Flights

I’ve never missed a flight, never lost luggage, never booked for the wrong day… I’ve had delayed flights and flights cancelled due to weather, but that’s on the airlines or Mother Nature. Regardless of how smooth things have gone thus far (which probably means I’m due for a mishap or four), booking flights is usually the most stressful part of a trip for me.

That’s why I tend to stick to just a few options for finding my best flight options, and these are the four resources I stick to (except, of course, the airlines’ websites themselves for the actual booking):

• Google Flights – This is usually my first stop when planning flights. It doesn’t show ALL airlines (some budget carriers are absent, like Ryanair and EasyJet, and some Asian and African airlines are not included either). I like the filtering options and the price tracking alerts.
• Kayak – If I’m not liking what Google has to show me, Kayak is the second place I check. They tend to have more of the low-cost carriers. They also have good filter options (like not showing basic economy) and price tracking. Frommer’s found that Kayak and its sister site, Momondo, have better odds of showing you the cheapest flights available.
• Daily Drop Pro – With both free and paid versions, Daily Drop Pro is a flight deal alert service and search engine. You let them know what your home airport is and they’ll email you good deals. You can also search for cash and points deals on their website, and they’ve recently added a hotel points search, too.
• Going – Another flight deal alert system with free and pro versions, Going will email you deals from your selected airport(s). I saved about $400 on a flight to London just a few weeks after I signed up for Going (it was known as “Scott’s Cheap Flights” at the time).