Before you book an expensive flight to anywhere, do yourself a favor and learn where to find flight deals online. It’s easy when you know how to do it. And, it just got easier by using the tools I’m about to tell you about.
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Everybody Wants to Fly
Have you ever heard the old folk song, I’ll Fly Away?
The version I remember is a tune sung in perfect harmony by the Kosoy Sisters (1956), but there are other versions produced by the likes of Johnny Cash, Alison Krauss, and other artists over the years. It’s based on a 1929 hymn.
I grew up to Peter, Paul and Mary’s melancholic Leaving on a Jet Plane. Written by John Denver, the song shares the lament, “All my bags are packed / I’m ready to go…’Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane / Don’t know when I’ll be back again.”
Lenny Kravitz brought a little more raw excitement to the trip in Fly Away (2007). He sings, “Oh, I want to get away / I want to fly away / Yeah yeah yeah…”
Whether metaphoric or literal, excited or wistful about the journey ahead, the message in each of these songs is the same: It’s time to take off, folks.
And why not?
There’s no better time than now, with loads of bargain flights online waiting to be scooped up whenever you want to “fly away.”
The trick is knowing where to find them.
Where to Find Flight Deals Online
We’ve put together this list of the best online resources for cheap flights to help you. In it, you’ll find a variety of online flight resources including:
- Newsletters: Periodic email notifications of flight deals, fare mistakes, and special offers. These are sometimes based on an airport of your choice.
- Flight Aggregators: A search tool that crawls multiple flight sources based on your query and presents the results from each, usually in separate pages.
- Booking Engines: Search tools specific to a certain airline or third party booking resource that allows you to search and then book flights.
- Vacation Clubs: Low fares or exclusive flight arrangements offered only in conjunction with membership to a certain vacation club.
- Price Tracking Apps: Apps in which flights for a certain destination and/or dates are tracked for you, alerting you of decreases or increases in fares. Some even recommend the best time to travel.
- Expert Forums: online forums for expert flight advice.
Each resource in the list is a clickable link, putting the power of finding cheap flights right at your fingertips, all in one convenient location.
Click To TweetTools That Make Finding Affordable Flights Easy
We recommend you get familiar with all the tools in this list.
But here are a few examples to get you started.
- If you have a certain dream destination in mind, set up flight alerts using Hopper. It will tell you when prices are expected to rise or fall. It will even go as far as predicting the best time to buy!
- Get personal service by sending an email request directly to Matt at Matt’s Cheap Flights. If you’re a premium subscriber, he’ll do the searching for you and recommend the best prices.
- Don’t have a particular destination in mind a certain budget to spend? Use the Skyscanner Everywhere Search. Simply enter “Everywhere” as your destination and see the opportunities sorted by price.
These are just the beginning.
Here are more than 27 great tools for you to explore so you don’t ever overpay for airfare again.
One (or more) of them might just become your new favorite travel planning tool.
So, if money were no issue, where would your next flight take you?
Download your free resource list here:
27+ Best Online Resources for finding CHEAP FLIGHTS
Discover the BEST Online Resources expert travelers use when searching for cheap flights. Download your FREE Printable List (with clickable links)Today!
Thank you for your content. This article has inspired me!
You’re welcome! Great to hear that.
I always use Hopper, then check on Skyscanner, then I go into an independent high street travel agent and ask them if they can beat it. They often do 😊
This is an excellent strategy! Love that you’re working with the travel agents, too.
I’ve started relying on price tracking apps more now. I usually plan quite far ahead, but monitor flight prices for months before booking. So having these alerts notify me when the prices go down is essential. My biggest lesson is that there’s always going to be a cheaper price, but once you’ve booked you just have to live with that price, and learn any price saving lessons for your next trip. No point getting annoyed because you could have got it cheaper if you’d waited 2 days to book. 🙂
This is so true!
I use the google alert to email me whenever prices drop. I also keep an eye on the various airline flights. I have also found that it’s cheaper to fly on a Monday or tuesday. P.S. I’m leaving on a jet plane was my favorite song growing up. We are showing our age lol.
Oh, we certainly are Kelly…! All the more stories to tell. (Great suggestion with google alerts and the best flight days, too!)
These are cool. I’m always in look out for cheap flights. I always do the everywhere search. Its a gem! Sometimes I’ve booked some tickets to some places just because they had cheap flights and I’ve seen some amazing places and damn low prices!
Sounds like you have a great spirit of adventure! I’m glad you found this to be a useful resource.
How have I not been using Hopper?! I use the other two you suggested, but hopper sounds great!
Hopper is awesome!
Great tips you have there! I used Skyscanner Everywhere Search and it was useful. Hopper seems like a great tool for setting alerts too. I didn’t think about checking Expat forums and Booking engines for flight deals, so thanks for the tips.
You’re welcome!
Very resourceful. And it came at the perfect time when I am planning my summer holidays. It’s always thrilling to get great deals.
Thanks! I hope you find plenty of great deals for summer travel. 😀
Great tips. I have not done Hopper of Matt’s Cheap flights. I am using skyscanner quite a bit and also airline sites directly when I get notified of deals via email. I will definitely be trying out those two when i search for flights to Andalusia later in the year!
Wonderful. Hopper will alert you to the best time to purchase a ticket!
I really like the Skyscanner Everywhere Search. Such a great way to find deals. It also gives you ideas of places you perhaps haven’t thought of going to. Will use this tool for planning my future trips.
Enjoy! Hope you find some great inspiration on Skyscanner Everywhere Search!
Your post couldn’t have come at a better time Jackie, as I’m trying to look for flights to Portugal! That said, I’ll definitely be trying out some of your tips to grab a good deal. I haven’t yet tried vacation clubs so I’m intrigued to learn more about those.
Glad to hear, Lisa! I hope you find a great deal!
This is such a cool list Jackie. My husband is the planner and as far as I know, he uses most of these. But Matt’s Flights is a new one I guess. Am sharing this post with hubby right now.
I bet your husband has a good toolkit for travel planning…even better if I can add a new one to his resources! A helpful feature about Matt’s Flights is that you can send a personal request to Matt and he’ll do the searching for you. Gotta love that!
Great advice here Jackie and some points I didn’t know about. I usually tend to start with Skyscanner then if I see a deal, I tend to go to the airline direct first to see if the price is the same or different, and if it isn’t, I tend to go to the third party websites (legit ones!) and see if they can do better.
I totally agree, Danik. It’s always a good idea to book directly with the airline whenever possible! I’ve had some sketchy 3rd party experiences and only book with those I trust. You definitely have to weigh all the options.
Ok, admittedly I’m horrible at finding flight deals. This is such a great resource! I honestly haven’t heard of any of these, but I’m bookmarking this for when I need to book my next flight!
Glad these tools will help you find airline deals! I hate overpaying for flights. I’d much rather spend the money on a fabulous resort.
I use Skyscanner regularly but I didn’t know about the Everywhere Search. And the tip about Hopper I will now follow! Thanks.
Glad you found some new resources, Carol! (I love both of them.)
Thank you for this resource. I’m getting better at finding good deals, I always check Google flights and various aggregators. I also find that staying loyal to one airline is a great way to get points.
I agree, airline loyalty cannot be overlooked! I definitely have my favorites…
I’ve always loved Sky Scanner! It’s my go-to when booking any flight because its so easy to check dates, times and prices and I love the “anywhere” feature to see what’s cheapest when you’re planning on traveling! Also just took a look at Matts Cheap flights, very interesting.
Yes! I just love the “anywhere” feature, too!
I must admit that we are often chasing points so tend to book with the same airline to get points. And in Canada, we really only have 2 options for most flights. But I do subscribe to several newsletters and watch for flight deals. Especially business class ones. Hubby used price tracking apps once we start to finalize planning. I will have to look at the 27 tools to see if there are ones we have not yet looked at. Thanks for this!
Sounds like you have a good system in place, Linda. I hope you find some useful tools in the list!