As a travel blogger, I spend a lot of time on flights. Like, a lot. Pretty much all my money goes to traveling. When I ask people why they don’t travel, it’s normally for two reasons: time and money. Although I can’t say much on the time front besides telling you to actuallyuse your vacation days, I can certainly help you on the finance front.
I’ve shared some of my favorite tips on how to find cheap airfare. I’ve taught you how to use error fares to take advantage of computer glitches. But now, I’m taking it to a whole other level. Today, I’m teaching you how to find the cheapest flight, every time. What’s my secret? A website called Skyscanner.
Some of you might have heard of Skyscanner. Some of you might not have. Even if you have heard of it – are you aware of all the amazing features that Skyscanner has? As someone who frequents this website more than the average person, I’m revealing all its hidden tricks to help you find the cheapest flight, no matter what the destination. Click the photos to enlarge them!
Table of Contents
1. The “Everywhere” Feature
Destination: “Everywhere”
Results sorted by price!
In all honesty, there are probably at least 20 countries on my bucket list at any given time, if not more. I never run out of places I want to visit. I imagine that most people have several destinations on their bucket lists too. Skyscanner makes having “too many options” a good thing with its Everywhere feature. Basically, you type in your home airport, put “Everywhere” as your destination, and put it the dates (or month) you’re interested in traveling. Voila! You get a list of the cheapest countries you can travel to priced from lowest to highest. SUH-WEET!
2. The Cheapest Month Feature
Whole month -> cheapet month
Cheapest cities and cheapest months
Cheapest dates!
Let’s say you have the opposite problem. You know exactly where you want to go, but your bank account is just not supporting your dream to learn to tango in Argentina. RUDE. Skyscanner has got you covered. Type in your departing airport and your destination; pick a city or the whole country if you please. Then in the departure and return section click whole month -> cheapest month. May is the cheapest month to visit Argentina (in case you were wondering) and Buenos Aires is the cheapest city to fly into. I may or may not have paid double for this exact flight back in 2012 before I knew about the wonders of Skyscanner.
3. The whole month feature
Pick “whole month”
Find the cheapest destination
Pick the cheapest travel dates!
Alright, let’s say you really have your heart set on traveling in June. Maybe it’s your birthday month (like me, hint hint). Maybe you travel in June every year. Whatever the case, you’re set on June. Again, enter your departure city, pick your destination (or not, if you’re feeling adventurous) then hit “whole month” in the departure and return sections. I picked Spain as an option, and it shows you that Madrid is the cheapest city to fly into, then goes on to show you the specific dates that are cheapest to fly on! How cool is that? Note: lots of flights to and within Europe are on budget airlines, which have a lot of hidden fees and rules. Read all about them here.
4. Price Alerts
Pick your dates.
Set a price alert!
Last but not least…if you’re really set on specific dates, then Skyscanner can help. Let’s pretend I want to fly to Madrid from Los Angeles between June 20th – 27th. My total is $583 (which is a great deal by the way) but I just #Can’tCommit. At the very least, Skyscanner lets you keep an eye on the prices with the handy price alert function. Just hit “get price alerts,” put in your email and Skyscanner will send you emails as the price changes.
Other handy tips:
You can use Skyscanner to book round-trip, one- way and multi-city flights
On the home page, you have the option to search for non-stop flights only, to add nearby airports, and to search by airport, city or country. You can also search for premium economy, first class or business class.
You can use the Skyscanner website OR download the app here
My personal travel hacks:
Always use incognito mode (file > new incognito window) to avoid websites tracking your searches
Flying within Asia and Europe is quite cheap on budget airlines, so if you’re willing to spend extra time to save money, fly into the cheapest destination on that continent (use the ‘everywhere’ function to find out which country that is) then take a cheap flight to your final destination.
I flew to Costa Rica for less than $200 RT last year!
I solely use Skyscanner to book flights and it has saved me SO much money. I have paid less than $700 round trip on all my flights in the last year including last minute flights to Asia, summer flights to Europe, and back to back flights to the Caribbean and Central America. With these handy tips and tricks, you’re guaranteed to find the cheapest flight, every time.
Tell me: Did I miss any of your favorite flight hacks? Share in the comments below!
Pin it and save it for later!
Pin it and save it for later!
Pin it and save it for later!
34 thoughts on “How to Find the Cheapest Flight Every Time”
Katie @ Zen Life and Travel says:
Great article! I have heard of Skyscanner and checked it out maybe once but never really got into it…now I must go back to take a closer look. Thanks!
You MUST! It’s the only site I use to book my flights and I know a lot of other frequent travelers are the same :). You can find some stellar deals on there.
Great tips! I knew about most of the features, but I also learned a few more things from you. I’m going to try out the “map” feature you wrote up<–Didn't know that one. Thank you for sharing these and congrats on the sponsorship!
I agree, skyscanner is the best and I always use them too. I love the multi-city option, so handy for booking trips to destinations like Europe – as I have done today! Nice tips 🙂
Ah I love Skyscanner so much! I use it everytime I fly and I love that there are no extra charges if you choose the flights through Skyscanner. Thanks for these tips! Even though I use it all the time, I didn’t realize all the features that Skyscanner has 🙂
Right?! I’m OBSESSED. And yes it seriously does all the work for you without fees. Mind blowing.
Haha yeah, the everywhere feature is really popular but they have some awesome features many people don’t know about either! Happy travels 🙂
Yay! Yeah it’s great for booking too because they don’t charge any extra fees for using the site either. Highly recommend it for booking next time. Glad you found the post useful!
Very detailed post about Skyscanner! I tend to use Momondo more often after one time when I found cheaper flights there. But I really like Skyscanner’s feature to find the best deal of each month. That makes it much easier for me 🙂
I’ve actually tried out Momondo a few times but I find that Skyscanner’s interface is much easier to use, personally! Of course, it’s always good to check multiple sources. Oh I actually didn’t know about the deal of the month so I just learned something new from you! I’ll have to keep an eye out. Happy travels 🙂
It always amazes me we can continue to spread the word about SkyScanner, I assume everyone knows about it 🙂
I pretty much use the method above, but then as a final check use the cheapest route I found on SkyScanner and run it through Momondo. Like Fiona said, there are cheaper options on there (enough savings to take the one minute extra to look it up)
I KNOW RIGHT? I’ve had quite a few friends asking me about booking cheap flights over the last few weeks which inspired me to write this. So many people don’t know about all the awesome things it has.
And yes, it’s always good to cross reference the two. I do it myself, although 99% of the time I’ve had better luck with Skyscanner than Momondo. It totally depends on a bunch of factors I suppose. 🙂
I’ve used Skyscanner a couple of times but I definitely didn’t know about all these hidden features! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m storing away all this advice for the next time I need to book a flight!
I’ve heard of Skyscanner but I’ve never actually used it before. I love that there’s different features and methods for searching flights, especially as they can potentially save a lot of money and time. Which is really good because I suck at finding cheap flights haha. I’ve already pinned and I’ll definitely come back to this post for guidance when I plan my next trip. Thanks for sharing this with us, Sally! 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m glad to have converted another person :).
Yeah it’s honestly great for searching in all the ways and I always leave knowing that I booked the best deal. Hope you manage to score a great deal on your next flight. Happy travels 🙂
Totally agree. Skyscanner is my “go to” site whenever I am planning a trip or even randomly contemplating my next destination. Love the “everywhere” and cheapest month features and use them almost every week!
YES. Once you use it you won’t turn back! I haven’t paid more than $700 for a flight since I started booking with them and I’ve been to several continents from Los Angeles. Definitely recommend trying them out!
These are great hacks for finding cheap flights. It always helps if one can save on flights as this is a major component of travel costs. We use skyscanner a lot to zero in on cheap flights/
This was such an amazing article! Skyscanner is my go to every time! I love the everywhere option and the whole year option and I also fly into the cheapest part of those continents and then fly to my destination from there!
You know all the tricks :D. Yeah, if you’re willing to be a bit flexible you can save SO MUCH! It’s insane. I love flying onto the continent and getting cheap connecting flights from there. You can get to Europe from the U.S. for less than $300 that way. So good.
Great post. I had never heard of Skyscanner but it sounds great. Will definitely will try it the next time we are planning a vacation. Thanks for sharing.
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Great article! I have heard of Skyscanner and checked it out maybe once but never really got into it…now I must go back to take a closer look. Thanks!
You MUST! It’s the only site I use to book my flights and I know a lot of other frequent travelers are the same :). You can find some stellar deals on there.
Great tips! I knew about most of the features, but I also learned a few more things from you. I’m going to try out the “map” feature you wrote up<–Didn't know that one. Thank you for sharing these and congrats on the sponsorship!
Thank you! Glad you’re already an avid user :). The map is nice because you can visually see places you’ve never considered before. Happy travels!
Great article, I’m actually a bit obsessed with Skyscanner, doing an “everywhere” search is one of my favourite pastimes!
Hahah SAME. Especially when I get too antsy from sitting in once place for too long lol
I agree, skyscanner is the best and I always use them too. I love the multi-city option, so handy for booking trips to destinations like Europe – as I have done today! Nice tips 🙂
Skyscanner in Europe an Asia is particularly awesome because there are SO many cheap inter-country flights :). Thanks for reading and commenting!
Ah I love Skyscanner so much! I use it everytime I fly and I love that there are no extra charges if you choose the flights through Skyscanner. Thanks for these tips! Even though I use it all the time, I didn’t realize all the features that Skyscanner has 🙂
Right?! I’m OBSESSED. And yes it seriously does all the work for you without fees. Mind blowing.
Haha yeah, the everywhere feature is really popular but they have some awesome features many people don’t know about either! Happy travels 🙂
I have used Skyscanner to compare prices. Thanks for sharing more tips about how to use it well!
Yay! Yeah it’s great for booking too because they don’t charge any extra fees for using the site either. Highly recommend it for booking next time. Glad you found the post useful!
Very detailed post about Skyscanner! I tend to use Momondo more often after one time when I found cheaper flights there. But I really like Skyscanner’s feature to find the best deal of each month. That makes it much easier for me 🙂
I’ve actually tried out Momondo a few times but I find that Skyscanner’s interface is much easier to use, personally! Of course, it’s always good to check multiple sources. Oh I actually didn’t know about the deal of the month so I just learned something new from you! I’ll have to keep an eye out. Happy travels 🙂
It always amazes me we can continue to spread the word about SkyScanner, I assume everyone knows about it 🙂
I pretty much use the method above, but then as a final check use the cheapest route I found on SkyScanner and run it through Momondo. Like Fiona said, there are cheaper options on there (enough savings to take the one minute extra to look it up)
I KNOW RIGHT? I’ve had quite a few friends asking me about booking cheap flights over the last few weeks which inspired me to write this. So many people don’t know about all the awesome things it has.
And yes, it’s always good to cross reference the two. I do it myself, although 99% of the time I’ve had better luck with Skyscanner than Momondo. It totally depends on a bunch of factors I suppose. 🙂
I’ve used Skyscanner a couple of times but I definitely didn’t know about all these hidden features! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m storing away all this advice for the next time I need to book a flight!
You’re welcome! Yeah it has so many great features that I had to share them all :). Happy travels!
I’ve heard of Skyscanner but I’ve never actually used it before. I love that there’s different features and methods for searching flights, especially as they can potentially save a lot of money and time. Which is really good because I suck at finding cheap flights haha. I’ve already pinned and I’ll definitely come back to this post for guidance when I plan my next trip. Thanks for sharing this with us, Sally! 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m glad to have converted another person :).
Yeah it’s honestly great for searching in all the ways and I always leave knowing that I booked the best deal. Hope you manage to score a great deal on your next flight. Happy travels 🙂
Totally agree. Skyscanner is my “go to” site whenever I am planning a trip or even randomly contemplating my next destination. Love the “everywhere” and cheapest month features and use them almost every week!
Haha same! Whenever I get antsy to go somewhere, the everywhere feature usually determines my next destination 🙂
This is so helpful because I had heard of SkyScanner but hadn’t taken the plunge to use it yet. I’m sure this will help me get some cheap flights!
YES. Once you use it you won’t turn back! I haven’t paid more than $700 for a flight since I started booking with them and I’ve been to several continents from Los Angeles. Definitely recommend trying them out!
These are great hacks for finding cheap flights. It always helps if one can save on flights as this is a major component of travel costs. We use skyscanner a lot to zero in on cheap flights/
Yes totally. Flights can get really expensive so it’s nice to be able to save more money on the flight that you can spend on your actual trip 🙂
This was such an amazing article! Skyscanner is my go to every time! I love the everywhere option and the whole year option and I also fly into the cheapest part of those continents and then fly to my destination from there!
You know all the tricks :D. Yeah, if you’re willing to be a bit flexible you can save SO MUCH! It’s insane. I love flying onto the continent and getting cheap connecting flights from there. You can get to Europe from the U.S. for less than $300 that way. So good.
Very informative. I think it is aruba nights template. keep going. Thanks
did’t know that it’s possible to avoid tracking by using incognito modes
Yessss it’s a great little trick 🙂
Ooh! I never knew about Skyscanner, will use this platform for sure now. I hate paying too much for flights!
Omg, I’m totally addicted to this website! It’s going to change your life 🙂
Great post. I had never heard of Skyscanner but it sounds great. Will definitely will try it the next time we are planning a vacation. Thanks for sharing.