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How To Book A Flight

Why is it so hard to find good, cheap flights? Online travel search engines like Google Flights, Kayak and Expedia were supposed to simplify and improve the airfare shopping process, and in many ways they have. But airlines keep concocting strategies — such as hidden fees and complicated fare classes — to make it harder to know if the price you see is the price you'll get.

Is it better to book "basic economy" fares? To choose budget airlines? To book directly with the airline, or through a third party? If you feel overwhelmed, don't give up hope: Even us travel experts have a hard time unraveling these knots to find the best, most affordable airfare.

Here we share our best, hard-won wisdom, offering a step-by-step guide to shopping for cheap airline tickets. Even if you employ only a few of these tips on how to shop for flights, they can make a big difference when planning and booking your next trip.

We're focusing on booking domestic (within the U.S.) flights for this guide, but most of the advice applies to international tickets as well.

The best ways to book flights

The best way to book a flight comes down to four essentials: Using the right flight booking tools, a willingness to compare fares, clarity about your options (including fare class) and the ability to gut-check the relative value of an award flight.

Use the right flight booking tools

For the most part, you'll want to use an online flight search tool like Google Flights, Kayak or Skyscanner. We prefer Google Flights for its mix of simplicity and power, so we'll use it for examples throughout this article.

There are only two situations where you should search for flights through the airline website directly, rather than through a search tool:

When flying on Southwest Airlines: Southwest is the exception to most airline rules, and it is the only major carrier that does not include its fares in third-party search results. If you're considering flying with Southwest, it's usually wise to search on both its website and a search tool to compare its fares to the competition.

When booking award travel: Award travel is generally only searchable through the airline website. See "Book with points and miles if it's a good deal" below for more details on booking cheap airfare this way.

Most flight search tools work in a similar way. You'll enter your departing location, arriving location, dates and other preferences, then see a list of results from several airlines.

Often, several airlines will compete on the same route and offer the exact same price. This is where the real search for the best flight deals begins.

Dive deep to compare fares

Imagine shopping for milk at a supermarket and seeing several brands offering the same amount of milk for the exact same price. You might think it doesn't matter which brand you choose — and in that case, you might be right.

Shopping for airfare presents a similar conundrum, but the stakes are much higher and the solution isn't so clear. Why? Airlines differ significantly in how they charge fees and which services are included in this price.

For example, let's consider the Google Flights results for a flight from Seattle to Denver.

It would seem that Frontier Airlines offers the cheapest fare, at $71 round trip, while Alaska and United offer the same price at $97. This is only a fraction of the whole story.

Frontier is a budget airline that heaps fees on top of this base fare. Alaska and United are both full-service airlines that carry fewer fees, but United charges for a carry-on bag at this price while Alaska does not.

This all sounds confusing, and it is meant to be. Imagine trying to pay for a gallon of milk, only to learn that you have incurred a bevy of tiny fees totaling more than the "base" cost. Airlines want you to feel overwhelmed and buy the first ticket you see.

Here are two shortcuts for cutting through this complexity.

Look at airline fees and ratings

We have compiled some cheat sheets for comparing domestic airline fees. We break these into two categories:

Every trip is different, and it's impossible to know which airline offers the lowest overall fare and best experience without specifying your preferences. For example, if you don't plan to check a bag, you won't care which airline has the highest bag fees. And if you don't fly often, you might not care about the value of points and miles. That's why, in the end, you have to do some hard-nosed, specific comparison.

Determine the final cost before booking

Airlines want to lure you in with low fares, then slowly add on fees throughout the checkout process. They hope that, by the end, you'll simply accept the final cost without comparing it to other airlines. It's a pain, but the only way to beat them at this game is to do the legwork of comparing final costs.

Understand basic economy vs. Regular economy

Full-service airlines such as American and Delta offer two general classes of economy tickets:

Main cabin (or regular economy).

The price displayed on search engines like Google Flights is usually for a basic economy ticket. When clicking through to book the ticket, many airlines' websites will try to sell you on the advantages of switching your ticket to the main cabin (for a fee).

Delta is especially tricky on its website, making its "move to main cabin" button look like the default while minimizing the prominence of its basic economy option.

When to choose one over the other

The differences between Delta's main cabin and basic economy tickets are true for most airlines. Here's how they (generally) differ:

Not allowed, or for a higher fee.

Allowed, sometimes for a fee.

Changes and cancellations

Allowed, often without a fee.

Not earned, or earned at a lower rate.

Earned at the usual rate.

Carry-ons usually included. Checked bags not included.

Carry-ons included. Checked bags not included.

In general, you should stick with lower-priced basic economy tickets only when:

You don't mind the possibility of a middle seat or getting separated from your travel partners.

Your plans are firm and you don't expect to change them.

You're not a frequent flyer who cares about points, miles and elite status benefits.

Otherwise, you should choose a main cabin fare if your budget accommodates it.

Book with points and miles if it's a good deal

If you're sitting on a stash of airline miles or credit card points, you might be wondering whether it makes sense to use them instead of paying cash for a particular flight. Although there are no hard and fast rules for when it makes sense to book award flights, a little comparison shopping can make the answer clear on your quest to find cheap flights.

Generally speaking, consider booking an award flight when:

You have enough miles (at least 20,000 miles for a short round-trip flight).

You don't want a basic economy fare, as most award flights are in the main cabin.

Airline miles don't have hard dollar values, but they do have ballpark values that can help you determine whether a given redemption is worth it. You can do the math yourself, multiplying the number of the miles needed to book a given itinerary by the value.

Or, you can use a calculator like this one:

If the values are close, err on the side of using your miles. Unlike cash, miles can expire or suddenly depreciate. Nobody ever stresses about having too much cash in their bank account the same way they might worry about hoarding too many points.

A closer look at the best way to buy flight tickets

Let's take it step by step for that flight from Seattle to Denver.

Let's compare the first two results, starting with Frontier. Different flight search tools let you check out in different ways, but Google Flights usually sends you to the airline website to book. One benefit of this approach is that it usually opens a new tab, letting you easily compare the final prices at the end.

After clicking through, Frontier's website shows your round-trip "total" as $70.80.

But don't let that "total" fool you. We're still far from seeing the final price.

Obnoxiously, most airlines will require you to enter your full contact information before choosing the details of your flight, such as selecting seats. This is part of the effort to drag you down the checkout flow far enough that you don't backtrack to compare other options. There's no getting around this step for each flight you want to compare.

After entering our information, Frontier jumps right into upselling, offering several bundles for an increased fee.

These bundles are often a "good deal," but only if you use all of the benefits they offer. For example, if you check a bag, but don't need a flexible ticket, then getting a bundle that includes flexibility (usually) won't be worth it. When in doubt, choose something like Frontier's "customize it" option to pick add-ons one at a time. That's what we'll do here.

Next, seat selection. This is a crucial step, usually presented with a layout of the plane, possibly with price tags attached to each seat.

You almost never have to select a seat. In fact, the most budget-friendly option is to skip seat selection. You might get stuck with a middle seat, but that's usually better than the huge markup airlines charge for selecting your seat ahead of time.

You might also be asked to make other decisions, such as choosing in advance how many bags you will bring. For most low-cost airlines, paying ahead for bags offers the best rates. For full-service airlines, you can pay for them at any time. In this case, we'll select one carry-on bag and one checked bag.

You might be asked to add on other features as well, such as "trip protection" and even rental cars. In general, it's best to skip these add-ons, even if they seem like a good deal. Remember, you're trying to compare different airfares, not plan your entire vacation.

At the very end, before you enter your credit card information, you should see a real "final price" for this itinerary, which includes everything you selected.

Stop here and either keep this tab open or jot down the price, airline and the selections you made (e.G., "one checked bag and one carry-on").

Now do the same for the other airline. When selecting the equivalent itinerary on Alaska, Google Flights presents a couple more options before kicking us to the Alaska site.

See "Understand basic economy vs. Regular economy" below for more information on this decision.

Since we are comparing to a budget airline in this case, we'll choose "Saver" (the same thing as basic economy).

Once again, enter your contact information, skip seat selection and choose any other add-ons you need. Make sure to keep your selections as similar to your other booking as possible to ensure you are comparing apples to apples. Eventually, you'll get a real "total" before entering your credit card information.

It looks like the total for Frontier is $226.80 and the total for Alaska is $96.80 — a huge difference. However, since Alaska did not include checked bags in its checkout flow (while Frontier did), we have to add that price manually to the total ourselves. Searching for Alaska's checked bag policy shows that it charges $35 each way for checked bags, so $70 for our round-trip fare.

Adding that to our "total" yields $166.80 for Alaska, compared to $226.80 for Frontier.

That is, Alaska is still much cheaper overall, even though the sticker price shown in Google was lower for Frontier.

OK: Deep breath. That was a lot.

If this process seems onerous, that's because it is. We have done our best effort to "simplify" the task of comparing costs between two airlines. Even so, the tactics the industry uses to add on extra fees and make it difficult to compare them means we all have to do a fair amount of legwork to arrive at the real price of any given flight.

Booking flights, recapped

Finding cheap airline tickets isn't easy. Whatever you read about "travel hacks" and other ways to bring the cost of airfare way down, for most folks, the best way to get the best price is with a bit of perseverance and mathematics.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what's important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2022, including those best for:

Why Are Unaccompanied Minors Traveling Alone To The U.S. Border?

The number of unaccompanied children taken into border authority custody after crossing the U.S. Southern Border is growing dramatically by the day. In January and February alone, there were 15,000 unaccompanied children taken into custody. 

While statistics show that 75% of unaccompanied minors are between the ages of 15 to 17, it has been reported that some children traveling alone are as young or 6 or 7. So many of them have experienced severe trauma and have been subjected to horrific exploitation en route to the border. 

Many children attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are asylum seekers left with no choice but to flee their homes. Seeking asylum is not a crime. Every child has a right to safety, protection and a future, regardless of who they are or where they're from. 

Save the Children is deeply concerned for the well-being all children, including unaccompanied children, crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. We have worked in Latin America for many years, addressing the root causes that force children to flee their homes. 

Here's what we know about the issues that are forcing children to make the dangerous journey.

Children are fleeing unimaginable violence in Central America

For years, a complex crisis of violence, gang warfare and corruption has driven children and families to flee the Northern Triangle of Central America –  El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – and seek safety and protection in the United States. These countries have some of the highest child homicide rates in the world. 

In a recent survey, the UN spoke with over 400 unaccompanied children from the Northern Triangle, the majority of whom were forcibly displaced because due to life-threatening harm. 

"In El Salvador, they take young girls, rape them and throw them in plastic bags," explains a 15-year old girl named Maritza. "My uncle told me it wasn't safe for me to stay there. (The gang) told him that on April 3, and I left on April 7. They said if I was still there on April 8, they would grab me, and I didn't know what would happen. . . . My mother's plan was always for the four of us – her, my two sisters and me – to be together. But I wasn't sure I wanted to come. I decided for sure only when the gang threatened me."

Crushing poverty is pushing families to the brink

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 60% of the population of Guatemala lived in poverty. Honduras and El Salvador faced high levels of poverty as well with nearly 50% and 40% respectively.  

The economic toll of COVID-19 has only further exacerbated difficult conditions.

The pandemic and the lockdown measures imposed to prevent its spread have only pushed millions of children even deeper into poverty. "The increase in poverty will make it very hard for the most vulnerable children and their families to make up for the loss," said Janti Soeripto, CEO of Save the Children.

The climate crisis has displaced families and children

Extreme weather, such as the back-to-back hurricanes that struck Central America in late 2020, leave many families living in poverty with less food, less clean water, lower incomes and worsening health. The UN warns that many will have to choose between starvation and migration.   

Last November, Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota hit the region, including Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, within quick succession, affecting over 3 million and 5 million people respectively.

Families who were already struggling throughout much of 2020 due to COVID-19 were then faced with the devastating loss of their belongings, houses and crops as a result of the hurricanes. In Eta's wake, Save the Children immediately sprang into action. Our recovery efforts have thus far reached over 31,000 people. However, the long-term impacts of the devastating storms will be felt for generations. 

"I have no way of describing to you the innumerable heart-breaking testimonies of families who lost all their belongings, or even their loved ones," shares Modesto Muñoz, a technical specialist with Save the Children Honduras. "It is impossible not to cry."

How is Save the Children helping unaccompanied children at the U.S. Border?

Children's best interests must be the guiding principle in all actions taken that will affect kids and families trying to cross the southern border. As such, Save the Children continues to advocate for children's rights, humane treatment and care. 

We are also helping meet the urgent needs of children and families by providing cash and critical supplies to a network of more than 35 shelters and social service agencies. 

We are also committed to addressing the root causes of this crisis. We are expanding and strengthening programs focused on protection, education and peace-building in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.   

Through cross-border collaboration, we are supporting children and families throughout the entire path of migration. The same families we support as they travel from the Northern Triangle countries are those the U.S. Border communities are welcoming and providing respite.

Since May 2019, our programs along the U.S.-Mexico border have directly served more than 142,000 people, including 72,000 children. Your donation today will support our critical work to help migrant children and families at the border. 

Unaccompanied Minor

at the age of 6 my mum left for LA. If the money was there i would visit her every summer. There was nothing worse than the feeling of getting on that 12 hour flight by myself, confronted with all my abandonment issues and feeling really alone. This film is about how hard it can be to say goodbye how being alone is being all one and how i love you i love me loves important 123 with my dad in mind and in memory of barry kamen

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DirectorFrank Lebon

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