Travel can be intimidating to a lot of people because it is often perceived as an expensive hobby. And you know what? That assumption isn’t wrong, because sometimes it is super expensive and it appears it’s only going up in cost. So we’re all constantly looking for ways to make this hobby of ours less hostile to our wallets, and one of the best things you can do for yourself in that area is to learn how to find the cheapest flight you can for trips. Learning ways to find cheap flights – especially cheap international flights – is going to be a huge money saver for you in the long run.
I’m also going to split these three cheap flight alert tools into three distinct categories, one of which includes an additional tool that I personally haven’t used yet but wanted to share because I have heard good things about it! So technically, this list will have a bonus fourth tool to help you book cheap flights.
And lastly, some of these links are affiliate links that I might make commission on at no additional cost to you. So, thank you so much if you end up subscribing to one of the cheap flight alert tools I mention below!
How to Find Cheap Flights When You’re Not Picky on Either Time or Destination
As a heads up, there are a lot of cheap flight websites/tools that essentially do the same thing. They comb through all the airlines and find you the biggest bang for your buck, cheap flight deals on flights departing from your home airport(s). These cheap flight tools will then email these to you as a flight deal alert that includes the date range for this deal. You then click the deal and are taken to purchase the flight directly vs. through a third party. Being subscribed to one of these tools is one of my best tips to find cheap flights. And like I said a few all do essentially the same thing, but FareDrop is my absolute favorite.
FareDrop
How to Find Cheap Flights on FareDrop
FareDrop is legitimately my personal best website for cheap flights (and app!), and I actually canceled a previous subscription I paid for for years to switch over.
It’s so easy to use, you just click on the flight deal alert that appears, then on the date, and you can book from there. All of. the deals I’ve interacted with have taken me directly to the airline’s website to book, which is great if you’re not a fan of booking travel via third-party apps.
Why is FareDrop My Favorite Cheap Flight Finder?
FareDrop is, to me, the best website for cheap flights, and this is why:
- There are multiple account tiers ranging from free to $99/year depending on the type of flight deal alerts you want to receive
- Is the only of these services that I’ve used that has a mobile app, so you can choose to get alerts delivered via phone notifications, email, or both
- The paid tiers are cheaper than the more well known competitors while also providing more customization options like travel availability by month, destination preferences, deal preferences, and more
- Averages $450 saved per ticket, meaning just one airplane ticket purchased per year MORE than pays for the annual fee
- Includes the Daily Drop newsletter with great travel information beyond just how to find cheap flights
It’s safe to say I’m a huge fan, and I often recommend FareDrop to friends wondering how to find inexpensive flights.
Google Flights
This might seem like an obvious choice and you might be thinking to yourself, “of course I’ve heard of Google Flights but how does it find cheap flights?” and I am here to tell you how I specifically use it to find cheap flights. What I do is I use the Explore Destinations tool and explore the map. This helps me find cheap flights for the following situations:
- I know when I can travel but I am not picky where
- Enter your origin airport, but don’t put in a destination
- Enter your dates
- Click search
- Explore the map, and find a destination based on cheap flights
- I know where I need to travel to but I’m not picky when
- Enter your origin and destination airports
- Click into the departure/return date fields and simply choose the dates by the prices
- Cheap flight prices will be green in color
Google Flights is probably my most visited website of all time, and these are the main two ways I use it. You can also watch specific flight routes and get alerted if they go up or down in price. Google Flights is an excellent cheap flight tool to add to your best travel apps arsenal.
How to Find Cheap Flights When You’re Strict on Time and Destination
Hopper
Hopper is a very well known travel booking platform, but did you know that you can also use it to find cheap flights? The thing that differentiates the other two travel flight deal alert apps in this list of recommendations is that I use Hopper for when I need to find a specific flight for specific dates to a specific place; for those times when I’m less flexible but still want to figure out how to find cheap flights for this specific trip.
I use Hopper to get notified for when specific flights are the cheapest they’ll ever be. Hopper has a great tool where you can search for the flight you need and then set an alert, so that you’ll receive notifications regarding the flight and how much it costs. Hopper will tell you when the flight is the cheapest it will ever be, or if you should wait to purchase for a little bit.
I love Hopper for this reason, it’s a 10/10 tool to help find cheap flights.
Bonus Cheap Flight Tool
WayAway+
I personally haven’t used WayAway+ yet but it has amazing reviews and I’ve heard wonderful things! Basically, it gives you cash back when you book flights or hotels through WayAway+. From what I’ve read, this cashback return is automatic; you don’t have to go request it, it’s just automatically deposited in your account or PayPal.
This cheap flight tool has great reviews, and while it’s not so much a “how to find the cheapest flight” tool it is a “how to spend less on travel” tool and it feels relevant to share, so I figured I would!
So there you have it, my favorite ways to find cheap flights! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, and I hope these travel tools save you money!
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