Tips to Find Very Cheap International Flights

Nowadays the offer of very cheap international flights is astonishing. The low cost carriers' arrival to the market has had a great impact: the prices have plummeted. In this section I review the best available tools online to help you with your air travel planning.

The increasing number of airlines, flights, routes, destinations and fares has also made the number of booking sites rise dramatically. Type 'flight booking site' in your favorite search engine and it will deliver millions of results. Literally.

The task can be overwhelming...

"There are tons of booking sites! Which one is the best?"

Well, as you surely anticipated, it depends on when and where you want to fly and with whom (e.g. you may have a fidelity mileage card that you'd like to use).

Booking sites are also very helpful to find special deals on flights + accommodation or 'fly & drive' packages.

// momondo // - It is THE place to find the best rates. This site is based in Copenhagen (Denmark) and has 12 international versions. They currently search across 700+ travel websites simultaneously (airline websites AND online travel agencies) and their network keeps expanding.

Pros: Very user friendly website. I especially like a couple of features:

• When you introduce the dates of your trip a bar chart indicates the lowest fare for each day
• You can browse the results by website, price and time of the flights.

Cons: momondo is NOT a travel agency, it's just a search engine so you won't able to book or buy a ticket through this website.

// eDreams // - It's by all means my one and favorite booking site when I'm looking for very cheap international flights. It operates in 14 countries (including the US, Canada, Australia, UK and Germany) and it has offered me the best rates in 90% of my searches.

I've been using it for more than 7 years. I can't remember the number of times I've compared it to other competitors only to find out what I already knew: their rates were better.

Pros: Available in 6 languages. Excellent after sales service, especially when companies change the time and/or date of a flight and cancellations (e.g. strikes, climatology).

Cons: Design too colorful and crammed. Fixed booking fee (sometimes more than 10% of the total price...).

// Expedia // - A very popular site with 16 international versions. I haven't used it as often as eDreams but it is also a very good option that provides cheap fares. I particularly like their customer service and their quick response to requests.

Pros: A lot of flights have no booking fee.

Cons: The website is stuffed, sometimes it's hard to navigate through so many options, reminders and sales pitches.

// Kayak // - I generally use this website for comparison purposes. I've never bought a flight with them because they always show significantly higher fares than eDreams or Expedia.

Pros: Design simplicity, I love it. A calendar on the right hand side tells you the best rates as soon as you chose the date of your travel. I also like the option that allows you to compare the results with other competitors.

Cons: Fares are too high.

// Vayama // - As with Kayak, I always use it to check the convenience of the flights I've found somewhere else. Pretty friendly and quite accurate.

The fares are generally a bit higher than other (a few euros sometimes) but still good anyway.

Pros: Simple design. A map shows
you the route. Possibility of comparing the results with 8 other sites (each one in a different pop up window).

Cons: A lot of windows pop up
while searching and it's terribly annoying.

// Individual airline websites // - Sometimes special deals to buy very cheap international flights are only available on their websites. Plus, you'll avoid the booking fee that sites like eDreams or Kayak charge for using their services.

"Any other tools I could use?"

Of course! Nowadays the whole process of searching, booking and buying an airline ticket can be done online. As a result, a bunch of developers have designed amazing tools that are complementary to this process.

There are a few websites related to air travel that I would like to recommend to you.

// SeatExpert // - This tool will help you to find the best airplane seat on your next flight. In fact, you'll be able to find two awesome features:

• Detailed airplane seat maps of any plane model that you can imagine (you can even browse by airline).
• Seating advice. Where to seat and why. Priceless!

It has the ability to search by carrier/date/flight number, if you don't know the aircraft type. A good alternative is a website called SeatGuru, although its accuracy is not as good.

Obviously, no need to use these sites if you are travelling with a low cost carrier... first-come, first-serve service kindly offered!

// Flight Stats // - It is a comprehensive and user-friendly site that provides real-time flight status, flight delays and other airport information. You can search by flight, airport or route and the results will tell you about the schedule and actual departure/arrival of the flight, the type of plane, etc. Essential for your own use or if you are expecting the arrival of a relative or friend.

// WebFlyer (Mileage calculator) // - Excellent tool to calculate the distance of your whole trip. You can add up to 4 stops. The results are given both in kilometers and miles.

// AirlineMeals // - Would you like to know how your next flight-s meal looks like? If your answer is "Yes" you should definitely take a look because this website is absolutely hilarious. You can ever browse by airline to discover that very cheap international flights offer extremely cheap food :-).

Are you looking for cheap air flights to Spain?

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