Not all cheap flight comparisons are the same – there are four very different site types. This guide will take you through the right ones for the right jobs to save time and minimise costs.
Plus a full listing of the free flight returns available by manipulating credit card introductory deals – so you can jet away for free.
Step by step guide
Travel Money Checklist
Key facts before you start
When looking for cheap flight deals, timing's crucial:
"Unlike package holidays, book flights early: business folk will pay top dollar at the last minute, so airlines hike prices"
Whenever you need to travel, the internet's a powerhouse for super-speedily finding the cheapest flights. Yet before you start scouring for deals, here are the key facts you need to know ...
Going to a classic holiday destination? Consider a package
While the internet's great for flights or DIY city breaks, if you're going away specifically for seven, 10 or 14 days to a traditional holiday destination, then package holidays, where everything's wrapped up in one, often come up trumps. See the Cheap Package Holiday guide.
Plus most package operators are ATOL protected (though always check before you book) so if the company goes bust or something goes wrong, your holiday is automatically protected.
This means you'd get a refund if you haven't left yet, or you could carry on the trip and still get home if you're already there.
However, this doesn't apply to standalone flights - read the next two tips for how to protect against airline collapse.
Pay by credit card for extra protection
Even if you think the airline's safe as houses, it's still important to protect yourself as fully as possible. The easiest way is to book on a credit card, as when the transaction's over £100, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act means the card company's equally liable if something goes wrong (see the full Section 75 Refunds guide, or the Visa / Mastercard Chargeback guide for protection on debit card purchases).
This means if the airline goes bust, you can at least get your money back from the card company. Though always pay your card off in full at the end of the month so you're not charged interest. It's also possible to get scheduled airline failure cover; see the Cheap Travel Insurance guide.
Know your rights if airlines go bust
Most package holiday operators are members of the huge ATOL and ABTA travel protection schemes, so if the firm goes bust or there's another issue, your getaway's protected.
Yet book flights and hotels directly, and there's diddly squat. So always book DIY flights on a credit card (repaid in full to avoid interest) to get Section 75 protection on £100+ transactions.
When it comes to travel insurance, most policies are designed to cover packages. The biggest issue's lack of cover for knock-on consequences. For example, if your policy covers scheduled airline failure and the airline collapses, you may be able to claim the flight's cost, but not cash paid upfront for a hotel.
To beat this, scout out policies that specifically cover 'indirect loss' - check the small print. For maximum cover, look for increasingly available, though pricier, 'independent traveller' policies. Read the Cheap Travel Insurance guide for more.
If you might need to change the date, beware cheaper flights
If you aren't too fussy about the exact details of your flight, it's possible to get it for far less than if you'd specified an exact seat class, time, or that you wanted to bring your cat as hand luggage.
Do be aware the cheapest flights tend to have strict terms and conditions though, with limited changeability, and it's tough to get refunds. So always check the exact terms before booking.
How to beat every budget airline 'extra' charge
Outrageously, budget airline ‘extras' include taking bags, checking in or even just paying.
Yet be it Ryanair, Easyjet, Flybe or BMI Baby, the Budget Flight Fee Fighting guide has tricks to beat those nasty charges, from special prepay cards that beat the fees to multi-pocket jackets so you can take extra carry-on luggage.
You can get a year's travel insurance for £17
Never, ever just automatically book costly travel insurance with your airline. Instead consider a year's policy for roughly the same cost, starting from just £17 or £31 for a family. For a full regularly updated best-buys and catches galore to avoid, read the Cheap Travel Insurance guide.
If you're staying in Europe, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) gives you free or discounted medical treatment in state-run hospitals in any European Union country (and a few others). Though don't consider it a suitable substitute for travel insurance, as it doesn't cover possessions, baggage and repatriation. Read the full Free EHIC guide.
Always check if your airline auto-ticks insurance
Some cheap airline and web holiday sites may automatically add expensive travel cover when you book, so be sure to double-check the full cost, and remove any rogue policies before paying (usually by unchecking multiple boxes).
You may already have travel insurance, but even if not it's always cheaper to grab a Cheap Travel Insurance deal than buy from booking sites, and you'll often get wider cover too.
Going to the USA? ALL States travel requires an ESTA
Almost everyone from the UK going to the USA by air or sea, even those just passing through, must fill out the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) in advance or they'll be turned back.
For full info on how it works and how to avoid paying more than the official $14 per person fee, read the ESTA guide.
Whenever you need to travel, the internet's a powerhouse for super-speedily finding the cheapest flights.
There are two types of flight: 'scheduled', where you fly with big name airlines; and 'charter', where package holiday firms provide flights for their holidaymakers. Yet which site to use depends on your plans:
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Know when 'n' where you want? Use a Screenscraper to find 'scheduled' flights
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Is it a traditional package holiday destination? See Cheap charters
Cheap scheduled flights
For when you know the specific dates and destinations
A screenscraper's a form of price comparison site that uses clever technology to find cheap flights that match your criteria. Enter your trip details and it zips them to scores of normal airlines, budget airlines and flight-broker sites.
In other words, they're search-and-report sites that 'scrape' the data off other sites' screens to get your prices. Yet they don't all search the same sites, so ...
"Always use at least two to be sure"
Top picks (click 'use it' to go there or 'full info' to read more):
Further screenscrapers to extend your search, many with other strong features, are Dohop, Foundem*, Nowfly, Fly.com, Kelkoo*, Momondo, Mobissimo and TravelSpec*. For long-haul flights, also check the flightbrokers below - most importantly Travelocity, which some screenscrapers can miss, and Expedia*. Discuss which one you prefer.
Cheap flights with hotels
Flightbrokers have direct commercial relations with airlines and can offer their own special deals. Plus many can give extra discounts if you book hotels with them too.
Many screenscrapers automatically search flightbrokers, so they're more of a secondary check if you've already tried the above. But they can include flights not listed elsewhere for some long haul destinations.
As for the hotel advantage, this is handy but always check the Cheap Hotel Prices guide to see if you can undercut them. Top picks include:
If possible also check Lastminute.com*, which can offer extra discounts if flights and hotels are booked together, Ebookers*, which is similar to Expedia, and Netflights* for long haul.
Now time for serious bargain hunting
If you're willing to put in some extra effort, there are further tricks to cut the cost ...
Uncover Lastminute.com's secret flight mega-bargains
Some big flight bargains are available with Lastminute.com's* ‘top secret flights' if you enjoy playing detective (also see its Secret Hotels).
It tells you the departure and arrival city, flight length and whether there's a stopover, but you'll only find out exact airports, airline and departure times after you've paid.
The hidden nature can occasionally mean dirt-cheap prices, as airlines needn't worry it'll cannibalise their direct trade.
Do note it only searches scheduled flights, so you won't find charters or low cost carriers. However, Lastminute.com's told us top secret flight prices are always cheaper than booking direct, or booking the same flights as branded.
Yet there's a sneaky way to locate clues about these, and you don't need to have Miss Marple's powers of deduction to do it. After all, there are only a limited number of flights going somewhere in a day!
How to uncover the secret flights
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Step 1. Search for your dates.
Search on Lastminute.com* for your dates. If it comes up with a cheap secret flight, search for the same dates on screenscaper Kayak*.
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Step 2. Narrow down the flights
Kayak will come up with 100s of results; you need to eliminate some. First check the ‘non-stop' or ‘one-stop' box on Kayak's results page, depending on whether or not the secret flight has a stopover. Then, go down to the ‘trip duration' section (bottom left) and drag the arrow so it matches the length of the longest of your two return flights.
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Step 3. Match up the flights
This will often enable you to match up the results on Kayak with the Lastminute secret flights, or at least work out which airline it is and airports it uses, if there are a few similar results in a day.
There can be substantial savings here, though of course, it varies by flight. For example, one £190 London to Dubai secret flight turned out to be a Royal Brunei Air trip from London Heathrow. The cheapest price comparison listing for the same trip was £240.
Add your tips/feedback: Lastminute Secret Flights discussion
Sneakily work out how many cheap seats remain
Spot a dirt-cheap flight seat, and its limited nature means you don't know how long you've got to decide. Yet there's a sneaky trick to manipulate the booking system, and work out how many bargain seats are left.
Many airlines let you book seats for up to nine passengers. Pretend to make the booking for more seats than you need, and if the cheap fare's still available for nine seats, then you've got breathing space. Yet if the fare shoots up for a booking for three, four, or five seats, you need to grab it as soon as possible.
Student or under 26? Grab specialist deals
Specialist youth travel agent STA Travel guarantees to beat any scheduled flight price offered by competitors. Sadly, the guarantee doesn't extend to flights booked directly on airlines' sites, but if you fit the age bracket and happen to find a cheap agency deal it's worth calling 0871 230 0040 and seeing how much they'll beat it by.
Do let us know how you get on in the Cheap Flights discussion.
Ethnic travel agents may undercut these
The UK's a melting pot of different immigrant and ethnic communities, and this can be used to great advantage for a cheap flight booking. Often niche travel agents will specialise in finding deals to those communities' linked countries.
For example, Shepherd's Bush in London has some Caribbean specialist tour agents. Or buy the Jewish Chronicle, which has companies advertising cheap flights to Israel. If you know of a cheap specialist travel agent, please add your finds/read others.
Upgrade your flight, possibly for free
There's only one way to guarantee a flight upgrade, and that's to pay. Yet free upgrades aren't unheard of. From pulling in favours from airline-based contacts, to simply choosing your flight carefully and playing the odds, there are a host of ways to boost your chances even before you book.
If you don't fancy your chances of getting a freebie, there are also various ways to buy upgrade passes on the cheap. Read them all in the full How To Get A Flight Upgrade guide.
The FlightChecker
Finds all dirt cheap budget airline sales
Budget airlines commonly promise "a million seats for £1" - yet try to book and suddenly they're nowhere to be found. The Flightchecker is a tool that's designed to beat this. If you're flexible, it'll tell you when to go to get the ultra-cheap flights.
We are currently upgrading the Flightchecker, so watch this space for a souped-up version soon!
Cheap Charter Flight Finders
For traditional holiday destinations
Charter flights are bespoke flights by package holiday companies to ferry their passengers.
If you're off to a traditional package holiday destination, you may be able to find one super-cheap - so it's tough luck if you're flying to Timbuktu but quids in if you're off to Malaga.
As the operator books the whole plane, there's occasionally spare capacity which they can offer very cheaply to flight-only customers - after all, it'll only go to waste if unsold. The top charter flight comparisons are:
Further tricks to slash the cost
It's worth trying a final few tricks to see if you can cut the charter flight price further:
Go direct to charter airlines for belt 'n' braces
For belt and braces, it's worth going direct to charter airlines and travel agents, and just asking them for top last-minute charter deals. On the web, there's MyTravel*, Monarch*, Thomas Cook* (though ensure you read the How safe is Thomas Cook? MSE news story before booking), ThomsonFly* & First Choice, but local travel agents can often beat them. Again, all these are ABTA and ATOL registered.
Book a package but don't stay
If there are no charter flights, consider booking a package holiday and just not using the hotel - this can be much cheaper than booking a scheduled flight. For destinations like Ghana, Orlando or Sri Lanka, package holidays can be dirt cheap. Also see the Cheap Package Holiday article.
Free flights loopholes
Free flights may sound like a pipe dream, but they're often possible, and not just for budget airlines - loopholes allow it for Flybe, BMI and more. There are essentially two ways to fly gratis:
1. Promotional Flight Sales
Budget airlines, especially Ryanair, often have free 'flights sales' (or technically 1p or £1) to build up a customer base. Always check the sale price says 'includes taxes or charges' though, or it can still add up to about £30 each way. All free flight sales are included in the weekly MoneySaving email.
Even when these fees are included, you may still have to pay extra on top for check-in, baggage and more. Even so, done right this shouldn't usually add up to much more than £10 or £15 per person; see the Ryanair £1 Flight Sales deals note and Budget Flight Fee Fighting guide for more info.
2. Credit card freebie flights
There's a way to manipulate credit cards to get free flights at no cost (or just pay taxes). Many airline-linked credit cards offer free return trips as an incentive if you successfully apply for a card.
To get them you need to spend above 'a trigger threshold', yet often this is set very low, so simply buy an apple or anything else you'd usually buy. In short:
Spend the trigger amount on the card, whether 1p or £10, then ALWAYS repay it in full so there's no interest, get the free flight and cancel the card
Of course, if the card has any other useful features, such as a high performing rewards scheme you may want to keep it, not cancel it. Or for dedicated frequent flyers see the Airline Credit Cards guide.
The only reason not to do this is if you can better use your credit score for something else, such as cutting the cost of your debts, though it's also a good idea not to apply for too many cards in quick succession - full details in the Credit Card Freebies guide. With all these deals, the redemption flight is subject to availability, but usually there's a decent range.
Free European Flights with Flybe. Exc taxes and charges Minimum spend 1p
Grab Flybe's credit card and once you've spent anything on it, you'll be sent a voucher for a return flight on any of its European routes.
Taxes aren't included, so you'll have to pay these; but the beauty here is that there's no minimum spend. Buying a bag of crisps (or an apple for the health conscious!) still qualifies for the freebie. Just make sure you pay the card off in full to ensure you avoid the 18.9% representative APR.
Freebie: Free European flight vouchers, Representative variable APR: 18.9% APR, Min. Spend Trigger: No Minimum, Taxes Included: NO Official APR Example
Free BMI Business flight to Russia or Turkey. BMI Amex card, spend £250 in 90 days.
Get a BMI Amex card, do £250 of your normal spending on it within 90 days, and you'll get 20,000 of BMI's 'Destination Miles'. These can be redeemed for a return business-class flight to Russia, Turkey, Majorca and others (see what you can get).
A normal flight to one of these 'Zone 2' countries costs 12,000 miles, but for 18,000 you can upgrade to business. Alternatively, you can get two standard flights to a closer destination such as France, Germany or within the UK.
You will have to pay any taxes and charges for the flight, but this is still a great deal. This also has a decent balance transfer offer of 0% for 12 months with a 3% fee (see the Balance Transfer article for how this compares), but always ensure the balance is entirely cleared before you switch any debts to it or you'll be hit with 16.9% representative APR.
Freebie: 20,000 BMI miles, Representative variable APR: 16.9%, Min. Spend Trigger: £250, Taxes Included: NO Official APR Example
Free European flights with Ryanair Ryanair credit card.
Take out a Ryanair credit card and you'll get a European flight once you've spent £100, a European return if you spend £1,500 over a set 6-month period, and a European return for two if you spend £3,000. The non-transferable free flight vouchers last eight months from issue, but you have to pay taxes and charges on top when you use them. Ensure you repay in full to avoid the 19.9% representative APR.
Freebie: Ryanair Flight, Representative variable APR: 19.9% APR, Min. Spend Trigger: £100, Taxes Included: NO Official APR Example
Think before adding the 'insurance'
Payment protection insurance is commonly sold with credit cards - the idea is it'll make some payments for you, usually for a year, if you are unable to (eg, if you lose your job).
There have been a myriad of cases where it has been mis-sold eg, borrowers didn't realise they were signing up for it, or it was totally unsuitable for them, and some big lenders have been fined.
The protection isn't always bad, though policies sold with cards are often overpriced (you pay a monthly amount depending on the size of your balance). If you want it, compare the lender's cover with standalone providers such as Paymentcare or Best Insurance.
Always be vigilant to check you aren't getting more than you bargained for when you fill in the application, then check your statement each month to check you aren't inadvertently paying for extras if you didn't ask for them.
Quick flight tips 'n' tricks
While the internet's a powerhouse for cheap flights, there are other tricks that can help cut the cost - and offer you better protection to boot.
Carbon offset your flight
We hope that this guide will help you fly more cheaply, though not necessarily more often. If you've saved serious cash (or even just a little), then you may want to spend a little on carbon offsetting your flight.
Monitor all airline discounts
If you're flying a good number of months away, it's worth signing up to the email lists of all the relevant airlines. Often they email details of short term sales, so if you've definite plans you can be ready to pounce at the right moment (and of course this site's weekly e-mail includes the best of them).
Before you do that always use a screenscraper to benchmark what a realistic price should be. Especially good for sales are the newsletters of British Airways*, Opodo*, American Airlines, Air France* and KLM*.
Get the best seats
Once you know what the flight is, there are a few sites which should help you improve it. Use Seatguru to check out the plane's seating plan so you can see whether 18E beats 19C. Also try similar site Airlinequality, which includes airline reviews and rankings.
Flightstats details punctuality on current flights and other data, while if you'd prefer to know what you'll be eating on the flight before you board, Airlinemeals has photos and reviews to whet your appetite.
Find shared shuttle buses for cheap airport transfers
Website Resorthoppa* lets you book transfers between airports and popular resorts across the globe. It offers basic shared shuttle buses as well as private transfers, and forumers report it can turn up some very competitive prices (though always check these for yourself before you book). It charges £1.50 for paying by debit card and £3 for credit cards though, so watch out for these.
Our own MSE Jenny says: "From my experience, don't expect anything too posh if you opt for a shuttle bus, and allow plenty of time to get to the airport. After all, if there are hordes of other passengers to pick up, you don't want to miss your flight."
Feedback's generally positive, though there are reports of occasional problems with missed pickups, so do factor this in if you're considering it. If you've used it, please let us know how you've got on in the Resorthoppa forum discussion.
Share a lift to the airport
Launched in July 2011, website TransferWithMe helps you find people to share your airport transfer with. It's free to register and search on, and the site's simple and easy to use - though there's no guarantee you'll find a match. Still, it's worth a try to see if any others are going in the same direction. If you've used it, please share your feedback in the forum discussion.
Check if you can buy duty-free on arrival
If you're looking to buy duty free goods but don't want to have to carry them on the plane, website Duty Free On Arrival has a handy airport search that gives info on whether you can buy duty free when you arrive.














