Picture this, and you’re about to go on a holiday of a lifetime with some friends. You type in “cheap flights” into the search bar, and millions of sites pop up. Of course, you could click on the first few options and compare, but that’s lengthy, and you wouldn’t know which one is scamming you and which one is genuinely saving you money. This article has compiled the five best websites to book your flight with. We will look at both: which one gives the best price and how easy the booking experience is.
Our method looks at one specific flight route, and it will be the exact same flight across all the platforms. In this case, it will be the very popular trans-Atlantic London Heathrow (LHR) to New York (JFK). The designated flight we will use for the comparison is a one-way economy class Virgin Atlantic flight taking off on Wednesday, 1st February 2023, at 12:55 PM. Virgin Atlantic Airways flight VS045. What surprised me was that there was a significant gap in prices when comparing some websites. The range for this flight was £1301/$1568.
READ ALSO: How to Find the Cheapest Airfares
The following websites were used for this comparison:
- Opodo
- Trip.com – Gives out discounts for regular customers
- TripAdvisor
- Skyscanner – Least expensive
- BudgetAir.co.uk
- lastminute.com
- Kayak & Momondo
- Expedia -Most expensive
5) lastminute.com
Lastminute.com provides you with a relatively easy website to use. Unfortunately, this particular flight was very highly-priced, at £1595 or $1922 for a one-way flight in economy class. As soon as you select your flight, it asks you whether you want to choose the “flexible” or “classic” package. The flexible option allows you to make changes after booking, entitles you to “priority assistance,” and lets you change your flight date & time for free, for an extra £200/$241.
4) Trip.com
Having used Trip.com before, I was surprised to see that this ticket was so expensive as they usually provide lower prices and then have add-ons at the end. Trip.com provided an outlay of £1556/$1875. As soon as you select the flight, a drop-down appears, allowing you to choose several options regarding the flexibility of your ticket and how much luggage you can bring. You can then add the possibility of travel insurance and seat reservation afterward.
3) Trip.com
TripAdvisor offered me a great deal in comparison to lastminute.com and trip.com. £717/$US$864 for a one-way flight on Virgin. Although this wasn’t the cheapest I found, it was undoubtedly better. Their website is simple to use and will show a pop-up of the deals on the side of your screen when you select the deal. One thing I find the most convenient about the TripAdvisor website is that they have a drop-down next to your flight details that shows the airline’s reviews. A beneficial tool.
2) Kayak & Momondo
Kayak and Momondo are part of the same company, so both websites are very similar to navigate. They provided £407/$490 for the Virgin Atlantic flight, much lower than the other companies. Once you select which flight you want, a drop-down menu will show which websites offer the lowest prices. There is also a photo gallery below your flight details containing images of what your ticket will get you on board. Unfortunately, many of the websites that are provided by the drop-down menu often provide false deals. When redirected, it will say that the flight has been sold out, but when you look at other web pages, you will find out that this is not the case. Kayak & Momondo are easy to use and can provide great deals.
1) Skyscanner
No matter how often I’ve used Skyscanner, I always get great flight deals. Like Kayak, Momondo, and TripAdvisor, it compares all the prices from different travel websites and finds you the cheapest. Unfortunately, what often happens is when you are redirected to the website providing the airfare, the ticket has been “sold out” this is also the case with Kayak. Complaints aside, Skyscanner is straightforward to use, and for this flight, it offered only £326/$393!
DISCLAIMER – This article has not been endorsed by any of the above companies.
READ ALSO: How People Used To Book Their Flights Before The Internet?
Sources
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