Want to save money when buying flights? We’ve put together a detailed comparison of flight search engines to help you find the best prices. When you’re after the best price and aren’t tied to a particular airline, you should use flight search engines that show you offers from a range of carriers.
How search engines work
Flight comparison sites (Skyscanner, Kiwi, Kayak) don’t sell tickets themselves. They collect data from airlines and online travel agencies (OTAs) and redirect you to where you can actually buy the ticket. The algorithm then ranks the results by price, flight duration or combination of carriers. Some search engines have direct contracts with airlines, others draw on global distribution systems (GDS).
- A search engine (e.g. Skyscanner, Kiwi) – shows you an overview of offers, but the purchase happens elsewhere.
- An airline (e.g. Ryanair, Emirates) – you buy directly from the carrier, which is often safer for changes or refunds. Sometimes at a higher price, though.
What to watch out for when comparing flights
When comparing flights it’s important to weigh up several factors. But watch out: we don’t recommend booking long-haul flights with connections through third parties... If your flight is delayed or cancelled, the airline won’t be able to help you and you’ll have to sort the situation out with that third party. It adds another step to the process, and often a slow one.
On the other hand, the advantage of booking through a third party can be a lower price than booking directly with the airline. Some third parties offer insurance that doesn’t cost much and makes these situations run smoothly.
Flight comparison – the individual tools
Google Flights
Google Flights is a user-friendly search engine that redirects you to the airline’s own site when you book.
You can use a set of filters to narrow the options – by departure time or airline alliance, for instance. You can even track how the price develops to see whether it falls over time.
If you’re planning a trip around cheap flights and don’t have one specific destination in mind, Google Flights is a great choice. Make the most of the “anywhere” option in particular.
Key advantages:
✅ Redirects you straight to the airlines’ own sites
✅ User-friendly interface
✅ You can track price movements over time
✅ An “anywhere” flight search for flexible travellers
✅ Clear filters by departure time and airline alliance
Kayak
You can’t buy tickets through Kayak either. Once again it redirects you to the airlines’ websites or to third-party sites to book.
While Kayak has all the main features of the big flight search engines, such as filters and price alerts, it stands out from the competition by including flights from a huge number of airlines.
Other things I like about Kayak include a feature called Fee Assistant, which helps you calculate baggage fees, and Hacker Fares, which lets you build a return ticket out of one-way tickets from different airlines.
✈️ These tickets can be cheaper than booking a return with a single airline.
Key advantages:
✅ Shows you which days there are direct flights to a given destination from your chosen airport
✅ Displays every airline that flies to the destination
✅ Shows price trends including price history
✅ Can combine different carriers and predicts whether the price will fall or rise.
Momondo
Kayak’s sister site, Momondo, offers almost all the same services, including Hacker Fares. What I like more about Momondo is that it automatically shows you flight prices for the days before and after your target dates, which could help you find cheaper fares.
It also offers information about flights between your origin and destination, including stats like the cheapest month, day of the week and time of day to travel. It doesn’t differ much from Kayak, though.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner is a classic flight search engine, but it has several particular strengths over its competitors.
- It has a cheapest-month feature that can help you pick the best time to visit a destination based on cheap flights.
- It includes some smaller third parties that can give you even cheaper prices than KIWI.com and the like.
Personally I always find the cheapest flight options on this site, including last-minute ones. 🗓️
Key advantages:
✅ A “cheapest month” feature for optimal planning
✅ Includes smaller third parties with potentially lower prices
✅ Excellent for last-minute flight searches
✅ Broad coverage of airlines and third-party sites
✅ Consistently offers some of the cheapest options
AZair.com
AZair.com is a search engine for cheap flights around Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia. It combines low-cost airlines and picks the cheapest options from a wide range of connections.
It lets you easily compare deals within your chosen range without having to enter an exact departure or arrival date. You just need to know how long you want to go for.
Between the dates you select, AZair compares prices across all the airlines, tries various connection options and then adds up the prices for the outbound and return legs itself. It returns the result practically instantly. The price database is updated several times a day.
Don’t be put off by the look of the site, give it a chance. Set the parameters correctly and the results will be more than satisfying!
Practical tips for finding the best flight price
Flexible dates
When you can and your calendar allows it, don’t search for an exact date. Prices can differ by hundreds or thousands of crowns depending on the day of the week. Kayak and AZair, for example, let you search a few days either side of your chosen date.
Flexible destinations and airports
Type “Anywhere” into the search engine – you’ll see destinations sorted by price. Smaller airports, or a larger one within reach, can be worth it too. For Prague that might be Berlin; for České Budějovice, Vienna, and so on.
A watchdog
Set up alerts. Skyscanner and Google Flights will both email you as soon as the price drops. If you’re buying for several people, check prices from other devices too (cookies can skew the results).
Special offers
Keep an eye on emails from airlines or Kiwi/Skyscanner – discounts of 10–30 %, or direct from the carriers. WizzAir recently sent me a Halloween discount of up to 20 % on selected European flights. Promo codes also crop up at GetYourGuide (discounts on tours after buying a flight, for instance).
A summary of the flight comparison
When it comes to comparing flights, every search engine has its strengths. Google Flights wins on simplicity, Kayak offers useful extra features, Momondo helps with flexible dates, Skyscanner finds the cheapest options and AZair is the specialist in European low-cost flights – it just has a more complicated web app (and it’s even worse on a phone 😂).
Try them all and find the best price for your next trip. 🙂
