How to Find the Cheapest Flights to Anywhere

How to Find Cheapest Flights

As I’ve often preached, travel doesn’t need to be expensive.

Most of the time, airfare is the biggest expenditure on your trip and it takes up a chunk of our savings. The best way to reduce this expenditure is to find the cheapest flight possible.

After spending the past 16 years traveling around the world, I’ve learned quite a few tricks when it comes to finding cheap airfares.

For instance, I once bought a Madrid-Oslo budget flight for only $15 return (with taxes included) and another return flight from Oslo to Los Angeles for only $328. I also recently scored an error fare from Madrid to Accra for $208 return, half the usual price!

As part of my travel tips series, this article is a compilation of some secret tricks I use to find the cheapest flights to anywhere.

Search for Flights Incognito

Have you ever searched for a flight and then gone back to check it a few times only to find that the flight price has increased each time?

If you’ve been suspecting that the airline and travel websites are behind this — you’re right.

It’s the classic bait-and-switch. The websites use cookies to track you. When they detect an interest in a particular flight, they jack up the price for a higher profit.

To get around this, always search for flights in incognito to find the lowest prices. Incognito browsing ensures that no history or other private data such as cache or cookies are left behind at the end of your browsing session.

On Google Chrome, browse with the Incognito Mode  by simply going to the Chrome menu button (three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner and selecting New Incognito Tab from the drop-down menu. Similarly on Safari, choose Private Browsing on the Gear icon in the top right corner of your browser window.

Use a VPN to Find Location-Specific Deals

Another way to browse privately is by using a VPN, a secure internet network where data cannot be intercepted. Not only does it protect your browsing history, it also allows you to access country-specific content.

This way, you can also take advantage of location-specific airfare deals some airlines have.

Last year, I nabbed an error fare on United Airlines’ Danish website using a VPN and got a Copenhagen-Los Angeles flight for $100 return. Seriously.

I personally use VyprVPN for such scenarios and also when I’m traveling in places with censored internet.

Compare Across Airlines and Flight Search Engines

Gone are the days when you need to manually check airfares on different airlines, one by one. Now almost every flight search engine lets you compare airfares across airlines and even different flight brokers.

Skyscanner is the most popular meta search engines. Be prepared though to go through various pop up windows to find the best deal. Skyscanner is hands down my favorite search engine as they’ve always found me the cheapest airfares.

Here’s a list of the best search engines in my opinion:

Find the Cheapest Destination

If all you want to do is travel anywhere outside of your home country, then this is a great way to score some good flight deals. For instance, I had no plans to go to Ghana but when I saw the flight deal for just $208, I knew I had to book it!

Skyscanner has an “Everywhere” feature that allows you to find the cheapest flights from your home to anywhere in the world.

Basically, type in your home airport and then type in Everywhere in the destination field. The search engine will show you the cheapest places you can fly to. In this example below where I searched for the cheapest destination from New York for those specific dates, I found flights from New York to Paris for $347 return!

Google Flights also has a similar feature. If you’re up for an adventure and want to let fate decide where you go, then it’s a good way to travel on the cheap.

Find Out the Best Time to Book Your Flights

This research based on 1.5 billion airfares found that the best time to book a flight is said to be around 47 days in advance of your trip. When a flight opens for sale, fares will drop slowly but steadily until reaching a low point somewhere between 27 days and 114 days out.

If you’re hoping to travel in peak summer, add a month or two onto these recommendations, and if you’re traveling during low season it’s more likely cheap fares will pop up closer to departure date. Prices tend to jump in the last month or two before departure, so you don’t want to cut it too close.

Avoid Flying During Peak Season

Another way to save money on tickets is by flying during the off-season when there will be less demand.

In North America and Europe, the cheapest time of year to fly is usually January through mid-April and October through early December.

The most expensive time to fly is usually peak summer: mid-June through mid-August. Also Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

It will also vary a bit by the specific destination, especially around popular holidays. Fares within Europe during Easter (late April) can be expensive, to Brazil during Carnival, and China for Chinese New Year aren’t cheap.

Fly on Cheaper Day/Time of the Week

Airfares vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, and holidays. It’s always cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than on a weekend.

Fare tracker site Airfarewatchdog, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the two cheapest days of the week to fly. Friday and Sunday are usually the most expensive days.

They’ve also said that flying during off-peak hours can save you a lot of money. Basic supply and demand will tell you that if everyone wants to fly at the same hour, it will be more expensive. You’ll often find the lowest prices for early morning or late evening departures.

Skyscanner lets you find the cheapest month to fly certain routes. Just enter the “from/to” airports and go to the “whole month” tab and click on “cheapest month”. You can also get an overview of airfares throughout the month and pick out the cheapest day to fly in that particular month.

To track when and where is cheapest to fly, Hopper and Flyr also offer price analysis and track fluctuations — which is great for airline geeks!

Fly into Alternative Airports

Instead of flying to a place with an expensive flight, fly somewhere nearby that is cheaper to get to.

For example, fly into London Stansted instead of Heathrow, or Long Beach rather than LAX to get cheaper deals. Sometimes traveling by bus to or from a different airport can save you money on flights.

I’ve saved quite a lot by flying from Eindhoven rather than Amsterdam, and Girona instead of Barcelona. It may take more time than flying directly, but it’s worthwhile if that means you’re saving a hundred bucks.

Try out Budget Airlines

I know, budget airlines don’t have a good rep these days, but hey if you want to buy the cheapest flight possible, budget airlines are not a bad idea.

I’ve flown across Asia, Europe and the US and saved tons of time and money thanks to budget airlines. They are often 30% cheaper than usual airlines. Now budget airlines are even offering cross-continental flights; for instance you can get cheap flights from the US to Europe from the US for as low as $99 each way on Norwegian Air!

Of course, you’ll have to compromise with less leg room, no meal service onboard or no seat allocation. Some budget airlines also have ridiculous rules. I once had to pay Ryanair $90 to get my boarding pass printed – how stupid was that?!

In general, when you’re booking a budget flight, always read the fine print and know the budget airline’s requirements & restrictions.

Check Different Routes and Book Flights Separately

Sometime you can save hundreds just by making stops on a long-haul flight instead of flying direct. For instance, flights to Bangkok are often cheaper than flights to Myanmar. You can first catch a flight to Bangkok and fly with a budget airline such as Air Asia to Yangon.

Be sure to spread out your flights and leave enough transit time between each flights! I’ve missed a few flights because of tight layovers and had to suffer for it. If your flights are not on the same airline, you will not get compensated if you miss your connecting flight.

Find “Hidden City” Flights

You may have noticed that some flights that connect in a city you want to go to are cheaper than flights that fly direct to it. Unknown to many, you can actually book that cheap flight, hop off at your destination and not take the onward connection.

There is now a web search engine which finds hidden city tickets for you. Skiplagged is a highly rated site, but it’s currently being sued by United Airlines who is angry about this debatable hack.

You need to be prepared to take some risks though, as not all flights allow you this. I’ve heard that Spirit Airlines actually will ban you from flying with them if they find that you haven’t taken your connection.

You also need to make sure that the plane actually allows you to disembark at your destination, otherwise you’ll be wasting rather than saving money.

Use Alerts to Keep Track of Prices

Flight prices can sometimes drop with time. Skyscanner has a price alerts service that notifies you as soon as the price goes up, or down. So, every time the price of the flight you want changes, they’ll automatically send you an email.

Most of the time, price alerts are completely free and you can change your alerts or unsubscribe at any time.

For example, I set up a price alert to monitor airfares from Amsterdam to Singapore a few months ago. The price finally dropped 3 months later and I immediately nabbed the flights. Saved myself $200!

Here’s how to set up a price alert:

1. Open the Skyscanner app or desktop homepage
2. Search for the flight that you are interested in tracking
3. Tap the bell icon in the bottom-left on app (or top-left on desktop)
4. Tap ‘Create’ and you’re all set! You will be notified with any price changes

Grab Error Fares on Deals/Promos Websites

To keep yourself informed of the latest flight promotions, there are several websites these days that alert you when there are flight deals or error fares. They usually update the site with numerous deals a day, so it’s best to subscribe to their newsletter to get the updates via email.

The promotions are very attractive and often only last for a short time period, so you have to act fast! Note that some airlines don’t honor error fares (like the $120 flight I booked on United Airlines that got voided), so don’t make plans right after booking them.

• Fly4Free — My favorite site that notifies you of deals from around the world
• Secret Flying — Regularly updated airfare deals from both US and Europe
• The Flight Deal — Only flight promos from the US
• HolidayPirates — Europe-centric website with airfare and holiday deals from the UK and Europe

Sign up for Airline Mailing Newsletters

Airline newsletters often have featured offers not found elsewhere. These offers can range from upcoming flight sales to mileage giveaways. Airlines also often announce new routes via their newsletters and these usually involve very low introductory prices.

For instance, Air Europa is starting new routes to Puerto Rico from Europe and are offering airfares as low as $300 from Madrid.

Join Frequent Flier Programs

Frequent flier programs are definitely one of the best ways to get free flights or upgrades. Even if you don’t fly often, you should sign up for an airline’s reward program (I’ll show you ways to get miles without flying below).

An alliance is a partnership among numerous airlines. When you join the frequent flier program of a certain airline, you’ll be able to earn miles from not just that airline but also its partner airlines.

Each alliance has its own pros and cons. To decide which mileage program to join, consider which airline you fly with the most.

There are three main airlines alliances and their respective member airlines:

• One World: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Qantas, Qatar Airways
• Star Alliance: Air Canada, Air China, Avianca, Ethiopian, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines
• Sky Team: Aeroflot, Aero Mexico, Air Europa, Air France, China Airlines, Delta, KLM

As I’m based in Amsterdam, I fly with KLM and Air France most often and so I earn most miles on Sky Team Alliance.

Start Using Travel Rewards Credit Cards

There are lots of ways to use miles to find cheap flights without actually flying: sign up for credit cards that give away lots of miles upon registration and shop at airline partner.

By having a travel credit card, you can easily pay for everything with the card and chock up to 36,000 miles a month, which you can redeem for a flight to Europe!

Two of the best travel rewards credit cards are the Chase Sapphire Preferred and British Airways Signature Card. Both cards earn let you redeem your purchase rewards points through their respective credit card travel portal for reward travel. Alternatively, you can also transfer your points to an airline travel partner on a 1:1 basis for an even better deal.

Most of these travel rewards credit cards give you around 50,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of using this card.

What are your tricks for finding the cheapest flights to anywhere? Share with us here!

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