I've found Google Flights is the best for finding good flight deals & easiest to compare prices quickly across different dates. Then you just book direct through that airline's page. Saved about $400 for a multi leg flight to Asia compared to Skyscanner's best option.

Just book directly with the airlines and hotel groups. If you sign up to membership with one of the large hotel groups and stay at their properties wherever you go, there will be various perks from member discounts only, to collecting points that goes to stay rewards, free wifi (it is the norm at some places to charge for wifi) and guaranteed late checkout. The other thing is, there's usually no hassles with issue resolution, whereas when going through a travel website like Expedia and Booking.com, I‘ve read stories from various disgruntled customers of how difficult to get help when there is a problem.

We use to do it all ourselves and still mostly dp, but we found for Fiji that a travel agent can get way better deals and package. We tried to replicate some of the quotes and it was already a few hundred dollars more for flights/accom before adding all the small stuff like airport transfer meal plans etc and most importantly free bar credits that could be a few hundred Aussie dollar all up.

Use booking.com etc to find a list of places, then Google the ones you like - and see if you can contact them directly. They can often do a better deal for you than what's on the big sites, bypassing the commission.

Destinaholidays.com was successful for me. Price match around $600 saved total on a $9k trip. Found this website from skyscanner

kissandfly.com failed

Hopper.com is successful. Funny enough, that’s what powers the Capital One booking engine, yet I found a better price on it.

This should be added to the sidebar

Flighthub worked for me 2 months ago

Google Flights, Skyscanner, Momondo, Kayak, etc. are all excellent search engines to research airlines/routes, then 95% of the time I book the actual flight directly with the airline.

Just looked on that site and found a great deal on a flight to Morocco for next week, thanks a lot

WOW!

New York ->-> Miami FEB 15th, 2024: $38

New York ->-> London FEB 25th, 2024: $244

Works perfectly for US and international flights, this is indeed a REALLY GOOD flight search engine! Seems even better Skyscanner and Google flight search.

Greatescape.co, hopper or kiwi.com . you could also try travelrank, it combines both destination discovery and cheap flight pricing. booking is done via kiwi.

I recently posted the guide on how to do flight research during the pandemic.

Navan is on the up and up. If not then Concur via your designated travel management company. Or travel advisor direct contact. Group travel bookings direct with hotel via CVENT

Past Navanian here, loved the product - they are an efficiency over everything company. Unfortunately that means all support is turning into AI. We saw a ton of churn because of it. ITILITE is a great alternative and up and coming. Just food for thought.

I agree on Navan

I saw someone else mention a similar experience planning a Japan trip where they almost burned all their Chase points and switched to Bookit. They said it was a bit pricier upfront, but the hotel cashback made up for it since you can redeem it toward flights later. From what I’ve heard, Bookit has a solid lineup of airlines and hotels with no sketchy stuff. I guess there's no harm in trying especially if you’re already using Expensify.

I've just stuck with Kayak for over a decade, love the -/+3-day price grid.

Sometimes they send you to cheap-o bargain agencies/re-sellers you've never heard of... but I haven't had a bad result yet.

Google flights

I feel like the days of a website with cheap flights are long gone. Just need a good search built to ping you price changes

Google flights has all the features of other sites

Starting to think Skyscanner isn’t good anymore haha

Kiwi.com

Skyskanner allows “ anywhere “ in search

I’d look into signing up for “Scott’s cheap flights” for the future. I think it’s an email list, and whoever runs it sends out super cheap flights, flights posted by mistake (like half off, or $100 round trips instead of $1,000 that then have to be honored, etc).

My buddies and I have found round trips to a few destinations for dirt cheap. Great for impulse buying flights.

Try google, add dates and origin and click explore (leave destination empty).

And there’s always the map view for Google Flights.

The best imo

Mighty Travels works well for finding good last-minute flight deals without requiring a specific destination. Give it a try!

I am a subscriber to Going (used to be Scott’s Cheap Flights). I have scored $75 r/t fares to the USVI from an airport in my region and $350 r/t fares from my closest airport to Ireland. The subscription fee paid for itself a few times over.

I think Skyscanner is always a good website to look at when trying to find a cheap flight as they show loads of options from different airlines and you can order them however you like whether that's the cheapest first or less stops etc.

I have a Goings subscription and have used it a few times. Best deal was a flight from San Francisco to Rome under $360 RT. Not my home airport, but I made it work and saved a ton of money making it possible to actually make the trip feasible.

Going.com is only for the US btw :)

Secret Flying is pretty good and free too

1. Have flexible dates- Wednesdays tend to be cheapest

2. Live near a big city (or be willing to drive to one)

3. Kiwi.com & Skyscanner.com- but ALWAYS BOOK WITH THE AIRLINE

Here is the system I used to find the cheapest flights again and again

• Go to Kiwi.com (this link is already set with the search filters needed) and search one way flight from your current location to "anywhere" , change flight time to the day you want to date you want to fly in. When getting the search results change the filter on the right side from "popularity" to "cheapest"
• List down the top 3-5 (or more if you have the time) cheapest destination you can fly to from your current destination, some flights can be as cheap as few bucks.
• Now search flights from those 3-5 places to the actual destination you want to fly to (should be min 2-3 hours after you land, 3 should be better for your stress level in making the second flight)
• Compare prices for those 2 flights combine and pick the cheapest one and have a nice journey

I manage to fly super cheap using this system tons of times. For example 2 months ago I wanted to fly from Berlin to Bangkok and the cheapest flight searching Berlin --> Bangkok was around 900 euro. Using this method I found a flight from Berlin to London for 50 Euro and then later that day a flight from London to Bangkok for 250 euro , saving 600 euro!

Sky Scanner!

Book directly with the airlines. If you need to make changes or cancel, it's way easier dealing with their customer service than through a third-party. That being said, there is an app I use to find the cheapest flight first before going directly to that airline. You can download or use it for free here.

Swaynest.com has an Everywhere search function that lets you enter the airport you're departing from. It will show you a list of locations and prices for the given date period. I spent ages researching this recently since I started to have flights at least three times a month and couldn't find any cheaper alternative.

One good reason is that with most airlines (in the U.S. at least) you have free cancellation within 24 hours. I booked a flight through a third party, tried to cancel my flight 18 hours later, they said no even though it was circumstances beyond my control. Luckily the situation resolved itself, but I will never book third party again. The protections you receive by going through the airline directly make it worth it.

If you need to make changes, or if flight is cancelled, etc, it's much easier to deal with the airline directly. If you book United via Expedia, you need to call Expedia to make any changes, even if you're at the airport standing at a United counter.

Yes definitely book with the airline if you can, unless the deal is only through that website (like cheap Caribbean or Expedia or something). If an issue arises and you need a refund for any reason, dealing with a third party is a pain in the ass and the airlines will defer to them if you purchase with them.