The Best Cheap Flights Websites Nobody Talks About
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
- This video is all about how to find the best flights, with a heavy focus on cheap flights. Using 5 online tools that nobody is talking about it's possible to get great prices on flights that you probably never knew existed. If you want to travel on a budget and prioritize flying comfortably, then you'll enjoy this video.
I have used all five of these tools to book crazy cheap airfare and enhance my inflight experience over and over again. So I wanted to share these flight booking hacks with all of you to help you find the best and cheapest flights possible, too. Enjoy and happy travels!
00:00 Intro
00:48 Kiwi
02:12 Skiplagged
03:31 SeatGuru
04:52 ITA Matrix
06:25 Bookwithmatrix.com
07:34 Outro
#travel #cheapflights #businessclass #travelhacks #budgettravel #fly
Been using ITA for years and love it. I'll look for another video about it from you. I can always learn something new!
Awesome and thanks for the feedback! I've got another video on ITA in the works along with many others. 👨💻
Excellent info. As a former travel agent, booking directly with the airline is best even if a bit more expensive. If things go sideways, they can easily fix it but if you booked with a reseller or agency you are stuck with whatever they can or are willing to do. Plus fees.
Welcome to the channel and thanks for sharing your insight!
wud not touch a reseller with a barge pole
Book with anyone other than the airline you will regret it if anything goes wrong as you will be talking with an ass on the phone in Seattle or Mumbai telling you they will answer in a month or two/ Airline will have a representative at the airport to address
@@riskyron1416 Agreed, book direct wherever possible!
@@DavidGTravels Seems Central and South America Business Class has become a thing of the past. Economy Plus has no attraction in replacing. AeroMexico has become my favorite but miss the Embraer 190 and absolutely will not fly Boeing Max and hesitate flying any Boeing. I worked mainly with Military and NASA, but familiar with the engines and instrumentation on Commercial Aircraft. I practically wrote the procedure for Spectrographic Oil Analysis Program. Boeing lost its quality control in the late 1980s. Too many drugs being used by their workers. As I once told a US Marine Major, "You think you're so special then tell me why they let drug crazed sailors work on your plane." Yup that did it. Knew I was right, never flew a gain and took an early retirement. Sure glad Lockheed no longer makes Commercial Aircraft, they had the worst quality control of any.
Awesome information, thank you so very much! We will be traveling a lot starting in the fall and will want to economize by finding the least expensive flights.
Glad it was helpful, happy travels!
Thanks a lot, mate. You have made my day.
Glad to hear that!
Outstanding! Thank you for sharing 🙏🏼
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was brilliant! Thank you kindly.
You're very welcome!
Loving your channel. You get right to the point.
Thanks for watching, happy travels!
Dang!! Thank you for all that information! Really appreciate it. Instantly SUBBED!! ❤👍
Welcome to the channel, overjoyed that you found it useful!
The Google Flights recommendation was a winner for me on it's own!! Thank you for mentioning and I'm sure I will rewatch and explore some of the other engines later as well.
Thanks for watching!
I went to google flights. The prices were higher.
Thank you. We saved 45% on our October booking to Europe. Big thumbs up.👍
Great to hear, enjoy your trip!
@@DavidGTravels Thanks. And full disclosure, we used itamatrix after learning Kiwi, and then booked on the airline site directly. It was about 4 hours of "what ifs" for cities and dates (ending up using multi-city) and inputting options and amazingly we have better flights than we could have imagined (and could not otherwise find.)
Awesome, so glad you found an amazing deal!
Which site did you use
@@essviot1165 ita matrix and then direct booked.
Excellent video and information. Much thanks.
Glad you found it useful!
David, can't wait to try some of your ideas to get my wife and I back to the Philippines. Great stuff.
Enjoy!
55 countries, Wow, congratulations on your travels. Will try these sites out hopefully when economy and safety get better or pre COVID.
Best of luck!
Bad Experience with Kiwi. You might want to do a video on this so others don't fall into the same trap. I booked with Kiwi for HNL to Sdf flight 3 months in advance. Good fare basic economy tickets on Hawaiian and Spirit. Paid for the tickets. 1 month later kiwi tells me Spirit cancelled their flight. Kiwi tells me they can try to get my money back, but once you say okay, it is non revocable. A day later kiwi tells me they got a credit from Spirit for the flight good only for 2 months, and that the Hawaii flight was cancelled with no refund. So basically by letting them try to cancel, I got screwed. Couldn't even use the Hawaiian ticket anymore to get to the mainland. This was all two months in advance. I'll never use kiwi again. Like you said, find the flights with them, and do the rest yourself.
Can you threaten then legally?
Unfortunately booking with OTAs can often add complication to traveling. As I recommend in the video, book direct wherever possible and use other websites as search tools.
-David
I heard you recommend NOT booking with Kiwi. Great video!
He said NOT to book with KIWI
KIWI stinks. They did something similar to me. Never got back a refund.
Good to know Info. thank you for the nice video.
Glad it was helpful!
Incredible! Thank you!
You're very welcome!
Great information, thank you!!👍🙏
Glad it was helpful!
Great info. Thak you!
My pleasure!
Well done.
Thanks.
"I've got my work cut out for me." :)
Glad it was useful, you got this!
Very useful information. Much appreciated kind sir. 👍🏾
Happy travels!
Great tips, thanks!!
Glad it was helpful!
You are great. First one I gave a thumbs up to and have been listening for a while. HINT listen at 1.5 speed.
Thanks for that!
Great content! Subscribed
Thanks and welcome!
Great info man. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Google flight is a greAt start for me... I will try the others. Thanks for the info 😊
Have fun!
@@DavidGTravelsI didn’t even know about Google flight. I stopped using google for hours because Google is deceptive, showing you what they want you to see. And then you go there, it’s another price. But thanks for this flight video. It’s ridiculous how it’s so hard to book holidays. And the longer you take, the price ticks up.
Used Kiwi for cheapest direct from Europe to Southeast Asia.
Well who would have known Athens Singapore route exists direct for 200 bucks. Amazing tool if flexible.
Awesome! That route is on Scoot (Singapore Airlines low-cost subsidiary), so make sure to consider baggage and other costs. Happy travels!
Very good video! Thank you.
Thanks for watching and welcome to the channel!
Fabulous info.
Glad it was helpful!
That's great INFO, THANK YOU !!
Glad it was helpful!
Great information. Just subscribed. Another video would be great.
Glad you found it helpful, I have a bunch of other videos on how to find the best flight deals in my all about flights playlist: czcams.com/play/PLlHFWceWhDiToruSro5wuxwKK3VNkycWb.html&si=pbURoK1I3IqfA1yv
If you’re talking about an ITA matrix video I have one in the works, too.
Thanks and appreciated.
Very welcome, thanks for watching!
Short and sweet love this site
Keep up the great work
Thanks so much!
ITA matrix will make me a global nomad!! thank you thank you thank you
Best of luck!
Thank you for this
My pleasure!
Seatguru isn't maintained well anymore. Aerolopa is a greay alternative and kept updayed for the moment. Great video.
Thanks for watching!
This is good stuff..!
He clearly stated he recommends booking with the airline directly and not through Kiwi.
He did include kiwi and showed you how to use it. Although he didn’t say to use it entirely.
@@roja7426you only use it for research. You ALWAYS book directly with the airline. If something goes wrong, those third party booking sites don’t help you.
@@roja7426 Thanks for commenting. In this video the methods I show on kiwi are intended to give you a powerful way to search for flights, but when it comes to booking them I recommend to always try to book directly with the airline if possible.
What I see right now is that airlines artificially keep the number of flights low to charge approximately 50% more than before COVID. Having less flights they pack airplanes full and often overbook (I hear them announcing it at the gate that the flight is overbooked and they need someone to agree to fly with another flight). Having their flights overbooked they have very little stimulus to offer discounts. That's why I could not find any discounted flight from my town in Canada to Bangkok for September-October using the mentioned websites though it is the low season. Probably, the situation is better when you fly from the USA but when you travel from Canada it is expensive like hell.
Thanks for sharing!
I wish you could comment more than "Thanks for sharing!" I am interested how you're responding to those arguments@@DavidGTravels
@@mitzoss Many routes have less flights than pre-COVID, though there are other routes that have much more competition now. Though passenger numbers are getting close, they're not back to pre-pandemic numbers yet. So there's still some continious adjustment being made by airlines. But all of this is only so helpful to the average traveler to consider - in the end there are deals to be had using the techniques outlined in this video.
Feel free to ask any more specific questions @mitzoss
Thank You !
Happy travels!
Thank you for sharing. Can you do one on hotels
Glad you asked! I’ve got one in the works right now and it will be out soon.
excellent . Thank you very much
Thanks for watching!
Awesome 🎉
Thanks for watching!
Interesting video but I never use these sites. I book directly with the airlines because, in the long run in my case at least, it's easier to manage flights directly with the airlines. Okay, I'll never get a first class ticket for $700 instead of over $3,000 but I do get points for my flights and usually end up with enough for a couple of nights for free each year in pricier hotels in major cities. 😊
Thanks for commenting.
I booked business class tickets between the US and Europe for around the price you just listed and booked directly with the airline.
Hello, lots of valuable information. Lots to learn. Did you mention apps or should we use the website on a pc?
Great question! I usually tend to do most of my flight searching on a computer, but some of the sites mentioned have decent apps too.
Nice video 👏👏👏👏
Thank you!
Very happy your video appeared in my feed today! With friends and family in Asia, Europe, and all over the US, I've used the internet for travel booking at least 25 years. You give a few tidbits here I'd never heard of, will definitely try out. I'm very grateful for the pointers, you have my subscribe. Thank you!
Glad to hear it helped, happy travels!
Great info, thank you!
Glad it was helpful, thanks for watching!
EXCELLENT
Many thanks!
Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Kiwi wanted to charge me 50 USD for the second baggage from Chicago to Frankfurt via Istanbul . In the Airline regulations of Turkish Airlines it was stated that the 2nd baggage is free. So I booked directly over Turkish Airlines and saved 50 USD in contrast to Kiwi. Happened last year in June. So check, doublecheck and then check it again.
Book direct to avoid stuff like this.
Yes make another video for more clarity so we can use it effectively
Will do, thanks for the feedback!
Amazing
Glad it was helpful!
Yes make an another video on ita and finding cheap flight
Thanks for the feedback, I’ve got this and more in the works so stay tuned!
YES!!!
Could you do a video on booking round trip flights with different cities? Say San Francisco to Amsterdam and the return is Madrid to San Francisco.
I can definitely consider including that in a video in the future, thanks for commenting!
Yes please, make a tutorial video about ITA
Thanks for the feedback!
Ello Mr T-Spurt. Just wondering. Do you end up saving/ extending battery life by using the front display screen. I'm really keen. It's just the battery life 👍🫶🇦🇺
Hey there, I'm not sure what you mean :)
Cool! Didn't know about ita matrix! Imma def go down the 🐇 🕳 haha
Nice!
thank you
Thanks for watching!
ita video - yes
Thanks for the feedback, it’s in the works.
You won me over on "nifty" and you don't have any gray hair LOL!
Nice
Muchas gracias
De nada!
Very informative thank you
Thanks for watching!
Not completely traveling to your final destination is frowned upon and hopping off at the hub city is likely to get you the boot .@This happened to me on BA last year .
Hey @paulgilliland2992, thanks for the comment! You’re right that skiplagging has some controversy attached to it. Skiplagged is also a useful search tool for other flight search techniques, though - I talk a bit about this in the video if you’d like to learn more.
Which airlines have that two seat option do you find? I love that.
Quite a few, but do keep in mind that they’ll usually be wide-body planes on long haul flights or small jets on more regional routes. My favorites so far are the upper decks of British Airways and Qatar Airways A380s, but the 767s United flies to and from Berlin are decent enough too.
Some things you ahow disappeared too fast and i didnt get the chance to see what you were showing. A slighly longer pause would be good. Good info though. Needed this 2 weeks ago!
Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind for future videos. When a video is fast, I find the slow-down and pause functions in CZcams help me out.
interesting information for sure, are you saying the cost of a flight from airport a to airport b is more expensive than a flight from airport a to airport b to airport c? if that is the case, would you be able to use the fight from airport b to airport c, which you didn't use, as proof you will be leaving the country of airport b in 30 days where that is required, thus, eliminating the need for a throw away ticket?
Thanks for commenting! I’m not sure I follow your idea here, do you mean that the skipped leg of your flight would still have some kind of value?
Having had two airport managers as good friends over the years, you would be surprised to know where airlines cut costs. Having a high regard for life, I do not do discount airlines. Depends what you call a great deal. It depends on the value you put on your life. If you get into a habit of using one major airline all of the time, they will usually give you great bargains.
Yeah, I draw the line at DC-3's In South America, where there are more drums of diesel than passengers.
Definitely agree that a suitable airline depends on your needs. To be fair to low-cost carriers I’ve had horrible experiences on them, but I’ve also had a lot of really good experiences (and half empty planes) flying them.
does google flights use ITA matrix? it sure feels and looks like it in a slightly more simpler interface
Sort of, google now owns both and google flights was influenced by ITA Matrix.
coooool
Gota a question. If you use skiplagged to find a flight with a layover where you're going, can you get your checked bags at the layover point, or do they stay with the airline for the duration of the entire flight?
No checked bags
Awesome except seatguru rest all new and informative to me. Cheers 👌
Glad it was helpful!
@@DavidGTravels Seat Guru is no longer updated I've been told?
i think i have been on these sites but what i noticed is you have to take luggage and check out and check in? if i am travelling international destinations where there is stop over in anohter country that is very painful to exit/do immigration etc?
This is really a case by case thing, but I highly recommend trying to book directly with the airline where possible.
-David
Solution - don’t check luggage. Travel lighter to remove the risk.
Here's how I tend to travel for reference: czcams.com/video/uVKPUnqZBUw/video.html
When considering a travel site that advertises inexpensive tickets, one has to wonder why are the tickets so inexpensive? One of the ways, that is not legally allowed by airlines, is using someone elses frequent flyer miles. The travel company purchases frequent flyer miles from someone that cannot use them for one reason or another. The miles are purchased for rock bottom cost. Then the travel company uses the frequent flyer miles to book your ticket sometimes consolidating miles from different entities. There have been many recorded instances where the airline has booted people off flights with no refund, sometimes in the middle of their trip, and you may be banned from flying that airline.
Thanks for commenting.
In this video you’ll find information on how to use five sites that are often overlooked to find flight deals that can be booked on the airline’s own website.
yes make a video re ita matrix !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the feedback!
yes make another video
Thanks for the feedback, will do!
do you know if there is an easy way to search for multi ticket flights? example going to point A to C cost 2k but buying one ticket for A to B then B to C only cost 1300. This is where im stuck right now haha. Cant find an easy way to search like this. Multi city is close but not close enough to work as it doesn't search for cheaper ways via separate tickets.
Google flights is a good go-to tool for this. For one-way tickets you can just search separately, but often open jaws can get you much lower pricing.
The flights from Australia to the Uk is hard as i can only fly 4 to 5 hours at a time and its not cheap. Love some advice please. Thank you.
Thanks for commenting!
Keep in mind that on this channel I don’t quite have the bandwidth to give individual travel ideas in depth. But you could try breaking up your trip with a few stops along the way - maybe something like Singapore for a few days and then India and Turkey. There are a fare amount of low-cost options in Asia and Europe.
@@DavidGTravels Thank you for your time but i think i will have to end up paying someone from youtube as i cannot go that way due to the medication i am on as it takes a lot but i thought to Apia and then to Hawaii to the mainland and to Canada and need to break it up to the Uk if that makes sense. Thank you and if you are ever looking for a paid job well always let me know as i need to get over that way as my son has a terminal illness. 😞
@@mareelewis7639Use a travel agent. That’s what they do.
Skiplagging can be risky. It can get you banned by an airline.
Seat guru can be wrong. I always check aero lopa too.
True that, it’s always important to consider the risks when skiplagging.
@@DavidGTravels btw, thank you for pointing out kiwi. This is my go to now!
@@cdt996 Glad it's been useful, sure has saved me some money in the past!
Awesome video , please check for me ,the cost ,sit,the airplane I should used .
From Lagos Nigeria to Miami Florida on 14 to 30 , April 2024 , from Tega , Nigeria
I made this video to help you check for yourself, happy travels!
Kiwi is another low-cost carrier rated site that nickle n dimes you for luggage as well. Also, they work by keeping you stranded your 2nd leg back to usa. Jfk to Italy 9 hrs Italy to jfk 17 hr...8 hrs in airport 😂
Book direct… and claim EU261
I need some cheap one for Nebraska
Try out the techniques shown in this video and let us know what kind of great deals you find.
minute 0:21 its Granada in Spain
Indeed! Will have some more content from Spain coming in the near future, too.
Yes, do a ITA MATRIX & Book with ITA MATRIX
Thanks for the feedback!
Make sure to tell these people that if you you Skiplagged or just hopping off on that middle flight, you have a high chance of being banned from that airline. Do that on the four or five major airlines, and then you never fly again.
Thanks for commenting! If you're interested in learning a little more about skiplagging and my thoughts on it, here's a video for you: czcams.com/video/2qJyi1jpiyo/video.html
Do keep in mind that Skiplagged is useful for other flight search techniques and I go over this in the video.
-David
@@DavidGTravelsI know all about it and while you may get away with it at first, Airlines’s do keep track of that kind of information and once they become aware, you can definitely get banned from flying them again.
@@jaxx-_-123but does skiplagged show you the flight continues beyond the city you bought the ticket for? Maybe I don’t want to Skiplagged. I just like to buy tickets through them.
@@TheBoobanyes, if you buy a ticket from city A to city C but get off in city B in the middle of your journey, that is against the terms of service and could get you banned from that particular airline. If you just did it once they probably wouldn’t do anything but if you make it a habit…..
@@jaxx-_-123 but I mean does skiplagged show me my ticket actually continues to city C? Because I search for city A to B. Skiplagged can show me this flight to city B. But it also goes to C. Does it show me this? Or am I skiplaggning in ignorance?
Kiwi? don't make me laugh. My booking with them got cancelled and I'm still waiting for my refund a year later.
This video is showing you how to search with kiwi and book directly with the airline.
You are correct, cheers. Still, do not book through kiwi.@@DavidGTravels
I usually avoid booking through in third party, but I haven’t personally had any issues with the few flights I’ve booked via kiwi. Clearly other travelers have had different experiences, and thanks for sharing yours. Happy travels!
What do you think of Travelocity for last minute deals?
I’ve never seen any unique last-minute flight deals that couldn’t be found for similar prices elsewhere on Travelocity. It’s almost always best to book direct with the airline where possible, so for these third party websites I try to focus on the ones that are most usually for searching for flights (not booking).
@@DavidGTravels sure. Was looking for a next day flight. All the airlines said $900. Travelocity said $575 and it would be on one of the big 4 airlines. Alaska, delta, American or united.
@@nellybelly623 Great to find an awesome deal no matter where. I have booked quite a few last-minute flights and nearly all of them could be booked for at least near the lowest price directly with the airline.
@@DavidGTravels I don’t know why I said Travelocity. It was Priceline. I could not find any deal on those airlines that could come close to competing. I do not know why I said Travelocity because I totally agree with you, I find the airline & book direct. Way better if there is any delays or issues. Ended up not taking the flight because I couldn’t find feedback on Priceline.
I’ve found some good deals on Priceline, particularly for rental cars which I talk a bit more about in my recent video about rental car hacks: czcams.com/video/0KvbeihFW8Q/video.htmlsi=xqkJWBfeArVjG18F
But for last-minute flight deals, I’ve found they’re almost always bookable for near the best price directly with the airline.
Question : do you test VPN for ?
VPNs can be useful but you mostly don’t need them to find the best flight prices.
ok thank you@@DavidGTravels
Happy travels!
Do they apply for flights to Africa?
Definitely 👍
I travel out of jfk , nothing is cheap unless you book months in advance or off peak , also so websites track you ,clean you history every time you look ,or used a VPN
Thanks for sharing. I booked a flight to Europe for about $130 one-way five days before travel in December 2021, so there are some last-minute deals from JFK at times.
It’s a good idea to just set your browser to clear the cache each time you close and reopen it. That said, the idea of prices changing because of cookies during your search is really blown out of proportion a lot of the time. Most credible flight search websites don’t do that at all.
In my experience booking directly with airlines is always more expensive.
Interesting, after booking over a thousand flights in the last 10 years I’d say the majority were cheaper or about the same price when booking directly with an airline. I’ve got a new video for you on the topic coming out soon, stay tuned!
Thanks!will do@@DavidGTravels
Happy travels!
American Airlines is suing Skiplagged. Where people were barred from an airline for skiplagging. If your tickets going to airport A - B - C and get off at airport B. On the return flight should be C - B - A. but your get on airport B and finish at airport A. That's how the airline catches you.
@scottsmit1115 United sued Skiplagged and lost. If you skip a flight all the rest of your flights on that ticket will be cancelled. But keep in mind that Skiplagged is also a useful search engine for other flight booking techniques.
That's why you buy 1-way tickets each way instead of a round trip.
@@DoomFinger511but 1 way tickets are more expensive.
@@TheBooban Hey, it’s just arithmetic. A-B-C and B-A one way may add up to less than A-B RT. If not, don’t do it!
i found a multi leg trip ams-han and dps - ams for with ita matrix for 700 euro and even with book with matrix it's 150 to 300 euro more.
Give it a try direct on the airline’s site.
@@DavidGTravels Above 1100 euro there....
The fare might not be bookable then anymore. This could really be related to a number of things but it’s hard to say without having more info. Make sure you checked both of those boxes in the bottom right in ITA if you didn’t.
If you’ve also tried putting it into a few other OTA/metasearch sites, you could look at other flights with the same fare if there are any.
Using a VPN to change the country the flight is being booked from can yield cheaper prices too.
Thanks for sharing, this can also be a really useful tool for finding cheap flights. Often you don't even need a VPN to get prices from different countries, either. I've got a video in the works that covers this topic, so stay tuned!
It’s a myth. Have no real effect
These sites were good in the past. I just checked them. They are very expensive now...
Could you share the exact details of what you mean?
In the past, I used skiplagged and got excellent prices on tickets. A few days ago I tried for a new flight, and prices were more than booking direct with the airline. This happened with each of the sites I tried. Not just because I needed a ticket in two days. I tried a month later and still the prices were more. @@DavidGTravels
Thanks for clarifying. It's completely true that third-party websites (skiplagged included) will charge a bit more than the airlines most of the time. Basically they're charging a commission, but the thing is, you only want to use those sites to search for flight deals. Once you find a deal then it's time to go to the airline's website and book it there. It's just without a nice variety of search tools (like the lesser known ones in my video here), you may never know a great deal exists!
When ever I use a 3rd party booking to look for low fares and then try to book directly with the airline line the price goes up $300 sometimes up to $1,000., ho back to the 3rd party and it’s still the low price. So I end up booking with them. How do I get the same low price when booking directly with the airline???
That can happen, but it’s very rare that third-party sites will be more than a tiny bit cheaper. The process I find the most success with is to search for the flights i research directly on the airline’s website, but you may find that you get a better price by clicking into the airline’s website from another search website from time to time.
👍👍👏👏
David how did this one video for you go so viral? Has so many views wow
I’m just looking to make videos that help as many people as possible travel better.🤷♂️
Overjoyed that you found it useful!
When you buy through 2nd party websites the airlines aren’t accountable for your flights the websites are. I lost over 1,200bucks on travelacity
Hey Rubin, thanks for the comment. I always recommend aiming to book direct with the airline where possible.