Post: #1

As this is a fairly active travel forum, I think it is missing an important aspect of the traveling process - flights and travel tools and deals.
These get occasional references in other threads, but no dedicated thread to discuss them (at least not an active one).

This isn't about racking up miles on a card etc. Global Entry already has a great thread on that here: /thread-38140.html. (Cool guy, we hung out twice in Medellin last year).

This is about sharing directly obtainable sweet fares and packages, and how to find them.
There are so many fare deals, tips and tricks popping up daily, and these could be the difference between a mediocre trip and a great one. More so for guys traveling on a budget. If you could save $2-300 on a flight and put it toward a fancier and better located hotel/airbnb, it could make a significant difference in your "success rates."

As most of us on this forum tend to travel to the same places, one person's find could benefit a number of others. Ten years ago I had a travel forum, and a thread like this was useful to members.

So, let's get into it!

Personally, here are the basic tools I use when looking up flights:

1. Google Flights: For some reason, people don't take Google Flights seriously, but in my opinion, there isn't a better flight search tool out there.
What makes it stronger than most is its ability to show lowest rates for the entire year on a calendar. Others might show you a few days or a week, and require manually changing the dates.

This saves a significant amount of time in your search. However, Google Flights does not include some of the popular ultra-discount airlines like Ryanair, WOW etc.

2. Skyscanner: This is a great tool too. However, my biggest problem with it is the fares are sometimes expired. It only displays "lowest rates found in the last 15 days," not necessarily real-time rates.
It also has a calendar view, which is always nice.
My favorite feature is the "Everywhere" option. This is great when you're still trying to decide where to go. Entering your departure location and selecting "Everywhere" as the destination will organize a list of all destinations around the world, from cheapest to highest. It is significantly more detailed than Google Flight's "Explore" option.

The arrow drop-downs reveal the different cities in those locations, along with their fares.



3. Rome2rio.com: This is also good for checking more than just flight fares. It displays plane, train, bus, ferry and car options.

There are many web tools, apps and even blogs out there where we come across good fares. The point of this thread is to share and discuss them, so we all get the best "bang for buck" on our travels.

To set the ball rolling:
For anyone who travels in the fashion I do (flying one-way tickets to a place for 1-2 months), and is eyeing Brazil around the Rio Carnival (Mar 1 - 9). Here is a decent fare on February 9th. Fort Lauderdale to Rio for $245 one-way.

It is a long 36-hr flight with two stopovers in Bogota, Colombia (19 hrs) and Lima, Peru (7 hrs).
I like flights like that, because I get to visit additional countries along the way and have enough time to go fool around in the city. Or at least do a quick recon mission for a possible return.

Tip: Fort Lauderdale typically has the best fares to South American destinations.




Over to you.

Post: #2

Google Flights is always the first place I check for flights to anywhere. I also check https://www.momondo.com/ which sometimes has better deals, especially for very long distance flights.

I also recommend subscribing to Scott's Cheap Flights which emails you a few times a day with some random discounted flights (usually mistake fares) from the US and Canada to all over the world. They have a paid version which I have not looked at.

Post: #3

Yeah Momondo is cheaper than Skyscanner in my experience.

https://www.holidaypirates.com/ is a great site for very cheap travel deals for people traveling from the UK and they have sister sites for people traveling from the following countries if you click the flag in the top right corner:

Germany
Austria
Italy
Netherlands & Flanders
Poland
France
Spain
Switzerland
USA

Post: #4

I know of Scott's Cheap Flights, but I don't think I've come across Momondo. It's a 2-year old site, so fairly new, I guess.
Looks nice, and they also have the "Anywhere/Everywhere" feature, which I think more flight search tools should implement.

I couldn't find a way to sort the results into list view when using the "anywhere" option though.
The default map view is too chaotic to browse properly, but the site looks like it has potential. Thanks for the tip on it.

Post: #5

(10-14-2018 10:28 PM)the-dream Wrote:  Yeah Momondo is cheaper than Skyscanner in my experience.

https://www.holidaypirates.com/ is a great site for very cheap travel deals for people traveling from the UK and they have sister sites for people traveling from the following countries if you click the flag in the top right corner:

Germany
Austria
Italy
Netherlands & Flanders
Poland
France
Spain
Switzerland
USA

I saw a round trip first class ticket from New York to Santo Domingo, D.R for $498 on that HolidayPirate site. That's not bad, for those who like to fly first class and business.

Post: #6

Scott's Cheap Flights is good and reasonably priced. I subscribe to the paid version and to me it seems worth it. $39/year for more emails, when having access to those extra deals could save you bank (hundreds) on a round-trip flight. I also use it as a knowledge bank - I scan the deals and mentally keep track of how much cheap flights to various destinations will be.

What I don't really like about Scott's Cheap Flights is that he includes flights with a long layover. There should be an option to filter that out. I don't want to spend eight hours in an airport in Bogota on the way to Santiago. Some people like long layover flights because you can get out and explore the city, which is cool, but you should be able to filter these out so that you only see direct flights.

Post: #7

I don’t think you can go wrong with Google flights. I’m currently planning my trip out in April to catch the Anthony Joshua fight then make my way around Europe on a solo mission.
Google flights is really the only tool I need in planning.

Post: #8

Secretflying.com is a good one, too. Includes a lot of deal information (organized by content of origin), but it. really shines in alerting about "error fares" or insane deals that occur when airlines screw something up. Good to check often to be on the lookout for these hidden gems.

Post: #9

The site http://www.secretflying.com is great, and they also have a twitter for real time updates. Can sort deals by from and to. It scours all the travel sites and lays out the best and sometimes error fares. After clicking on a specific deal, it will take you to the booking or secondary site like a Momondo, Skyscanner, Travelgenio, Priceline, etc. Once at these sites, you can sort by number of stops, shortest flight, best value, etc.

Post: #10

Great idea for a thread.

I personally think SkyScanner is the cheapest and it integrates the best layout and I’ve used all of the above. But I’ll try some of the others again

Post: #11

If you don't have any particular destination in mind, go to Google Flights, enter your departure airport and set it to one-way. You can then get all the cheapest flights in the next six month or by month:



The various other sites can be useful. I also use SkipLagged (recommended by someone here in one of the King of Belgrade's posts). Skip Lagged seems to have the best engine at firing out multi-leg cheap flights.

This year I went on a three leg flight to 2nd tier Russia. Google was showing about $250-300, while SkipLagged had a quicker one for $150.

Another I've used in the past is CheapFlights.com. I managed to get something from there for £350, when everywhere else was charging £700.

Post: #12

(10-15-2018 03:32 PM)Yeti Wrote:  Scott's Cheap Flights is good and reasonably priced. I subscribe to the paid version and to me it seems worth it. $39/year for more emails, when having access to those extra deals could save you bank (hundreds) on a round-trip flight. I also use it as a knowledge bank - I scan the deals and mentally keep track of how much cheap flights to various destinations will be.

What I don't really like about Scott's Cheap Flights is that he includes flights with a long layover. There should be an option to filter that out. I don't want to spend eight hours in an airport in Bogota on the way to Santiago. Some people like long layover flights because you can get out and explore the city, which is cool, but you should be able to filter these out so that you only see direct flights.

I've heard a lot about Scott's Cheap Flights for many years. Other than browse the website a few times before, I haven't subscribed to it.

Have you tried sending them a message with the filtering suggestion? They might just implement it, especially since you're a paying customer.

Post: #13

(10-15-2018 07:37 PM)JohnKreese Wrote:  Secretflying.com is a good one, too. Includes a lot of deal information (organized by content of origin), but it. really shines in alerting about "error fares" or insane deals that occur when airlines screw something up. Good to check often to be on the lookout for these hidden gems.

I know about error fares, but I've never personally booked one. How often would you say the airlines go "oops, fuck that! we're not honoring this"?

Post: #14

(10-17-2018 09:34 PM)Poseidon Wrote:  I know about error fares, but I've never personally booked one. How often would you say the airlines go "oops, fuck that! we're not honoring this"?

More and more now that the DOT is not enforcing them to honor mistake fares.

Post: #15

(10-17-2018 10:34 PM)RVF400 Wrote:  More and more now that the DOT is not enforcing them to honor mistake fares.

I think they should be enforced. It's not the passenger's fault they put out a wrong price.

Post: #16

Jet Blue usually has some good flight sales on its "Flash Fares" page. The international deals are usually only to the Caribbeans though.
They post them here like once a month, or so and they last about a day or two. https://www.jetblue.com/deals/flash-fares/

I've seen one-way flights from New York to the Dominican Republic for as low as $78 on there.

Post: #17

This is a dupe thread. There are two already on the forum.

Post: #18

(10-20-2018 03:36 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  This is a dupe thread. There are two already on the forum.

Oh, I wasn't aware.
Can I have the links or titles of these two active cheap flight threads you speak of?

Post: #19

SkyScanner seems good with its layout.

Post: #20

(10-24-2018 05:15 AM)sanasarfraz095 Wrote:  SkyScanner seems good with its layout.

It's definitely a good layout. My only issue is the displayed fares are often no longer available.

Post: #21

(10-24-2018 09:14 PM)Poseidon Wrote:  

(10-24-2018 05:15 AM)sanasarfraz095 Wrote:  SkyScanner seems good with its layout.

It's definitely a good layout. My only issue is the displayed fares are often no longer available.

The reason could be the fluctuation in price

Post: #22

(10-25-2018 04:50 AM)sanasarfraz095 Wrote:  The reason could be the fluctuation in price

It's not fluctuation per se.
As I said in my first post, Skyscanner doesn't display real-time fares. It shows "lowest fares found within the last 15 days."

Post: #23

JetBlue has some $20 flights on their flash fares page, for Cyber Monday.

https://www.jetblue.com/deals/flash-fares/

Post: #24

Girls buy me tickets to come back and see them. $0

I don’t even have to book it.

Post: #25

^ has happened a few times to me as well, surprisingly all from the rich girls from ukranian oligarch-y families