How to search Cheapflights for airline tickets

Cheapflights is metasearch, in the same group as Kayak and Momondo. It compares airlines and agencies and sends you elsewhere to buy.

What Cheapflights is good at

• Broad agency coverage, including smaller sellers that Google Flights does not list.
• Route and destination guides with historical price context, useful for working out whether the fare you are looking at is good or merely available.

What to watch for

It shares an owner and much of its data with Kayak and Momondo. Running all three is close to running one, so pick whichever you find easiest to read.

Because it hands off to agencies, the price you see is subject to whatever the agency adds at checkout. Check the total before you commit.

Use it like this

1. Search the route and read the price context it gives you, which is the thing Kayak does not put in front of you.
2. Filter out the sellers you have never heard of before you compare prices, or you will compare a real fare against one that grows at checkout.
3. Follow through to the seller and check the total, including bags, before you commit.

Verdict

A reasonable alternative to Kayak. Not worth searching in addition to Kayak.

Common questions

Who owns Cheapflights?

Booking Holdings.

Does Cheapflights sell tickets directly?

No. It compares prices and hands you off to the airline or an agency to complete the booking.