We’ve all been there: you’re searching for the perfect flight, and the only thing standing in your way is a bunch of useless results. You’re tired and stressed out, and you just want to get home. So here’s a guide to some of our favorite apps that will help you find a great flight at the right price—fast!
1) Hopper – This app will tell you when to book your flight so that it’s not too late but not too early. It also shows how much prices change over time so that you can plan ahead for those last-minute deals.
2) Sky Scanner – This app lets you compare prices from all the major airlines at once, making it easy to find out which flights are cheapest and best suited for your needs.
3) CheapOair – CheapOair allows you to search for flights all over the world in one place! It also has tips on how to save money when buying airfare, such as using promo codes or booking through third parties like Orbitz or Expedia.
Best Apps For Searching Flights
Saving money on travel costs is at the top of every travel manager’s mind. Corporate flights form a huge part of every business’s travel budget, which is why apps to find cheap flights can be a great way for businesses to save money.
Leisure travelers also search for the best flight finder apps and cheap flights apps to help them score the best deals on air travel. So, which are the best apps for cheap flights for business and leisure travelers?
To help travelers make the right choice for their next flight search without the need for complicated hacks or insider travel tips, we go through the best apps for cheap flights both for business and leisure travel.
Best apps for cheap flights: Business travel
From access to negotiated corporate rates to employee rewards programs and reporting capabilities, we’ll go through the three best apps to find the cheapest price and save money on airfare.
- TravelPerk
TravelPerk is a dedicated corporate travel management company that offers business travelers the world’s largest inventory for booking corporate flights and has integrations with global distribution systems Amadeus and NDC, online travel agencies Expedia, and metasearch engine Skyscanner.
Since users have access to the most expansive flight inventory and can book all aspects of their trips from within TravelPerk’s user-friendly platform, this also reduces the amount of time they spend platform-switching to try and find the best app to find cheap flights.
As well as having access to negotiated corporate rates, companies can also use TravelPerk’s VAT recovery solution to help them save up to 20% of their annual travel budget.
For businesses whose plans change frequently, the FlexiPerk feature also allows users to pay a 10% fee on every trip they make, which means that they can cancel any part of their trip (flights included) up to two hours before they travel. Using this feature, they’ll get a minimum of 80% of the trip refunded.
The platform’s reporting feature also compiles price trends for a company’s trips and compares the average booking price against the booking window, further helping to save money on flight costs.
On top of this, the TravelPerk platform allows companies to incorporate their own corporate travel policies into the travel management process, helping them save money on every travel business cost.
Key features:
Access to the world’s largest flight inventory
Proprietary VAT recovery solution
FlexiPerk for protected last-minute changes
Access to corporate flight rates
Manage and book all aspects of business travel from within one platform
- Kayak for Business
Kayak for Business is the corporate version of travel platform Kayak, and is a free tool to help business travelers plan and manage travel.
It’s a free platform that processes over 2 billion flight queries annually, and displays flight search results from airlines and third party sites.
Kayak’s Hacker Fares, which are combined one-way tickets on different airlines, can help businesses money on travel costs. Users can also use their travel towards their preferred airline’s loyalty program.
Travel policies can be added to the flight search so that users stick to travel budgets, while travel managers can track overall travel costs via reporting features.
Key features:
Access to corporate flight rates
Integrated travel policies as part of the flight search
Hacker Fares
Track travel spend
Streamlined approval process
- Booking.com for Business
Booking.com for Business is a free online booking tool for corporate travel that’s geared towards small businesses without managed travel programs.
The platform offers access to over 150 airlines, from low-cost carriers to business class long-haul flights, and automatically tracks business travel spend to highlight where companies can make savings.
AI personalization features help tailor flight results to individual business traveler preferences, and the solution’s reporting features help businesses cut down on admin and costs.
Key features:
The app is free to use
Access to over 150 airlines
Reporting capabilities to help reduce corporate travel spend
AI personalization tailors flight preferences
24/7 access to customer support
Best apps for cheap flights: Leisure travel
Whether they’re looking for domestic flights or international flights, individual travelers are always looking for the best flight deals to help them save money. Below, we go through four of the best flight booking apps for leisure travelers looking to help them land a great deal on their next getaway.
- Kayak
Kayak is a metasearch engine for travel deals that scrapes third-party travel sites to show customers the best deals available.
The platform’s Price Alerts function allows travelers to track flight prices to get the best ticket prices, while its Explore function shows travelers everywhere that they can fly within their budget.
Add-ons like FlexSearch allows users to see whether they could save money on flights by being flexible with dates, Private Deals allow them to save money on flights just by signing into the platform, while Price Forecast highlights the best time to book or wait for a flight.
Key features:
FlexSearch helps users save money with flexible travel dates
Price alert function
Explore function keeps travelers within budget
Price Forecast indicates the best time to book flights for the best price
- Orbitz
Orbitz is a travel fare aggregator website that searches for and sells flights. Booking flights with Orbitz allows users to earn frequent flyer miles.
The platform also offers a flexible dates option that helps users identify the cheapest day or price for a range of dates.
When travelers join Orbitz’s free-to-join rewards program, they earn 1% of the flight price in “Orbucks”, which are worth $1 each. However, Orbucks can only be redeemed on hotel bookings.
Key features:
Free-to-join rewards program
Travelers earn frequent flyer miles
Flexible dates option for cheaper flights
- Expedia
Expedia is an online travel agency for flights, hotels, rental cars, and more.
Expedia’s free rewards program enables travelers to not only earn points with every flight booked, but they can also access airline miles and credit card rewards. Guests earn two Expedia points for every dollar spent.
Travelers can also enjoy free cancelation on flight tickets within 24 hours of booking if plans change or travelers find a better offer.
Key features:
Expedia Rewards points
Free flight cancelation policy
Access to airline miles and credit card rewards
- Priceline
Priceline is a flight booking and travel app that helps guests find flight deals.
The platform offers a best price guarantee policy, where travelers can get a refund on any flight booked if they find a better price.
The platform’s Express Deals also allow guests to save up to 50% on airlines, however, travelers won’t know the full details of their flight until after they’ve purchased it.
Priceline also offers a flexible dates option to help travelers identify the cheapest flight prices for a range of dates.
Key features:
Best price guarantee
Express Deals
Flexible date options
So, which are the best apps for cheap flights for business and leisure travelers?
While business travelers need flight apps that give them access to corporate rates, individual travelers are a bit more flexible.
When searching for the best apps for cheap flights for business travel, however, using apps that aren’t designed with business travel in mind can cause multiple issues, such as invoicing mistakes, out-of-policy bookings, and planning errors. These types of mistakes can ultimately damage a business’s bottom line.
A dedicated corporate travel management app is the best app for businesses looking not only for cheap flights, but to maintain proper travel booking, management, and reporting processes, save time, and remain compliant.
best website for booking international flights
Searching for a flight can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many factors: dates, times, price, fare class, airline, and more. Even when you know exactly when and where you want to fly, where should you look for the absolute best price?
Unfortunately, no website consistently has the lowest prices. Most of the popular OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) are usually in the same ballpark for the price, but not all offer the same benefits or search functionality.
We’ve combed through many popular OTAs to compare prices and show you the benefits and drawbacks of each site.
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Book Direct Through the Airline’s Website
More often than not, booking directly through the airline’s website will give you the best price, or will at least be the same as the OTAs.
Some airlines, like Southwest, won’t even show up on sites like Expedia or Orbitz, so you have to book direct. It can also be the most simple way to book. If a problem arises, you don’t have to deal with a third party to get it resolved.
Another reason to book directly through an airline’s website is to use frequent flyer miles — hooray for award flights!
Of course, to book through the airline’s website, you first need to know which airline has the best prices. There are lots of travel search engines and OTAs that can help you find the best deals so you know which airline’s website to visit. Some OTAs even offer perks that might make it worth booking someplace other than the airline’s site.
Hot Tip:
Some cards, like The Platinum Card® from American Express, earn bonus points on airfare, but only when purchased directly through the airline.
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- Momondo
Momondo is a travel metasearch engine similar to Kayak. The home page displays a simple search box where you can plug in your travel details.
One of the things we love about this site is the visual way it shows you the price trends for your flight. At first glance, you can tell if you could save some money by shifting around your travel dates a bit. It also offers a price tracker and lots of filtering options on the left-hand side of the screen.
Monmodo flight search
You can quickly see how the prices for your travel dates compare to others. You can often save some money if you have a bit of flexibility. Image Credit: Momondo
It also offers Hacker Fares which are simply 2 one-way tickets from different providers packaged together to get you the best deal. However, unlike other sites, to book these types of tickets you do have to go to 2 separate websites to book.
Pros and Cons of Momondo
Pros:
Great price tracking tools
Cons:
Mix and Match fares require you to make 2 separate reservations; this is usually handled “behind the scenes” on other websites
Hot Tip:
We cover the ins and outs of finding cheap airfare with this website in our guide to using Momondo.
- Kayak
Kayak is not an OTA; it’s a travel search engine. And since it’s a search engine, it’s a great place to start.
The site compares prices from many different websites all in a single spot so you can easily see where the cheapest options are. Most of the time, you’ll end up clicking through to a different site to complete your booking.
Kayak Hacker Fares are a great way to save money on your flight. These are itineraries created by bundling 2 one-way tickets (usually on different airlines) instead of a round-trip on 1 airline. These can be pretty good deals, and something that doesn’t always appear in search results of other websites.
Pros and Cons of Kayak
Pros:
Kayak Hacker Fares
Price Alerts to keep an eye on flight prices
Cons:
Kayak offers the most benefit when your travel plans are very flexible; many of its most valuable tools help you search for deals, so this site might be less appealing when you have a specific flight in mind
Bottom Line:
For more information about Kayak’s Hacker Fares and other travel search tools, check out the complete guide to booking travel with Kayak.
- Expedia
Daily Deals Special: Click here for up to 40% off at Expedia
Expedia is another tried-and-true OTA that people have been using since the 1990s. Back then, Expedia was a go-to source for searching and booking flights. But how does it stack up now?
As far as price goes, you aren’t necessarily getting a better deal booking through Expedia, but you aren’t paying any more than you might on the airline’s website.
A nice perk of using Expedia is that it offers a rewards program. Unfortunately, the earning potential through flights is lower than through hotels, car rentals, cruises, activities, and vacation packages.
While you can earn miles on a flight booked through Expedia, you often won’t be able to earn miles toward status. You also might not be eligible for seat upgrades.
Pros and Cons of Expedia
Pros:
Expedia Rewards (although the earning potential is better on hotels, cars, packages, activities, and cruises than it is on flights)
Cons:
Booking through Expedia may limit your mileage earned toward elite status
Your ability to be eligible for upgrades can be limited when you book through Expedia
Hot Tip:
For more information, check out our post about how to use Expedia to find great deals on flights, hotels, vacation packages (and more).
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- Priceline
Priceline is a popular OTA that introduced the Name Your Own Price tool and opaque bookings. These types of bookings can offer discounts, but many of the details are hidden until after the booking. The Name Your Own Price tool was discontinued for flights in 2016, so now Priceline operates like most other OTAs out there.
One of the nice things about searching for flights on Priceline is that it has a nice color-coded calendar so you can easily see which days offer the lowest prices.
Priceline color coded calendar
You can see at a glance which days offer the best prices for your flights. Image Credit: Priceline
The search results on Priceline are clear and easy to navigate. If you have some flexibility in your travel dates, check out the cheaper options right above your search results. Then you can scroll to easily see the cheapest nonstop options and things like flights with no change fees or early bird flights.
Priceline search results
Priceline search results are labeled so you can easily find what you’re looking for. Image Credit: Priceline
Another way to save money is by looking at Priceline’s Express Deals. These “opaque bookings” are ones in which select details of the flight like the departure and arrival times and even the airline are hidden until the booking is complete.
Pros and Cons of Priceline
Pros:
Express Deal flights can offer a good discount if you have some flexibility; many of the details of the flight, including airline and arrival and departure times, are hidden until the booking is complete
Color-coded calendar and easy-to-read search results
Price Match Guarantee
Free online cancellation within 24 hours of booking (except for Express Deal flights)
Cons:
No rewards program
Express Deal flights can be good deals, but they can sometimes be even more expensive than a standard booking
Bottom Line:
For more information, check out the complete guide to booking travel with Priceline.
- Orbitz
Daily Deals Special: Check out Orbitz’s Daily Deals
Orbitz is another reliable OTA that has been around since 2001. One thing that makes this site a little different is that it offers its own rewards program called Orbitz Rewards. You can earn Orbucks when you book hotels, flights, and vacation packages through Orbitz. However, you can only redeem Orbucks for hotels.
When booking a flight through Orbitz, you’ll earn 1% of your purchase price back as Orbucks (or 2% if you use the Orbitz mobile app). If you book a $500 flight, you will earn 5 Orbucks, which is worth $5 toward a hotel booking. Joining the Orbitz Rewards program is free.
Earn Orbucks on flights
You can earn Orbucks on every flight you purchase through Orbitz. Image Credit: Orbitz
Unfortunately, Orbitz sometimes charges a 1% booking fee. Keep an eye out for these on your trip summary page before finalizing your purchase and factor them into your calculations to see if you’re getting a good deal or not. While earning Orbucks is great, paying a booking fee could wipe out all of the benefits.
Orbitz booking fee
Watch out for booking fees on your flight purchase from Orbitz. Image Credit: Orbitz
Pros and Cons of Orbitz
Pros:
Orbitz Rewards lets you earn Orbucks that can be applied to hotel bookings
24-hour cancellation policy
Low Price Guarantee: if you find a lower price for your flight on another website within 24 hours, Orbitz will refund the difference
Cons:
Flight booking fees
Bottom Line:
For more information check out our guide to booking travel with Orbitz.
- Agoda
Agoda is an OTA owned by Priceline. This website doesn’t offer much more than a simple search with limited filter options when looking for flights. If you’re looking for unique accommodations such as an apartment or private villa, Agoda is worth checking out, but it doesn’t offer much when searching for flights.
One cool thing about Agoda is that the site is multilingual. You can select your language by clicking on the flag in the top menu bar.
Agoda
You can easily change the language on Agoda by clicking on the flag icon in the top menu bar. Image Credit: Agoda
Pros and Cons of Agoda
Pros:
Simple search functionality
Multilingual option
Cons:
Limited filtering options for flights
Hot Tip:
For more information, check out our guide to booking travel through Agoda.
- Hotwire
Special: Save 40% with Hot Rate Flights
Hotwire is a popular OTA that has been around for almost 20 years.
The simple home page offers the main search box to input your departure and arrival cities as well as your desired dates of travel. You will need to click on the third tab in the main search box to access the flight search.
Hotwire can offer a great deal when booking a hotel along with your flight. Many times during the booking process, you’ll see pop-ups or prompts advertising great savings when booking a hotel at the same time. We tested it, and every time we priced out a Hotwire vacation package deal against purchasing a flight and hotel separately, the package deal was cheaper.
Hotwire flight and hotel deals
You can often save money by booking a hotel and flight together on Hotwire. Image Credit: Hotwire
Bottom Line:
If you need a hotel in addition to your flight, booking both together through Hotwire can save money.
When searching for your flight, you might come across a Hot Rate flight. These are flights in which the exact times, number of stops, and carriers are hidden until after your purchase is complete. These require a fairly large amount of flexibility and we found the price difference to be as little as $20. It can sometimes offer a great deal, but many times, there isn’t much savings.
One other thing to keep in mind when using Hotwire to find great flight deals is that sometimes, sometimes a booking fee will be charged.
Pros and Cons of Hotwire
Pros:
Package deals that include a hotel stay can save money
24-hour cancellation policy
Low Price Guarantee
Cons:
Hotwire can sometimes charge a booking fee
Hot Rate flights don’t always offer huge savings
Bottom Line:
For more details about finding great deals, check out our complete guide to booking travel through Hotwire.
- Skyscanner
Skyscanner is another travel search engine that does not sell flights directly. It shows you a list of flights and links to the airline’s website or OTA to complete the purchase.
This site excels for travelers with flexibility. In the search box, you can select Everywhere to search for the cheapest destinations on your chosen dates.
Skyscanner search everywhere feature
If you’ve got flexibility, you can use Skyscanner’s search everywhere feature to save money. Image Credit: Skyscanner
If you have a set destination with specific dates, Skyscanner operates like most other travel search sites.
Pros and Cons of Skyscanner
Pros:
Flexible searches
Easy to change language and currency
Price alerts
Cons:
There isn’t much that makes this site unique; all of the features offered are available on other sites
Hot Tip:
For more information, check out our in-depth piece on Skyscanner.
- Travelocity
Travelocity is yet another OTA that has been around for a while and is very similar to the other websites we’ve been looking at.
On the plus side, there are some nice filtering options to help you find the best flight for your needs. On the downside, prices can change between selection and booking. We did a dummy booking and by the time we got to the payment section, the flight price had gone up from $157 to $338!
Travelocity flight price change
Watch out for flight price changes when booking through Travelocity. Image Credit: Travelocity
Much like other online travel agencies, Travelocity also can charge booking fees, so keep an eye out for those in the payment section of the booking process.
Travelocity booking fee
Travelocity may charge a booking fee on your flight. Image Credit: Travelocity
Pros and Cons of Travelocity
Pros:
Price Guarantee: If you find a lower price on an identical itinerary within 24 hours, Travelocity will refund the difference in price
Free cancellation on flights within 24 hours of booking (on most airlines)
Cons:
Travelocity sometimes charges a booking fee
Prices can change between flight selection and payment
Bottom Line:
For more information check out our guide to booking travel with Travelocity.
- Google Flights
Google Flights is not an OTA. Rather, it’s a metasearch engine similar to Kayak. Once you find a flight, Google Flights will link you to the airline’s direct website or an OTA to complete the purchase. It is a powerful search engine built on the ITA Matrix, which was originally developed for travel agents.
This site shows you price trends and how your date of travel could affect the cost of your ticket. Plus, it allows you to track the prices of a route, so you can jump on low prices when they pop up. These features make Google Flights a great tool to help you feel confident that the price you’re getting is a good deal.
Google Flights Price Graph
Google Flight’s price graph allows you to see price trends so you can choose the best time to fly. Image Credit: Google Flights
Pros and Cons of Google Flights
Pros:
Price Graph shows you the pricing trends for your route and allows you to see what days might be cheaper to fly
Price tracking will send you an email when your flight’s price increases or decreases
There are lots of filtering options so you can customize your search
Cons:
Since this search engine is so powerful with lots of options, it could get complicated for a novice traveler
Hot Tip:
You can earn frequent flyer miles on flights booked through an OTA, but you might not earn miles towards elite status.
- CheapOair
CheapOair is an OTA that offers its own credit card. Before you go apply for the card, we recommend considering choosing a better travel rewards credit card for more lucrative and flexible travel rewards.
This site might not be as cheap as you would think. That’s because it can charge expensive “agency fees.” For most flights, the fees can be up to $35, however, once you read the fine print, you’ll see they can actually be as high as $200 per ticket!
Cheapoair agency fees
CheapOair can charge fees of up to $200 per ticket! Image Credit: CheapOair
In addition, CheapOair charges a fee to change or cancel any ticket, including within 24 hours, which is free on many other sites.
Pros and Cons of CheapOair
Pros:
Price Match Promise: CheapOair will refund the difference in price if you find a lower price on the same itinerary on a major OTA within 24 hours of booking
Cons:
CheapOair charges hefty booking fees in addition to fees to cancel or change your flight
Price Match Promise is very limited; the guarantee is only good for identical flights on Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, and Travelocity
Bottom Line:
CheapOair might not be cheap after all. It advertises low base fares, but it charges booking fees which usually result in a higher price than the airline’s website. For more information, check out our guide to CheapOair.
- Hopper
Hopper is an app that tries to predict the right time to buy a flight. It claims that using its app can save you up to 40% on flights. The simple interface and color-coded map show you the cheapest and most expensive times to fly to your chosen destination.
Hopper Fare Calendar
Hopper offers a great visual calendar to quickly search for the cheapest days to fly to a particular destination. Image Credit: Hopper
You can also set up alerts to watch the prices for your specific dates or watch a whole month if you have flexible travel plans.
Pros and Cons of Hopper
Pros:
Easy to use
Choose to watch prices for a specific trip or choose to watch prices over a whole month
Cons:
No ability to search on a desktop
Few filtering options
Hot Tip:
Many credit cards come with travel insurance with extra protections like trip interruption and cancellation protection and baggage delay coverage.
Price Comparisons
We searched for a flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York City (JFK) across different travel booking websites to compare pricing head-to-head. Below is the cheapest ticket each website offered.
In this search, we weren’t taking anything other than price into consideration. When you are actually booking a flight, there will most likely be more factors that go into your decision of which flight to book.
Website Lowest Cost Flight (With Taxes and Fees) Available for LAX>JFK
Agoda
$260 (American)
CheapOair
$273 (American)
Expedia
$238 (JetBlue)
Google Flights
$238 (JetBlue)
Hopper
$253 (American)
Hotwire
$238 (JetBlue)
Kayak
$238 (JetBlue)
Momondo
$252 (Alaska/JetBlue)
Orbitz
$238 (JetBlue)
Priceline
$238 (JetBlue)
Skyscanner
$260 (American)
Travelocity
$238 (JetBlue)
In this example, Kayak, Hotwire, Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Google Flights all offered the same price on the same airline. CheapOair had the highest price.
Final Thoughts
There is no one-stop shop to find the lowest prices on a flight every time. Most OTAs are in the same ballpark when it comes to price.
If you’ve got some flexibility, many of these sites can help you find the lowest-priced travel dates and destinations.
If you prefer a more traditional booking, start out with a travel search engine like Kayak or Google Flights to search all of the other sites. That will give you a good idea of the best website to use to save the most money on your next flight.
Are you a student? Don’t miss our piece on the best websites for cheap, discount student flights.
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The Best Websites for Booking Flights at the Cheapest Prices
Featured Image Credit: muratart via Shutterstock
Frequently asked questions
What is the best website to use to book the cheapest flights?
There is no single website that has the cheapest flights all of the time. Most of the travel search engines and online travel agencies all have similar pricing, however you can find some really nice deals when looking at opaque bookings or vacation packages.
What is an opaque booking?
An opaque booking is one in which many of the flight details including arrival and departure times and even airline are hidden until your booking is complete. Many sites including Hotwire, Orbitz, and Travelocity offer these types of bookings.
Will I earn frequent flyer miles when I book through an online travel agency?
Generally, yes, you will still be able to earn frequent flyer miles on flights booked through an online travel agency. However, miles earned to qualify for elite status may be not be awarded unless you book directly through the airline’s website.
What are the best websites to buy cheap flights to Europe?
Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question. Your best bet would be to start with a travel search engine like Kayak or Google Flights. You will be able to see prices from many different websites in one place and you can track flight prices to help determine the best time to purchase tickets.
Conclusion
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