How to Book The Best + Cheapest Flights
The flight is not the most important part of our trip, but booking that flight is often the first — and more important step — in our travel planning process. I get asked all the time for advice on how to book the best flights. And I get it, the idea of messing up that massive, important purchase is super stressful. Flights can be expensive, the routes can be complicated, and you really want to do it right. Fortunately, I’ve got the scoop on how to book the best and cheapest flights.
I’m going to walk you through my step-by-step process for booking the best flights. At the end of this article, I’ll include some links and general tips so you can modify these steps to best suit your trip. And of course, hit me up if you have any questions or need some extra help.
The Scenario
Let’s set the scene for this flight booking exercise: My sister Jamie is getting married in Glasgow, Scotland next spring. I’m flying solo from Washington, DC, and need to be in Glasgow by March 24th, 2021. Now, let’s do this!
The Search
I always start my flight search with Google Travel. At this point, I need to have a general idea about three things: where I’m flying from, where I’m flying to, and approximately how much time I want to spend in destination. I know I’m flying from Washington, DC so I plug that in. I’m not sure if it’ll be better to fly into Edinburgh or Glasgow, so I just plug in Scotland. And finally, I know I need to be in Glasgow on the 24th and I think I’ll spend about 10 days in Scotland. I’m going to plug in Friday, March 19th and Sunday, March 28th as my dates (for now).
Looks like flights to Edinburgh are about $719 and flights to Glasgow are about $924. Edinburgh is clearly cheaper, BUT I’ll need to get from Edinburgh to Glasgow (probably by train). I run a quick google search (I search “train from Edinburgh to Glasgow”) and find the one-hour train ride is about $16. Edinburgh it is!
Right now, I’m looking at search results for flights from Washington, DC to Edinburgh on March 19-28th. It turns out that the cheapest flight ($719) is THIRTY HOURS LONG. So, nope.
Let’s add filters to get some more specific results. I add filters so I only see flights with one or fewer layovers and that are less than 18 hours.
Now, the cheapest flight is 12 hours but it costs $1033! I think I can do better.
At the top of the search results page, you’ll see three options: Date grid, price graph, and nearby airports. Let’s click the date grid.
This shows me that flights are $250 cheaper if I fly March 22-30th. This is a decent flight that goes from DC to Edinburgh (with one layover) in 10.5 hours for $783. But let’s see if I can do better.
I click “nearby airports” and am shown a list of nearby airports, a map, and how far the drive is between cities. I add Glasgow to my search. I should have done this from the start, honestly. Rookie mistake.
And guess what!? A flight from DC to Glasgow, 9.5 hours, with one stop is $742!
Just to be safe, I’m going to go back to the date grid and see if I can fly to Glasgow on my original dates. I see that I have a lot of flexibility with prices and dates, but I’m going to stick with March 22-30th.
I search the same dates and airports at Momondo just to make sure I’m getting a good deal.
Be careful here! You’ll see cheaper flights but they’re often sold through a third party seller (like Ovago or eDreams). You might save a little money, but you risk some serious customer service headaches. If you experience any issues with your flight (like having to cancel or rebook) you’ll have better luck dealing directly with the airline rather than the third party company.
You need to decide if you’ll book now (yay!) or track the prices. If you go back to the Google Travel results, you’ll see a toggle button next to a graph line and “track prices”. If you track the prices, Google will send you emails when prices for this flight go up or down.
I think this flight is great. Book, book, book! Let’s go to Scotland!
The Aftermath
Flexibility is key when searching for the best airfare. The best — and cheapest — flights are booked when you’re able to fly anywhere in the world at any time. But how often does this happen? Rarely. Instead, if you can be flexible on at least one of airfare’s three major factors — departing airport, destination, and dates — you’ll score the best deals.
Links you’ll need:
Google Flights - Use Google to understand the best airports and dates.
Skiplagged - Skiplagged is a powerful flight search engine that specializes in unearthing hidden city fares.
Skyscanner - One of the best sites for comparing prices.
Momondo - My personal go-to for airfare comparison shopping.