How to Find Cheap Flights: 12 Methods That Actually Work

There is no secret button that makes flights cheap. There are, however, a dozen dull habits that reliably take money off the fare, and most of them involve being less fussy than the person sitting next to you on the plane.

I keep a spreadsheet of what I have paid for flights over the years, which tells you a lot about me and also something about fares. The trips that came out cheapest were never the ones I searched for most obsessively. They were the ones where I was flexible about something: the day, the airport or the destination. Here is what works, what does not, and when to stop looking.

First, the incognito myth

You will have been told that airlines track your searches and raise the price when you come back, so you should always search in an incognito or private window. It is a lovely story, and it survives because everyone has seen a fare go up between two searches.

There is no good evidence that this is what is happening. Fares change because seats sell. Each flight has a limited number of seats at each price, and when the cheapest batch goes, the next one is what you see. Prices can also differ between searches because results are cached, or because they are pulled from different sources, and some fares vanish the moment you try to book them. A private window only stops your own browser keeping your history and cookies on your device. It does not hide you from the internet and has no effect on how many cheap seats are left.

Try it once if you like, for reassurance. It costs nothing, and it saves nothing. The same goes for the old advice that Tuesday is the magic day to book: it may once have had some truth to it, but it is not a rule you can rely on now.

A private window hides your history from your own laptop. It does not hide anything from the seat count.

Be flexible about when

1. Search a whole month, not two dates

Most fare-comparison sites offer a calendar or grid view showing prices across several weeks. Start there. Moving a trip by a day or two can often take a surprising amount off the total, particularly when it avoids a Friday departure and a Sunday return.

2. Fly at the times nobody wants

The 6am departure and the last flight of the night are often cheaper for a reason. Midweek flights tend to be cheaper too. Before you celebrate, check the first train of the day and the price of airport parking, since a £30 saving is not a saving if it needs a £60 taxi.

3. Work around school holidays

Fares jump in school holidays, and the dates are not the same across the UK. Scottish schools usually break up in late June and go back in mid-August, while most English and Welsh schools finish in late July and return in early September. So flying from Edinburgh in late August, or from an English airport in early July, can be noticeably cheaper than the same trip a few weeks later or earlier. If you have no children in school, the shoulder months of May, June and September are your best friends.

Be flexible about where

4. Let the map choose your destination

If what you really want is sun in October, say so. Many search tools let you enter a month and leave the destination open, then show you prices by country. This is the single biggest saving available, because a city that is cheap to reach this month is often a third of the price of the one you first thought of. We chose one of our weekend cities this way.

5. Check every airport within reach

Search your whole region. If you live in Leeds, compare Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Liverpool. If you are in Bristol, look at Cardiff, Birmingham and the London airports. Then add the train fare or parking to each option, because the winner on the screen is not always the winner once you have got yourself there.

6. Fly into one city and home from another

Two one-way tickets can beat a return, and an open-jaw route saves you doubling back. Our route through Portugal without a car works well this way, in via Lisbon and out from Faro or Porto. Most comparison sites have a multi-city option if you look for it.

Search like someone with a plan

7. Book in the sensible window

There is no perfect day, but there are useful ranges. For short-haul flights in Europe, roughly one to three months ahead tends to work well outside peak holidays. For long-haul, look about three to six months ahead, and earlier for peak dates such as Christmas or the summer holidays. Last-minute bargains do exist, but you cannot plan a family holiday around them.

8. Set a price alert, then leave it alone

Set an alert on a fare-comparison site for your route and let your inbox do the watching. Note the normal price over a week or two, so that you will recognise a good one when it arrives. You will also stop opening the same tab every evening, which is good for your mental health and has no effect on the price at all.

9. Compare, then check the airline's own price

Use a comparison site to find the flight, then look at the same flight on the airline's website. It is sometimes the same, sometimes a little cheaper, and dealing directly often makes changes and refunds simpler. If an unfamiliar agent is noticeably cheaper, read the reviews and the fees for changes before you pay. Paying on a credit card can also add some protection under Section 75 where the cost is over £100, though booking through a third party can complicate a claim.

Count the real price

10. Price the whole trip, not the headline fare

Add the cabin bag, seat selection, hold luggage and any airport fees before you compare. Then look at where you land. An airport called "Paris" may be Beauvais, about 80 km north of the city, and one called "Barcelona" may be Girona, about 100 km away, which makes for an expensive coach ride on a late arrival. Packing light helps a lot here: our seven-day backpack checklist shows how to skip the hold bag altogether.

11. Accept one stop on long-haul

On long routes, one stop often saves £100 to £300 over a direct flight, at the time of writing, and sometimes more. Our Japan route is a good example of a trip where it can be worth the extra hours. Keep to a single ticket where you can: if you book separate legs yourself and the first one runs late, the second airline owes you nothing, and you may pay for a new seat. Allow at least three hours if you do self-transfer.

12. Decide your number and stop

Before you start, work out what a good fare looks like for your route, based on a few days of watching. When it hits that number, book. Waiting for a slightly lower price usually just gives you more time to watch it climb, and fares often rise sharply in the last few weeks before departure. Most UK bookings also give you little or no free cooling-off period, so double-check names and dates before paying.

When to stop looking

Three signs that you have finished. The fare is at or below your number. You have checked two or three different dates and nearby airports. And you have started comparing a £6 difference on a £180 flight. At that point, your time is worth more than the saving, so book it and move on to the part of the trip you will actually remember.