{"id":2328,"date":"2025-03-18T18:41:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T18:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reidsguides.com\/rb\/?p=2328"},"modified":"2025-03-18T18:52:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T18:52:01","slug":"the-10-best-and-cheapest-airfare-search-sites-for-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reidsguides.com\/rb\/the-10-best-and-cheapest-airfare-search-sites-for-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Best (and Cheapest) Airfare Search Sites for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Frommer\u2019s regularly pits the best airfare search engines, aggregators, and booking sites against each other in a battle royale to see which can find the lowest price on more than two dozen identical searches for flights.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s results bring new discoveries. We are excited to announce that none of our new top three\u2014the best of the best\u2014is a household name. We are equally excited to discover that if you\u2019re specifically looking for a last-minute deal on airfare, a fourth website, one that\u2019s not even in our top three, is the best choice. And two former airfare search sites fell out of our Top 10 entirely: This year, both Booking.com<\/strong> and FlightNetwork<\/strong> failed to take off.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of our Top 10, each one has its pluses and minuses, which we\u2019re about to reveal in our reviews below.<\/p>\n

On this year\u2019s list, two sites that previously languished in the bottom half of the reviews have upped their games and zoomed into the top ranks\u2014and one former low performer improved so much that it nabbed the top slot.<\/p>\n

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We have winnowed down a wide field to the 10 best airfare sites for 2024. Here they are.<\/div>\n

A word on our methodology<\/h3>\n
We tested 15 sites on 32 itineraries, trying both last-minute flights (leaving in a week) and APEX fares (booked three months out). We covered major gateways (NYC to LAX, LAX to Hong Kong, NYC to Paris) and secondary ones (Philly to Tampa, Chicago to Rome, Miami to Rio). Finally, we threw in a curve ball (Dallas to Dubai) and included a flight with no North American legs (London to Barcelona) to see how well each handled Europe\u2018s wilderness of low-cost carriers.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We also required realistic results, so we ignored low fares that would be miserable to fly due to excessively drawn-out layovers, too many stops, or flying long detours just to change planes. Basically, we rejected any itinerary that increased total travel time by more than half. Airlines may think those are viable plans, but we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Finally, we applied a rigorous, weighted scoring system that rewarded three points to any airfare search site that found the best fares, two points for second-best, and so on. We also penalized sites with negative points if the price proved to be higher than the average result from all the other competitors. Fares within 1% of one another were considered equal.<\/p>\n

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A few things to keep in mind<\/h3>\n
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\u2022 An aggregator is only as good as the OTAs it canvasses.<\/strong> There are booking engines that sell tickets directly (Hotwire, Kiwi, CheapOAir, etc.). And then there are aggregators, which are sites that do not book tickets but instead search dozens of other booking engines, airfare sites, and OTAs (online travel agencies) and compile the results in one place; travelers then click through to their selection to make the actual purchase on the third-party site that\u2019s actually selling it.<\/p>\n

Some of the booking sites that aggregators show you are safer than others. All quality aggregators will remove unreliable ticket sellers from their searches, but problems can slip through. As you should do when you are referred to any unfamiliar company, always do a quick Better Business Bureau<\/a> check for an unfamiliar airfare seller and search for complaints and red flags.<\/p>\n

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Also, some OTAs are prone to dangling lead prices a few bucks below what they will actually offer once you click through, and some misleadingly categorize \u201cdirect\u201d flights\u2014which do actually stop, but don’t require you to change planes\u2014as \u201cnonstop.\u201d<\/a> Because prices can change from moment to moment, even the most honorable aggregator may lead you to a site where you can\u2019t find the airfare you were originally quoted. When that happened to us frequently in our review tests, we let you know.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2022 You must search Southwest.com <\/a>on your own. <\/strong>Southwest annoyingly does not allow its results to be aggregated or sold through third party OTAs\u2014except for one site which we name below.<\/div>\n
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#10: Google.com\/flights<\/h3>\n
Aggregator<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Google<\/a> may be the Titan of online search, but it fumbles when it comes to airfares.<\/p>\n

Google does have some things going for it. It’s fast, refreshing results even as you key in destinations or change filters. It displays average prices on a popup calendar when you\u2019re choosing dates so you can see at a glance the cheapest days to fly. And in the spring of 2024, it was the first to show Southwest Airlines’ once-proprietary airfares<\/a> among its airfare search results.<\/p>\n

So why is the mighty Google at the back of the pack?<\/span><\/p>\n

Its price results were all over the place. It found the best fare a grand total of one time, flying from Miami to Rio\u2014but four of our top five sites matched it. Then it tanked on rooting out the absolutely lowest fares for two major routes: NYC to Paris and LA to Hong Kong. Its results for pricier direct flights on those itineraries were just average.<\/p>\n

Google frequently found the exact same flight as many other sites did, but at prices just a little bit higher\u2014often just 5% to 15%, but in some cases bafflingly higher, like the last-minute Dallas-Dubai jaunt on Emirates; Google wanted $673 more than our price champion for that flight, and around $250 more than several other sites found.<\/p>\n

In summary, Google is great for finding available flights, but it’s better ignored when it comes time to actually buy them.<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong> Handily the fastest; useful calendar and graph of prices; detailed filters; ability to include or exclude a given airline or connecting airport from results; lists in-flight amenities (legroom, seat outlets, entertainment, Wi-Fi)<\/div>\n
Cons:<\/strong> Merely an average performance on price\u2014rarely the best, and sometimes the worst<\/div>\n
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# 9: Hotwire.com<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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OTA<\/strong><\/p>\n

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After quietly doing away with its Hot Rates (deeply discounted opaque airfares), Hotwire<\/a> fell out of our ranking after 2017. Now it\u2019s back, but with a huge caveat: Never use Hotwire for last-minute fare.<\/p>\n

Hotwire performed, by far, the worst of any site we tested at last-minute prices, chalking up the highest airfare a whopping six times. The two better-than-average rates it did find were balanced out by a pair of worse-than-average ones on other itineraries.<\/p>\n

Hotwire made up some ground by being flatly average when it came to booking farther in advance. It never found the cheapest overall fare, but it often nabbed lower or even the lowest rates on direct flights.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, it failed pretty hard, and we think we know why. Hotwire was the only site that missed big chances to bring no-frills carriers into the mix. On New York\u2013to-Paris, it found a decent $745 fare on Scandinavian, albeit with a stopover\u2014but everyone else found a direct Flybee flight for even less ($666\u2013$687). The best Hotwire could muster for a direct flight: $987 on Norse.<\/p>\n

More egregiously, because Hotwire only searches one airport at a time by default, it missed lots of cheaper no-frills flights that were available at nearby alternate airports. Because of that blind spot, Hotwire insisted on a British Airways fare for our London-Barcelona hop that actually cost around four times more than booking a combo of no-frills RyanAir, easyJet, and Vueling from other airports in London\u2014a tactic every other site knew enough to include in results. Hotwire pulled the same face-plant on last-minute fares on the same route; the Air France tickets it offered us cost twice as much as the low-cost carriers in that scenario.<\/p>\n

Another mark against Hotwire is its poor set of filters. Along with other problems, it offered no way to indicate a maximum total flight time or layover duration you\u2019d be willing to deal with. That\u2019s pretty much a standard sidebar slider everywhere else. We did like the way its showcases, above the results, how much it would cost to fly on three days to either side of your chosen date.<\/p>\n

By the way: If you\u2019re wondering why Expedia (and its corporate siblings, Orbitz and Travelocity) is not on this list, it is because those results are all right here in Hotwire. Expedia now just uses the Hotwire engine for its airfare functions, so if you search Expedia now, you\u2019ve searched Hotwire.<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong> Decent prices on APEX airfares<\/div>\n
Cons:<\/strong> Terrible rates on last-minute flights; sub-par filters; ignores no-frills carriers<\/div>\n
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#3: Skiplagged<\/h3>\n

Aggregator<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Skiplagged<\/a>, a decade-old upstart, is problematic if you don’t know how to use it. It became famous for its “Hidden city” fares, which are tedious to explain but boil down to this: They’re itineraries that break the airlines’ rules, so they’re too risky for us to recommend. They can sometimes cost less, but you don’t get to check any luggage. Accepting a hidden city fare can results in pricey consequences or even lawsuits<\/a> if you’re caught.<\/p>\n

But Skiplagged gives you the option to exclude this controversial type of airfare by unchecking the SKIPLAGGING box, which we did for all of our tests.<\/p>\n

Once we omitted hidden city fares, Skiplagged turned out to be strong on direct flights. Our top three sites were pretty much neck-and-neck when it came to pricing, so Skiplagged’s ranking came down to other features. Its delightfully simple graphic interface lets you compare, at a glance, the lengths of trips, including layover durations. When you enter a departure airport or city, the arrival is defaulted to “Anywhere;” if you leave it that way, you get a page of photos with prices for a bunch of tempting getaways.<\/p>\n

Skiplagged\u2019s popup calendars show how much the flight costs on each day over two months, so you can easily see how tinkering with the departure or return can save you money. (On the two sites that placed higher in our review ranking, this feature only indicates price ranges, not precise fares).<\/p>\n

We do have a few criticisms. Sometimes Skiplagged sent us to questionable OTAs to make purchases, and we sometimes found prices were actually higher once we clicked over. Skiplagged also lacks robust filters, doesn’t disclose baggage fees, and rounds down all the prices\u2014that last complaint is minor since we’re only talking about a few cents, but just feels sneaky.<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong> The best at finding the lowest fares on direct flights; noticeably fast; unique and useful interface; precise prices for the alternate dates on popup calendars<\/div>\n
Cons:<\/strong> Mediocre filters; no flexible dates option (though it does has a line graph indicating prices over 30 days); doesn\u2019t show baggage fees; still sells problematic \u201chidden city\u201d results that airlines have sued passengers for using\u2014you can disable this by unticking the “Skiplagging” option<\/div>\n
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#2: Skyscanner<\/h3>\n

Aggregator<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Skyscanner<\/a> remains one of the best performers on price and essentially tied with #3, Skiplagged, in the lowest fares on advance purchase tickets. Something else it shares with Skiplagged: mediocre filters.<\/p>\n

Skyscanner was merely average on last-minute bookings.<\/p>\n

This year, Skyscanner still earned the edge for a few reasons. You can choose “Explore everywhere” as your destination to get a nice grid of destinations at the cheapest cost. Unlike a similar feature at Skiplagged, which is constrained to North America, if you keep scrolling down on Skyscanner, you will get destinations on other continents as well.<\/p>\n

One big plus: Skyscanner includes a star rating for all third-party booking sites (and how many users rated it), which helps travelers vet unfamiliar sites.<\/p>\n

Skyscanner also offers the option to include nearby airports and to search for destinations in an entire country rather than just a city. While the initial popup calendars for travel dates do not show, as do some others, the precise prices to fly on alternate days, they do indicate each day\u2019s relative cost category via a color code. Then, once you get to the results page, the tiny “Show whole month” link at the top will provide a page with two months\u2019 worth of estimated prices.<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong> Excellent results, especially on advance-purchase tickets; a variety of prices for the same flight from multiple OTAs\/airline sites; two months of fares for flexible dates; searches nearby airports; notes codeshares; can find lowest fares to many destinations at once<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cons:<\/strong> Doesn\u2019t include baggage fees; sponsored results are mixed in with the organic ones, although they\u2019re clearly marked; mediocre filters<\/div>

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Momondo.com<\/p>\n

#1: Momondo\/ Kayak<\/p>\n


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