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How to Find Cheap Flights — 15 Proven Tricks That Actually Work
How to Find Cheap Flights — 15 Proven Tricks That Actually Work
Airfare is almost always the biggest single cost in any trip. Book at the wrong time, on the wrong platform, on the wrong day — and you will pay two or three times what the savvy traveler in the seat next to you paid for the exact same journey.
The good news: finding cheap flights is a skill, and like any skill, it can be learned. These 15 tricks are not myths or outdated advice recycled from 2010 travel blogs. They are strategies that frequent flyers and travel hackers use every day to consistently pay less for airfare — sometimes dramatically less.
Let's get into it.
1. Use Google Flights as Your Starting Point
Google Flights is the most powerful free flight search tool available. It aggregates prices across hundreds of airlines and booking sites, displays a calendar view showing the cheapest travel dates, and lets you track prices over time.
How to use it strategically:
- Set your origin airport and leave the destination open — use the "Explore" map to see cheap destinations from your city on any given week
- Switch to the "Date grid" view to see a full month of prices at once — often reveals dramatically cheaper dates just one or two days from your planned travel
- Enable Price tracking (the bell icon) to get email alerts when prices drop on a specific route
Google Flights does not sell tickets — it redirects you to airlines or booking sites. Always compare the Google Flights price against the airline's own website before purchasing.
2. Book Directly With the Airline When Possible
Once Google Flights shows you the best price, check the airline's own website. Airlines often match the price — and booking direct gives you advantages:
- Easier rebooking and refunds in case of cancellation
- Ability to use airline-specific rewards points
- Better customer service when things go wrong
- Avoid third-party booking platform fees (some OTAs add service fees of $10–30 per ticket)
3. Be Flexible With Your Travel Dates (It's the Single Biggest Factor)
No single factor affects airfare prices more than the specific dates you choose to fly. Flying on Tuesday or Wednesday instead of Friday or Sunday can save 20–40% on domestic flights and 15–30% on international routes.
The cheapest days to fly internationally:
- Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are consistently cheaper than Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays
- Red-eye flights (departing late at night) are almost always cheaper than daytime departures
- Flying on public holidays themselves (Christmas Day, New Year's Day) is often very cheap — the crowds travel the days before and after
Use the date grid in Google Flights or Kayak to visually identify the cheapest week in any given month.
4. Set Up Flight Deal Alerts
Flight deal newsletters are one of the most reliable ways to find genuine sale prices. These services do the searching for you:
- Scott's Cheap Flights (Going) — The gold standard. Free tier works well; premium tier ($49/year) gets you deals hours before the free tier
- Secret Flying — Great for international mistake fares and flash sales
- Airfarewatchdog — Strong for US domestic deals
- Holiday Pirates (Europe-focused) — Excellent for European package and flight deals
Mistake fares — where airlines accidentally publish a price far below intended — are often posted first on these sites. They disappear within hours. Having alerts set up means you catch them.
5. Search in Incognito Mode
There is a persistent debate about whether flight search sites use cookies to raise prices after repeat searches. Whether or not this is definitively true (the evidence is mixed), searching in incognito/private browsing mode costs you nothing and ensures you are seeing prices without any personalization applied.
It takes three seconds. Always do it.
6. Use the "Nearby Airports" Feature
Flying into or out of a secondary airport near your primary destination can save significant money. Examples:
- London: Heathrow vs. Gatwick vs. Stansted vs. Luton vs. City — prices vary enormously between airports serving the same city
- New York: JFK vs. Newark vs. LaGuardia — Newark is often significantly cheaper for transatlantic flights
- Paris: CDG vs. Orly vs. Beauvais — budget airlines often fly into Beauvais 80km from the city
- Tokyo: Narita vs. Haneda — airlines compete differently on these routes
Check the ground transport cost and time from alternate airports — the savings often comfortably outweigh the extra travel time.
7. Book at the Right Time (The Sweet Spot)
The "best time to book" has been studied extensively. The general consensus from flight search platforms and industry data:
- International flights: Book 2–6 months in advance for the best prices. The sweet spot for transatlantic flights is typically 3–4 months out
- Domestic flights: 1–3 months in advance. Prices drop significantly around 6–8 weeks before departure for most US domestic routes
- Peak season exceptions: Summer European travel, Christmas, and Spring Break in the US — book 4–6 months in advance or prices will be painful
What NOT to do:
- Do not wait for last-minute deals on international flights. The "last-minute deal" myth mostly applies to package holidays and cruises, not airfare
- Do not book more than 9–10 months in advance either — airlines often haven't yet released their best sale fares at that stage
8. Consider Budget Airlines — But Read the Fine Print
Low-cost carriers (Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air in Europe; Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant in the US; AirAsia in Southeast Asia) can offer staggeringly cheap fares — but the advertised price often excludes:
- Checked baggage (sometimes $30–60 per bag each way)
- Carry-on bags above a tiny personal item
- Seat selection fees
- Credit card surcharges
- Food and drink (bring your own)
Calculate the all-in price — including bags, your preferred seat, and any fees — before assuming a budget airline is cheaper. Sometimes a legacy carrier with a slightly higher base fare is actually cheaper once all fees are added.
9. Use Layovers to Your Advantage
Direct flights are convenient but expensive. Adding a layover — particularly in a hub city — dramatically reduces fares on many long-haul routes. Booking through a hub also opens up opportunities for a free stopover in an interesting city.
Airlines like Qatar Airways (Doha), Emirates (Dubai), Etihad (Abu Dhabi), and Turkish Airlines (Istanbul) all offer competitive long-haul pricing precisely because their hub model makes them highly competitive on connecting routes.
Pro tip: If you have a long layover (8+ hours), step out of the airport. Many hub cities offer free or cheap transit visas. Qatar offers free transit visa for layovers, and Dubai is visitable on a 48-hour transit visa for many nationalities.
10. Search for Flights by Region, Not Just City
Instead of searching for flights to "Rome," try searching for flights to "Italy" or "Southern Europe." This surfaces cheaper alternative airports — Naples and Milan are often significantly cheaper to fly into than Rome, with easy and cheap train connections between them.
Kayak's "Explore" feature and Google Flights' map view are both useful for this approach.
11. Open Jaw Tickets — Fly Into One City, Out of Another
An open jaw ticket means you fly into City A and return from City B — allowing a linear route instead of backtracking. These often cost the same or only slightly more than a return ticket from one city, and they save you enormous time and cost in ground transport.
Example: Fly London → Lisbon, travel overland through Spain, and return home from Barcelona. You have seen two countries without doubling back, and you have avoided the $150+ cost of a one-way Lisbon-to-Barcelona flight.
Search for open jaw tickets using Google Flights, Kayak, or ITA Matrix — it supports multi-city searches natively.
12. Hidden City Ticketing (Use with Caution)
Hidden city ticketing is a controversial strategy: you book a flight from City A to City C with a stopover in City B — and your actual destination is City B. You simply exit the airport at the layover stop.
Example: New York to Denver costs $500. But New York to Las Vegas via Denver costs $280. You book the Vegas flight, get off in Denver, and never board the Vegas leg.
Why it works: Airlines price hubs differently from point-to-point routes due to competition.
Important caveats:
- This only works with carry-on luggage only (checked bags go to the final destination)
- It violates most airlines' terms of service — they can cancel your return leg or frequent flyer miles if caught
- Never do it on the return leg of a round trip (the outbound leg would be voided)
- Tools like Skiplagged and Kiwi.com identify these routes automatically
13. Use Rewards Points and Miles Strategically
If you have a travel credit card that earns airline miles or flexible rewards points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles), you can dramatically reduce or eliminate airfare costs.
Key strategies:
- Transfer points to airline partners for premium cabin redemptions — business class awards often offer 5–10× the value of economy point prices
- Use points for peak travel dates when cash prices are highest
- Book partner awards — your Chase points transferred to United can be used to book Lufthansa or ANA flights at favorable rates
This topic deserves its own guide (and it has one: Travel Hacking 101 — How to Use Credit Card Points for Free Flights). But even basic engagement with a good travel credit card can cut your annual airfare bill by hundreds of dollars.
14. Monitor Flash Sales and Airline Promotions
Airlines run sales — particularly in January, after Thanksgiving, and during specific promotional windows. The best way to catch them:
- Follow airlines on social media — flash sales are often posted first on Twitter/X and Instagram
- Subscribe to airline email newsletters — yes, they are annoying, but a dedicated travel email address filters the noise
- Check airline websites on Tuesdays — many airlines historically drop sale fares on Tuesday afternoons (though this has become less predictable in recent years)
15. Book One-Way Tickets and Mix Airlines
Booking two separate one-way tickets (outbound with Airline A, return with Airline B) is sometimes significantly cheaper than a round-trip on either carrier. This is especially true for transatlantic routes where some carriers price one direction far more competitively than the other.
Risk to be aware of: If your outbound flight is delayed and causes you to miss your return (booked separately), the return airline has no obligation to help you. Travel insurance mitigates this risk. For tight connections or unreliable routes, stick to a single booking.
The Cheap Flights Toolkit — Quick Reference
| Tool | Best For |
|---|---|
| Google Flights | Overall search, date flexibility, price tracking |
| Scott's Cheap Flights (Going) | Mistake fares and flash deals delivered to you |
| Kayak Explore | Region-based and flexible destination search |
| Skiplagged | Hidden city ticketing routes |
| ITA Matrix | Advanced multi-city and open jaw searches |
| Secret Flying | Mistake fares, international deals |
| Hopper | Predictive price forecasting (book now vs. wait) |
The Bottom Line: Cheap Flights Reward the Flexible
The single biggest factor in finding cheap flights is flexibility — with dates, airports, airlines, and routes. The traveler who insists on flying from their home airport, non-stop, on a Saturday, will always pay more than the traveler who is willing to adjust.
Apply even three or four of these strategies consistently, and you will stop overpaying for airfare. Combine them all, and the savings across a year of travel are genuinely transformative.
Now go set up those price alerts.
Want to take flight savings further? Read our guide on Travel Hacking 101 — How to Use Credit Card Points for Free Flights and The Best Travel Credit Cards in 2026. For trip planning from the ground up, see How to Plan a Trip from Scratch.