beginning of the query, so the output I get (regardless of how nice the output looks) becomes useless since the cheap flights tend to go to the opposite side of the globe and come back. Taking 30 hours to get to Tokyo is not my definition of fun even if it's a few hundred dollar cheaper..

 

[Bamaman]

I receive an email daily from Scott Keys at ScottsCheapFlights.com, and I cannot get over the bargain airfares he posts. You can pay $29 a year for his expanded list of travel bargains.

I'm trying to slow down my international travel, but he's tempting me to go somewhere.

I keep my eyes open on a number of online newspapers, and I watch ClarkHoward.com for bargain airfares. There are also a number of consolidators online that offer bargain flights from time to time.

My specific flight searches are on ITA Matrix--and I buy directly from the airlines in most cases.

And if you fly out of Los Angeles, Oakland, Las Vegas, Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale airports (and some other airports), Norwegian Air Shuttle has incredible flights to London Gatwick and Scandinavia.

 

[Surewhitey]

Google flights for sure...

 

[DrRoy]

Flights on Delta to Tampa in late March are in the $600's and up. For Feb and early Mar they are as low as the $300's. Looks like we should wait longer.

 

[Nemo2]

My favorite cheap fare finder:
https://www.google.com/flights/explore

It lets you use regions instead of specific cities if you want, as well as trip duration.

Agreed..Google flights are very good.

 

[cooch96]

I recently bought tickets to DC from Seatac ($187/pax, one way). Prices were about 30% cheaper using Alaska Airlines' website vs Expedia, though not quite apples to apples since Expedia was trying to bundle with hotel deals. So, it makes your searches a lot easier if you have a favorite airline.
Anyway, I saved about $1100 for DW and me to visit DC for a week by not trying to bundle and using Airbnb. Maybe more, since the Airbnb flat is 3x the size of a hotel room.

 

[ivinsfan]

If you are simply looking for "hot" or "flash" sales I suggest signing up for the feed from "The Points Guy" as he tends to post things in real time. He does a lot of US gateway fares, but generally if it's system wide you might find it includes Canadian airports as well.

 

[Clover5]

I use flyertalk, they have both a premium (business and first) forum for cheap seats up front and another for mileage run deals and super low and mistake fares. Finally, I use flights.google.com to track specific routes and flights. You can then turn on a the option to track the fare and get an email from google every time it changes.

 

[martyp]

I typically use Travelocity for my travel. Recently, while traveling in Southeast Asia I discovered that there are many cheap airlines that are not listed in Travelocity. I've been finding the sites for the airports I want to go to and seeing what airlines use that airport. Then I go to that airline's site and check out the prices. Basically, doing what you had to do before sites like Travelocity and Expedia. I think this is probably a useful strategy for travel to smaller airports outside the US.

 

[brett]

Our experience in Asia, Europe, and Australia is that there are many airlines/flights that do not show up on the likes of expedia and travelocity.
Same for kayak etc.

We do the same. First we google something like discount airlines in....or as above we look up the airport site and see what airlines they service.

We recently booked several flights in South America and Central America. Directly, and at prices and in one case, a carrier that was not on the 'popular' sites.

Poking around the web for a hour or two can yield some very good benefits.

 

[Lsbcal]

Our experience in Asia, Europe, and Australia is that there are many airlines/flights that do not show up on the likes of expedia and travelocity.
Same for kayak etc.
...

How about Google Flights? They came up with Transavia for a flight from AMS to Munich. But we have little experience with flights within Europe (let alone Asia and Australia).

 

[simple girl]

I use airfarewatchdog.com. You can sign up for city specific alerts and also specific route alerts.