Finding affordable flights can be a daunting task, with countless websites vying for your attention. However, not all flight booking sites are created equal. Some excel at finding the absolute lowest prices, even if it means unconventional itineraries, while others prioritize user-friendly interfaces and robust filtering options. To help you navigate this complex landscape, we’ve analyzed some of the top travel websites for flights, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses to guide you to the best choice for your travel needs.
Kiwi: Top Choice for Unique Itineraries and Self-Transfer Flights
Website Type: Online Travel Agency (OTA)
For travelers laser-focused on price, Kiwi often emerges as a frontrunner. Kiwi’s strength lies in its ability to construct itineraries that competitors might miss, often leveraging “travel hacks” to unlock lower fares. These hacks include self-transfer ticketing, hidden city ticketing, and throwaway ticketing. Among these, Kiwi particularly emphasizes self-transfer flights.
Kiwi.com Interface Showing Flight Search Results
Self-transfer itineraries combine flights from different airlines that don’t typically cooperate, potentially offering significant savings compared to booking with a single airline for the entire journey. However, it’s crucial to understand the trade-offs. Unlike codeshare flights where airlines coordinate transfers, self-transfer itineraries place the responsibility on the traveler. If you check baggage, you’ll likely need to retrieve it, exit security, and re-check it with the connecting airline. Furthermore, if a delay on your first flight causes you to miss the second, you may not receive the same rebooking assistance you would with a single-airline booking.
If self-transfer complexities are a concern, Kiwi allows you to filter out these options using “travel hacks” filters. Importantly, Kiwi also provides competitive pricing on more conventional flight routes. Its flexible search capabilities extend to searching +/- five days from your desired dates. Beyond standard one-way, round-trip, and multi-city searches, Kiwi offers a unique “Nomad” tool. Simply input your travel period and desired destinations, and Kiwi generates a cost-effective itinerary optimizing your route.
Kiwi.com Nomad Search Tool Interface
As an OTA, Kiwi provides optional protection plans that aggregators lack. For a fee, you can secure a price lock for up to three days. The “Kiwi.com Guarantee” offers rebooking or refunds if an airline unexpectedly changes your flight schedule, potentially providing peace of mind, especially when booking less conventional itineraries. While Kiwi presents a price trend table, it lacks price prediction features and a traditional rewards program.
Pros:
- Displays unique, cost-saving “travel hack” itineraries.
- Offers various travel protection options.
- “Nomad” tool enhances multi-city travel planning.
Cons:
- No loyalty or rewards program.
- Lacks layover city filtering.
- “Travel hack” itineraries can be less convenient and carry risks.
Expedia: Best for One Key Rewards Program Members
Website Type: OTA
Expedia stands out as the optimal choice for travelers invested in the One Key Rewards program. Loyalty to Expedia, Hotels.com, or Vrbo can accumulate OneKeyCash, which can be redeemed for flight bookings. However, flight bookings themselves earn a modest 0.2% OneKeyCash, significantly less than the 2% earned on other eligible bookings.
Despite the low cash-back rate, each flight booking contributes one “trip element” towards achieving higher One Key status. Gold and Platinum One Key members enjoy complimentary price drop protection on flights booked via the Expedia app.
Expedia Website Interface on Desktop
Similar to other OTAs, Expedia offers optional flight protection add-ons. However, many travel credit cards already include travel insurance benefits. Review your credit card benefits before purchasing redundant protection. Expedia provides a useful array of sorting options, including less common filters like earliest or latest departure/arrival times. However, it notably lacks a “best value” or “recommended” sorting option.
Expedia Mobile App Interface Showing Flight Search Results
Another point to note is Expedia’s round-trip flight sorting. When sorting round-trip results by criteria other than price, you must apply the desired sort (e.g., “shortest duration”) to both outbound and return flights separately. Otherwise, the return flight results default to “lowest price” sorting.
Expedia generally focuses on conventional itineraries, avoiding hidden city ticketing like Skiplagged. Multiple airline itineraries on Expedia typically involve codeshare agreements, not self-transfer flights. Whether this is a pro or con depends on your priorities: absolute lowest price versus minimizing travel complexities.
Pros:
- Each flight booking earns 1 One Key trip element.
- Free price drop protection for One Key Gold and Platinum members.
- Offers competitive fares on standard itineraries.
Cons:
- Round-trip flight sorting is less intuitive.
- Low 0.2% OneKeyCash earning on flights.
- No “best value” fare sorting option.
Skiplagged: Best for Hidden City Ticketing (Use with Caution)
Website Type: OTA
Skiplagged openly promotes “skiplagging,” or hidden city ticketing. This strategy involves booking a flight with a layover at your desired final destination, as these flights can sometimes be cheaper than direct flights to that layover city. Travelers utilizing this hack disembark at the layover city and skip the final leg of the flight.
Skiplagged’s focus on hidden city fares can lead to significantly lower prices compared to other platforms. However, hidden city ticketing carries considerable risks. While self-transfer flights are generally tolerated by airlines, skiplagging is frowned upon and can result in penalties. Airlines may cancel your ticket, revoke frequent flyer miles, or even ban you from future flights.
Skiplagged acknowledges these risks and advises against frequent hidden city ticketing. They recommend traveling with only carry-on baggage (ideally a backpack) to avoid checked bags being routed to the intended final destination, not your hidden city stop.
Skiplagged Website Interface Displaying a Skiplagged Flight Itinerary
You can easily disable the “Skiplagging” filter to exclude these itineraries. Even without hidden city fares, Skiplagged often presents competitive prices. It also offers “Buy” or “Watch” recommendations based on historical fare data. However, Skiplagged lacks some pre- and post-search features. It doesn’t support multi-city searches or flexible date searches. Also, initial prices displayed on Skiplagged exclude service fees (ranging from $10 to $35 in tests). Skiplagged does have a rewards program, offering up to $25 credit per flight or hotel booking made by you or through your shared link.
Pros:
- Shows hidden city flights for potential significant savings.
- Provides “Buy” or “Watch” fare recommendations.
- Offers a rewards and referral program.
Cons:
- Displayed prices exclude service fees.
- No multi-city search support.
- Fewer filter options compared to competitors.
Momondo: Best for Extensive Search Filters and Price Insights
Website Type: Aggregator
Momondo functions as a flight aggregator, meaning you typically book flights directly with the airline or an OTA through links provided by Momondo. Momondo allows you to filter out specific OTAs or limit results to “Airlines only,” giving you control over booking sources.
Momondo Website Interface Showing Flight Search Results and Filters
Momondo and its sister site, Kayak, offer an impressive array of filters, achieving top scores in this area. You can refine results by airline, alliance, cabin class, seat selection, baggage allowance, trip duration, number of layovers, and many more criteria. Momondo distinguishes itself with its unique price charts and insights. Above the search results, a chart displays daily price fluctuations for several days surrounding your chosen dates.
Momondo Price Insights Chart and Cheapest Month Display
The expandable “insights” menu offers data on the cheapest month, day of the week, time of day, and airline for your route. It also suggests the optimal booking window to secure the lowest fares. As an aggregator, Momondo doesn’t have a rewards program or offer travel protection directly. However, the linked airline or OTA may offer these options. Momondo may display self-transfer flights from Kiwi or other OTAs, but you can filter these out under “Flight quality” filters by deselecting “show flights with self-transfers.”
Pros:
- Best-in-class price history charts and insightful graphs.
- Comprehensive filters for precise flight selection.
- Displays both airline direct fares and third-party OTA prices.
Cons:
- No rewards program.
- No travel insurance or price protection offered directly.
- Search result ads can be sometimes misleading.
Google Flights: Best for Price Prediction and Flexible Searching
Website Type: Aggregator
Google Flights, like Momondo, is a travel aggregator. While “Book on Google” options may appear for US bookings, Google primarily directs you to airlines or OTAs to complete the purchase. Google acts as an intermediary without offering its own protections or rewards programs. While you cannot filter out specific OTAs, airline filtering is available.
Google Flights leverages its data expertise to provide valuable price predictions. It indicates whether current prices are low, typical, or high for your trip. If prices are predicted to be at their lowest, Google even suggests a booking deadline before prices are likely to increase.
For price tracking, Google offers email alerts for price changes on specific dates. Going further, Google’s “Any dates” tracking monitors price fluctuations for your route across a broader timeframe, ideal for travelers with flexible schedules seeking the best deals.
Google Flights Explore Feature Showing Destinations on a Map
Google’s “Explore” tool is exceptional for travelers open to destination suggestions. By entering your departure city and “Anywhere” as the destination, Google Maps integrates flight prices with destination information, including popular attractions, photos, and reviews. This feature provides rich inspiration for undecided travelers.
Google Flights includes Southwest Airlines in its search results, although it links to the Southwest website for pricing as Southwest restricts fare display on third-party sites. Self-transfer flights are displayed by default but can be filtered out under “Separate tickets” by selecting “Hide separate tickets.”
Pros:
- Strong price prediction and tracking capabilities.
- Excellent “Explore” tool for destination discovery.
- Includes Southwest Airlines flights (with direct link to Southwest).
Cons:
- No travel protection offered through Google.
- No rewards program.
- Cannot filter out specific third-party booking sites.
