Where do you look for your flight tickets?

Posted by Ill-Conference-7666@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 30 comments

Every time I look up flights from London to New York I feel like I'm being shown the expensive ones first and the cheap ones are buried somewhere. Probably not a conspiracy but it does make me wonder if I'm even using the right platform to look for tickets. What do you use usually? I know it's probably not the best time for flights since the oil crisis started, but I just have to get to NYC for my work.

Reposted, because I made a typo in the title the first time.

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Ashamed_Housing7489@reddit

Direct with chosen airline

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kebabby72@reddit

I just booked a Bangkok to London return and it was about £250 cheaper direct with Thai Airways than anything on Skyscanner. Agoda was shown in Skyscanner but had a much higher price than logged in on Agodas own website and app. Agoda was actually £25 cheaper than direct with the 'flight change ' for £7 plus carrier fees but I really don't understand because the app made it seem as though they were taking the booking directly, whereas the website forwarded to another site for booking via other providers.

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Max_Abbott_1979@reddit

Lee at Dial a Flight 👍

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silly_capybara@reddit

Kayak, then book with the airline. I really dislike google flights

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AshamedNetwork777@reddit

Cheapflights and skyscanner tho lately skyscanner has been slightly cheaper than the former

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Notagelding@reddit

I use kiwi to search for flights but always book direct with the airline. Back in the day I did book via Expedia but would always book direct now.

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G_UK@reddit

Google Flights

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4nn4s3@reddit

Whatever you do, DONT BOOK WITH 3RD PARTIES. Book direct with airlines

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asuka_rice@reddit

Skyscanner, Expedia, airline websites.

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qqqqtip@reddit

skyscanner is great

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NoFewSatan@reddit

Google Flights then book with the airline.

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Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit

Google Flights usually. But word of advice, book direct with the airline rather than a third party website.

If things go tits up, your contract is directly with the airline and they will talk to you. If you book via a third party, you need to take up your issues with them and they play middleman with the airline.

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iffyClyro@reddit

Sound advice however I can’t always afford to pay over and above. I’ve paid £300 less for flights by going via third party and that’s £300 I simply can’t stomach spending.

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OctarineAudacity22@reddit

It’s understandable, and a risk. I’ve had things go wrong with Expedia and Booking years ago and won’t book 3rd party anymore, but can understand making the choice based on the price difference and what one can afford.

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iffyClyro@reddit

If it’s small margins it’s a no-brainer. Bigger margins mean a willingness to accept an element of the risk that comes with it.

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iffyClyro@reddit

Skyscanner

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blurredlynes@reddit

Google Flights. They have a good little overview/table options so if the date isn't important but the destination at the right price is you can scan across the find the cheapest dates around the time you need to go (so go a day earlier or stay 2 days later).

You can use this to find different combinations as well, so might be cheaper to flight in and out on two different airlines then get a return with the same one.

I do usually go and book direct with the airlines shown afterwards once I know what dates are best.

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LJA0611@reddit

Skyscanner but they all pretty much show the same

Unless there’s a massive saving I’d never book via a third party/agent, just too much that can go wrong.

As you say not many cheap flights around now, for obvious reasons

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Exact_Gazelle_7662@reddit

Itamatrix is good as you can look at multiple airports and a range of dates.

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Bifanarama@reddit

skyscanner or expedia to get a general gist of what's good. sort by price. then book direct on an airline website cos it's normally less hassle.

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asymmetricears@reddit

Probably Kayak as a first look, then when I've found what I want, I go through the airline direct.

The other tool that is useful for more complicated journeys with stopovers is the ITA Matrix. I don't think this is really that useful for a direct London to NY flight, but I use it when booking flights to Australia.

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guyse2015u@reddit

Just comapre

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Classic_Mammoth_9379@reddit

I use skyscanner to search but having had a bit of a nightmare with flights being moved/cancelled due to weather and being stuck in the middle of an agent and an airline - where possible I’m going to pay the extra fiver and go direct to the airline to actually book.

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