Finding cheap flights is one of the most powerful ways to stretch your travel budget further. Whether you’re planning a short vacation, a long backpacking route, or a multi-continent adventure, knowing exactly where and how to search can save you hundreds or even thousands of euros per trip.
Many travel creators and seasoned travelers don’t just search one site and book. They use specific tools and strategies, the right timing, and a bit of flexibility to get the absolute best price.
In this guide, we’ll break down the most effective ways to find cheap flights, including flight search platforms, flexible date tricks, booking connecting flights yourself, travel planning around cheap routes, VPN hacks, and more.
If you are looking for more ways to save money during your next trip. You might also want to check out our guide to Find Cheap Accommodation While Traveling on a Budget.
1. Best Platforms to Search for Cheap Flights
The first thing to know is where to start your search for flights. Different flight search platforms have different strengths. Using several together gives you the widest view of available prices and is the beast approach to finding the best and cheapest flight route for your plans.
Skyscanner
Best for: Finding the absolute cheapest dates and countries to fly to.
Skyscanner is one of the most flexible flight search engines because:
✔ You can search entire months to see the cheapest days
✔ You can set the destination to “Everywhere” to find the cheapest countries to fly to from your origin
✔ It aggregates budget airlines that other engines might miss
How to use Skyscanner to find the cheapest destinations
- Set your destination to “Explore everywhere”
- Set your origin to your preferred airport (and you can even include to “Add nearby airports”)
- Then use the “Whole Month” view by clikcing on “Flexible dates” under “Depart”.
- Use price alerts
This is one of the best ways to identify your next budget travel destination.
If you do already know your next destination. You can apply the same method while entering your destination instead of “Explore everywhere”. This is then a great method to find the cheapest flights to that location.
Bonus Tip: Enter a country as destination instead of a specific place or city, to see which part of the country to can fly to the cheapest from your current location.
Google Flights
Best for: Fast, clean interface + calendar overview + flexible date recommendations.
Google Flights is excellent because it has:
- Huge database of flights
- Extremely fast search and filtering
- Easy calendar view showing the cheapest prices per day
- “Track prices” alerts
- Intuitive UX for seeing which days are cheapest
Google Flights also shows price trends and fare predictions, helping you decide whether to book now or wait for a potential better price.
We tend to use Google Flights to most when we have a general idea of where we want to go and we want to quickly figure out the different options we would have to fly there and compare them. It also provides a great calendar overview to quickly see which days have the lowest fares.
Kiwi.com
Best for: Complex itineraries and combining unconventional routes.
Kiwi has a feature called Nomad that:
- builds multi-city itineraries based on lowest fares
- can combine different airlines (even those that don’t usually interline)
If you search through most other platforms for flights including layovers, you will find that they tend to only include connections from the same airline or partnered airlines. Instead of spending a lot more time looking for the individual connections one after another through Google Flights, you can figure out the cheapest connection that combines the cheapest options from different airlines a lot quicker through Kiwi.
This can be especially useful for long backpacking trips where you want to hit multiple destinations cheaply.
Budget Airline Sites Directly
Never forget to check budget airlines directly like:
- Ryanair
- EasyJet
- Wizz Air
- Vueling
- Pegasus
- Jetstar
- AirAsia
Budget airlines sometimes don’t show up well in meta-search tools, so checking them directly can reveal cheaper options. If you know your next destination already, try to find that country’s budget airlines and check their website directly.
2. Why and How to Use a VPN to Find Cheaper Flights
Airlines and flight search engines frequently show prices based on your location and IP address.
Sometimes the same flight costs significantly more when searched from one country vs another. They can also quickly increase in price based on frequent searches from your IP address.
How VPN Helps
A VPN allows you to change your IP location, so you can search from different countries. At the same time you can avoid the automatic IP-based increases in price.
Example
You could:
- search as if you are in the U.S.
- search as if you are in Mexico
- search as if you are in India
And trying to search this way might help you discover that some airlines have lower prices for different locations and their currency.
How to Use It Properly
- Clear your browser cookies / use incognito
- Activate VPN and choose a different country
- Search the exact same route on Google Flights or Skyscanner
- Compare prices
- If cheaper, change to that country’s currency when booking (be mindful of payment fees)
Important Notes
- Some flights may block VPN booking so always confirm the total price before paying
- Payment currency and banking fees can affect the final price
- This won’t work 100% of the time, but it is often worth to be trying
3. How to Identify the Cheapest Days to Fly
The cheapest day to fly rarely sticks to the dates you initially want. That’s why flexibility can go a long way to saving money on flights.
Use Skyscanner’s or Google Flights “Whole Month” View
Both Skyscanner and Google Flights provide great calendar view features when searching for flights. Use them to figure our the cheapest days to between specific airports.
They give you a full month grid showing the lowest fares each day.
You can then instantly see the cheapest travel windows and plan accordingly.
Use Google Flights “Price Graph”
In Google Flights, the calendar and price graph show:
✔ Price trends over weeks
✔ Cheapest days to depart
✔ Cheapest days to return
This makes it easy to find combinations you might never think of without tools.
One-Way + Mix & Match
By searching one-way flights separately (instead of round-trip), you can often find cheaper combinations than booking a single round-trip ticket. It also allows you to quickly get a better overview of when the cheapest days to depart or return are.
4. Book Individual Connecting Flights Yourself
Booking connecting flights yourself can save huge money if you know how.
Why It Works
Airlines charge more for itinerary protection (through tickets).
If you book your own connections through budget carriers individually, you can often pay much less.
Example
Instead of:
🔹 Flight A → B → C on the same ticket
You could book:
🔸 Flight A → B (budget airline)
🔸 Flight B → C (different budget airline)
This usually works well for:
- Europe (e.g., Ryanair + Wizz Air + EasyJet)
- Southeast Asia (AirAsia, Scoot, VietJet etc.)
- South America (Sky Airline + Jetsmart)
Important Things to Know
- You are responsible for missed connections
- Always leave enough buffer time
- Book longer layovers than you might normally choose
- If one flight is canceled, you’re not automatically protected
This strategy can save a lot if you are a flexible traveler.
5. Book your flights early!
- Booking early usually matters most if:
- It’s peak travel season
- You’re flying popular long-haul routes
- You need specific travel dates
- You want direct flights
Why Booking Early Helps
- Airlines tend to release cheaper inventory first
- Prices often rise as seats fill up
- Events and seasons can dramatically increase fares
Example seasons:
- Summer (Europe)
- Christmas/New Year
- Chinese New Year
- Easter
- School holidays
Booking 2–6 months in advance is often a sweet spot for international flights.
There are exceptions to this rule though. Getting very last minute flights can be even cheaper than booking early. But this only works on routes that don’t tend to always fill up. And in this care, “very last minute” means just a few days before departure. This is especially usefull if you are traveling long term and are very flexible with your next destination or how long you are going to stay at your current destination.
6. Skiplagging
What is skiplagging?
It’s booking a flight where your intended destination is a layover rather than the final stop.
Example
Instead of:
✈ Amsterdam → Barcelona
You book:
✈ Amsterdam → Madrid (via Barcelona) because the flight happens to be cheaper than the direct flight
If Barcelona is a layover on a cheaper Madrid flight, this can sometimes be cheaper.
Considerations
- Some airlines consider this a violation of their terms
- Your checked luggage will go to the final destination (so carry-on only)
- If your ticket is flagged, the airline might cancel the rest of your itinerary
Skiplagging works best with carry-on only, short flights, and for experienced budget travelers. Don’t worry about violating any airline terms if you have never done this before. There are many reasons why people could miss a connecting flight (emergencies, accidents or illness). So it already naturally happens more then you would think. But if you start doing this regularly with the same airlines, they could start to see a pattern and you could get in trouble.
7. Plan Long Trips Around Cheap Flight Opportunities
Instead of thinking:
“Where should I go?”
Think:
“Where is cheapest to go?”
This travel mindset doesn’t only allow you to stay more flexible, but it can also save you a lot of money.
Smart Route Planning
- Use the “Everywhere” feature on Skyscanner or Google Flights
- Individually check flight options to different airports in the country you plan to visit
- Individually check flight options back home from different airports in the country you plan to visit
- Plan your direction (east → west or vice versa) based on where inbound and outbound flights are cheapest
Real life example: We spent 10 days in Morocco earlier this year and wanted to figure out our itinerary. Through the methods mentioned earlier, we found that flying to Rabat was the cheapest option around our planned travel period. At the same time we found that flying back at the end of our planned travel period from Morocco was cheapest from Marrakech. Not only did we no longer have to figure out if we were going to travel from north to south, or the other way around. We also figured out the cheapest way to do it at the same time.
This method ofcourse also applies when traveling for a longer time and you plan to visit multiple countries in a row. You can decide on which country to visit first by comparing flights towards the different countries you plan to visit. You book the cheapest flight and thats how you decide which counry to visit first. You wonder which country to visit next? Just repeat the same process!
8. Extra Tips for Finding Cheap Flights
Track Prices and Set Alerts
Most flight search engines let you track prices for your route and dates.
This brings price changes directly to your inbox so you don’t miss dips in fares.
Fly from Nearby Airports
Sometimes flying from a different airport around your location saves big money. Example: everytime we fly to Switzerland from the Netherlands, we fly from Düsseldorf Airport instead of Schiphol Airport (or any other Dutch airport). Since the connection between Düsseldorf and Zürich airports is a lot better and therefore cheaper. Even the train towards the airport is cheaper from certain train stations in the Netherlands!
Just make sure transport to the alternative airport doesn’t erase the savings.
Use Flexible Date Search
Always search ±3 days or full month.
Pricing can be dozens or hundreds cheaper around a given date.
Take the Red-Eye or Early Morning Flights
Night or very early flights are often cheaper and almost always less crowded.
Check Budget Airline Flash Sales
Budget airlines frequently run promotions, sometimes as steep as 70–90% off.
Consider Alternative Routes
Some flight search engines will show you:
- Multi-city + open-jaw routes
- Hidden city pricing
- Segment combination deals
This is where Kiwi.com often shines.
9. Common Flight Booking Mistakes to Avoid
- Only searching one website
- Booking without comparing currency conversions
- Booking with checked luggage first
- Ignoring alternative airports
- Searching with cookies still stored (price inflation)
- Not using layover + open-jaw strategies
- Not checking payment fees
Summary – The Cheapest Flight Strategy
Here’s the fastest checklist for booking cheap flights:
- Search multiple platforms (Skyscanner, Google Flights, Kiwi, Momondo)
- Use flexible date searches (whole month / ±3 days)
- Set price alerts
- Use a VPN to compare regional prices
- Book one-way when it’s cheaper
- Try booking connecting legs yourself if safe
- Book early in most popular seasons
- Consider skiplagging (with carry-on only)
- Plan your route around cheapest flight hubs
- Compare alternative airports + budget airlines
FAQ – Flight Booking
Q: What is the best website to find cheap flights?
A: There’s no single best site so use Skyscanner, Google Flights, Kiwi.com and direct budget airline sites together.
Q: Should I book flights early or last minute?
A: Generally earlier is better, especially for peak season and long-haul flights.
Q: Do VPNs really get cheaper flights?
A: In some cases yes, because airlines price based on location.
Q: Is booking one-way flights cheaper?
A: Often yes, especially when mixing airlines or using budget carriers.
Q: What is skiplagging?
A: Booking a flight where your desired stop is a layover in another flight. It works sometimes but has potential risks.
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