Cheap Flight Search Engine Review
Best of the rest
I do take flights! Cheap flights if possible! It just happens that this site currently has a focus on my overland travels. So before then, and now, I kept a list of the best search engines for cheap flights. There are many out there, but here's my review on the ones I found to the better options. I have also put in some country specific sites too.
Skyscanner
My number one for world flights. I don't know the name of all the airports in Thailand. So I just type the country where I am now and the country I want to go(Thailand). Skyscanner does the rest. You can do cities, or airports too, and look at monthly airfares. They have also just added a neat map which helps with looking for the cheapest and nearest country/airport to your chosen country or airport - a great time saving feature!
Cons: I have found it leaves out some cheap airlines at times. So my advice is to double check with another search engine as well.
See my Skyscanner tool to the right ->
Kayak
I usually find Kayak good if I know the name of the city or airport I am flying into. It seems to have a wider search pattern for world flights than Skyscanner or a lot of the other online engines. It's easy to use, and comes up trumps most of the time for cheap flights. I use it with Skyscanner, once I know the name of the city I am flying into.
Kayak Link (clicking here will open up their site)
ITA Software
You know those the guys from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Well they fly too. And they are building the ultimate in flight search engines. And this is it. It's not as pretty as the others, and has a slight nerdish quality to it (in other words it can be difficult to use). But, the results are impressive. Unfortunately I have noticed their matrix is not always working. So it's not much good on those days. If you have the time, and it's working, you might be surprised at the deals it can find.
ITA Software Link (clicking here will open up their site)
Wegolo
Not the best by a long shot. But they have a nice fast system up that makes searching easy. Unfortunately they are missing quite a few city links nd countries. They also seem to have issues with South American airlines. Nonetheless is they keep going and improve it will be a better one. At the moment it's fine for Euro flights.
Wegolo Link (clicking here will open up their site)
Regional Airlines
Europe (links in the name take you to the respective site)
Ryanair - The euro cheapy that wants us to one day pay for our bags and carry them ourselves. Be careful about what airport they say that they are flying you to. The infamous Barcelona flight that actually arrives in Girona is an example. Think of them as a slightly dodgy street hawker, you can get a good deal, but if you're not paying attention ...
EasyJet - I like them, bar the plastic seats. They are very laid back, and generally efficient.
Asia (links in the name take you to the respective site)
Cebu Pacific-Philippines and SEA cheap flights. Easy online payment, and fast cash payment at their ticket offices. They have a reputation of delays, but not when I used them.
AirAsia - Another SEA cheapy. Great for booking $20 flights out of a country just to help with a visa getting in. Watch out for where the airport is that they are flying to, sometimes its not a central airport. In Manila they fly you to Clark, very cheaply from Indonesia. But to get to the city will take you another 2 hours, buses depending.
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If you know of any other cheap regional airlines do please let me know! I am off the overland route now, so cheap flights are important! Updates will be posted here.
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