Best flight search engines??
- Thread starter wazup
- Start date
I booked my to Thailand on Tripadvisor in mid sept for $1080.00, A good flight (1 stop) less than 21 hours going and less than 20 hours on the return. Going for month of Feb. The same flight is now selling for $1999.00 so book early. Flighthub is good too!
Last edited:
https://www.google.ca/flights/
I will use this to find all available flights but always book direct with the airline.
I will use this to find all available flights but always book direct with the airline.
I like TripAdvisor and SkyScanner. Both of them search across multiple sites, and both have email alerts for price drops.
TripAdvisor allows you to sort by "best" flight, which is a combo of price, length, stops, etc.
SkyScanner has flexible search options, so if you don't have a specific destination or date, you can browse by price.
TripAdvisor allows you to sort by "best" flight, which is a combo of price, length, stops, etc.
SkyScanner has flexible search options, so if you don't have a specific destination or date, you can browse by price.
I've researched extensively on this, and tried and tried and tried dang near all the options, masking my IP along the way and changing server host countries too. My experience has been that there is no 'best' site that will consistently and predictably beat the others in terms of price and routing. At various times I've found the best options and booked directly through kayak and expedia and flighthub, and on numerous occasions have found that aircanada.com or united.com actually had better options and better prices. The various experts out there seem to agree that there is no magic formula or sweet spot for how far out to book or which day of the week to book on. Lots of urban legends but no consistently preferred site or time. Check a couple of the amalgamator sites, then an airline site, definitely try to see if a fuel tax dumping route is any cheaper (last winter it was cheaper to fly Toronto-Paris-Nice, or Paris-Lyon, than to fly Toronto-Paris) but don't waste weeks and weeks trying to find a magic deal. If there is a site whose layout and search options is aesthetically appealing to you, use it, as you're as likely to find the best option using that site only, as you are by spending 6 hours looking for a deal. Those few occasions when it happens and anecdotal incidences of super cheap fares don't make for a predictable pattern. Compare a few sites, then book whichever option is most appealing to you.
This NY Times article outlines how painful it can be: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/travel/how-to-choose-an-air-travel-search-site.html?_r=0
I wish we had better competition here, the deep discount airlines like easyjet and ryanair and veuling etc. How nice it would be to hop to New Orleans for a long weekend, or somewhere fun but regional like Cleveland or Kansas City or any other major centre, for under $100 return. Sigh.
This NY Times article outlines how painful it can be: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/travel/how-to-choose-an-air-travel-search-site.html?_r=0
I wish we had better competition here, the deep discount airlines like easyjet and ryanair and veuling etc. How nice it would be to hop to New Orleans for a long weekend, or somewhere fun but regional like Cleveland or Kansas City or any other major centre, for under $100 return. Sigh.
I use Kayak first as it checks other sites. Like CapitalGuy said, I always go directly to the airlines site to see if they have a better price. Sometime it works.
I would say I know 90% of the sites, not too concerned about saving 100-200$, momondo is a site that I heard of recently. One stop is nicer than 2, thought of trying emirates as it always places near the top for comfort in the yearly rankings, returns are usually around 1500$.
Has anyone flown emirates?
Has anyone flown emirates?
I generally stick with Expedia. I'm not sure how the others work but I booked some flights last year at about this time with FlightCentre and it was strange since it didn't immediately ticket the flights... Basically took the order and then issued an email that said they would get back to me with confirmation... which took a full 24 hours. With Expedia, I wasn't use to this at all...
I use the expedia app quite often even to book hotels on the fly...
I use the expedia app quite often even to book hotels on the fly...
I like Skyscanner because it allows to search for flights within a month, without a particular date. I use this feature a lot in my vacation planning. Not sure if there are other search engines that have this feature. But in most cases, I still buy the ticket directly from the airline company mainly for 2 reasons: 1) loyalty programs 2) don't trust some dubious intermediary companies in processing my banking card details.
