What is the best way to book international flights?

We are often asked how to find and book the best international flight deal. What is the best site for international flight searches? When is the best time to buy international airline tickets? Which international airlines are recommended?

After sharing our flight booking tips with friends and family, we knew this information could be helpful for other travelers. In this post, we’ll share some of the strategy behind our process for booking international flights.

Want to skip ahead? We also put together a handy, step-by-step checklist for finding the best flights. You can refer back to it as you make your trip plans. Use the form below and we’ll e-mail it to you!

What is the best way to book international flights? Our step by step guide and checklist

Note 1: This flight booking guide assumes that you already have a time frame and destination for your trip. However, the more flexible your time frame is, the more you can find deals.

If you need to leave after work on Friday and return by Sunday evening the following week, you are limited to flights on those dates. But if you can depart and return any day of the week at any point in the month, many more possibilities are open to you.

For more tips, see our post on how to travel more with a full time job.

Note 2: For the first four years of our nomad life, we have relied almost exclusively on miles and points to book our long haul overseas flights. This hobby/strategy has a steep learning curve but has been well worth the effort.

If your trip is more than a year away, consider travel hacking. 

For today’s purposes we will focus on booking international flights that you pay out of pocket. This will teach you how to find cheap flights to anywhere and how to choose the best flight deal in regards to comfort, amenities, and convenience.

Phase One: The Broad Search

First, you’ll start with some general research. Here you’re just trying to get a sense of what kinds of flights and prices are available.

Goals for this initial phase:
– Find the cheapest days to fly within your time frame
– Compile a list of potential flights that could work

Tasks:

1. Search with an incognito browser. There is some debate on whether this step is really necessary, but it doesn’t hurt. Airline sites may be tracking the flight searches on your browser to figure out where you want to go and raise the price. Using an incognito browser would supposedly prevent this.

With Chrome open, hold down Ctrl+ Shift + N. For Internet Explorer, use Ctrl+Shift+P to open the private browser.

2. Search for possible flights. We start with Google Flights: https://www.google.com/flights. (We used to use the ITA Matrix site for more complex searches, however most of its functionality is now incorporated into Google Flights.)

Unfortunately, some low cost carriers and smaller region-specific airlines do not show up in these searches. That’s where phase two comes in.

Phase Two: Play The Field (Optional)

This step is optional, depending on how deep you want to go down the rabbit hole. As mentioned above, even the all powerful Google does not show all possible airlines. So this step is about filling in those gaps.

If you’re content with a flight that you’ve already found, by all means, save yourself some time and skip to Phase Three!

Goal:
– Check for an even better deal

Tasks:

1. Check Momondo and Skyscanner to include more regional and budget airlines in your search

2. Check flight deal websites for your destination and time frame
– The Flight Deal
– Secret Flying
– For Europe: Holiday Pirates
– For U.S.: Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights)

3. Search for flights to nearby alternate airports. A quick internet search for “airports near [city]” will let you know if there are other airports you could fly in or out of.

Example: If you’re headed to Tuscany, there are multiple options. Flying into Florence, Pisa, or even Rome can get you to your destination by combining a train ticket or hired car.

You can decide how expensive or complicated you’re willing to let ground transportation get in order to book the best deal on your flight.

Phase Three: Refine Your Choice with the Fine Print

Once you have written out your possible options, it’s time to make a choice.

Note that the cheapest airfare may not always be the best. Do your due diligence as we outline below and you’ll walk away with the best international flight deal.

Goals:
– Evaluate pros, cons, and costs to select the best flight
– Book it!

Tasks:

1. Check if the “operated by” carrier is actually a different airline – This can be for the better or for the worse. 

For example, you could buy this flight through Lufthansa but the plane and service will actually be provided by United. This is important because the quality and service varies with each airline.

Generally speaking, there is a hierarchy of airlines in terms of quality and excellence.

– U.S.-based airlines (United, American, Delta) are typically the lowest. They have minimal amenities and older planes. Air Canada is just slightly better.
– European airlines are often a step above those in North America.
– Asian and Middle Eastern airlines are usually top notch. An economy seat on an overseas Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, or Asiana flight is often comparable to business class in the U.S. Planes are newer and the service is excellent.

If you have a choice, it’s definitely worth choosing a European or Asian airline for your flight!

2. Use Seat Guru to compare airline quality and seating options between your potential flights. Here are some questions to ask as you research:

– Which airline is rated higher by reviewers?
– What is the standard leg room? Meals? Amenities?
– Are the seats on the flight arranged where you’d get more privacy?

For example, we look for plane layouts where there are only two seats between the window and aisle. That way the two of us could sit together without a stranger at our elbow.

Reviews can also tell you about the width and comfort of the seats in the plane, the quality of meals, etc. Jedd always looks for flights on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which means cleaner cabin air, bigger windows, less turbulence, and less noise.

3. Check the fine print for additional fees. Low cost airlines are notorious for tacking on fees, but this is becoming more common with the bigger brands as well. Avoid surprises and make an informed choice based on the total cost of your flight, not just the base fare.

Here are some added costs to watch out for:

– Carry on baggage fees (by weight or by piece)
– Checked luggage fees (by weight or by piece)
– Fees to print tickets in airport
– Fees to select seats
– Meals for purchase
– Any difference in costs of transit from airport to accommodations

4. Make sure any layovers will give you sufficient time to transit between flights. While you may want to avoid spending too long waiting in an airport, missing a connecting flight can be even more of a pain. Look closely at the times and dates of each arrival and departure in your itinerary.

Do a quick internet search for “minimum layover time [airport].” In general, we aim for:
– 40 minutes minimum in a small airport, domestic transfer
– 90 minutes minimum if going through customers, international transfers

5. Book it! Once you’ve weighed your options and put the top flights through this checklist, you should have the best flight deal for your trip.

If possible, I recommend booking it with a travel rewards card, like the Chase Sapphire. This not only earns you extra miles on the purchase but also provides trip cancellation and interruption protection.

Follow Up (Optional)

Almost all airlines require a change fee to rebook your flight. However, most allow you a 24 hour grace period.

If you really want to ensure you have the best deal, set an alarm to check back in 23 hours and see if the price has dropped.

If the price does drop, just verify that you can rebook without penalty and squeeze out your final flight savings!

We hope this step by step guide is a helpful way to find the best international flight deals on your next trip. Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions in the comments.

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