Favorite websites for finding flights to Europe and within Europe

[Pauline]

What are the best websites for finding flights to Europe from North America, and within Europe? I tend to use Expedia to check things out, but then use the airline sites to find and book flights. But that means I always fly with the same airlines.

Now that we live in England, we can fly to the continent from Heathrow, Bristol and Birmingham. We have flown Easyjet from Bristol, but they have cut back on their destinations from Bristol. Last year we always flew British Airways from Heathrow (they have good fares when you book ahead and go to lots of destinations), but I would like to find a good search engine to find flights from other airports and other airlines.

 

[artnbarb]

I'm a cynic, but I don't think any one site is the best all the time, and honestly trying to keep track of all the different sites with all their site-specific criteria and formats is just too annoying. I usually just go to the airline sites and seem to find the same prices as listed on Expedia, etc. Is it just me? I know I'm impatient, but even as a retiree I find all the searching and comparing to be a time-sucking waste!

 

[jonathan]

For flights within Europe, I've used Skyscanner for a few years now - it still seems to have a pretty good reputation.

 

[Susie L]

I am pretty picky when it comes to specific routes and where I am willing to make a connection. I use Star Alliance airlines, so I tend to go to the specific airline's sites to look at fares and dates. Then, I track them on Yapta for the fare alerts.

One of the reasons I track different dates is because I have saved quite a bit of money flying out on a Tuesday, as opposed to a Friday, for example.

 

[Roz]

Here is a recent article from the NY Times that might be helpful: How To Choose An Air Travel Search Site.

 

[Terry]

Thanks for that link, Roz. Interesting!

 

[Anne - Music and Markets]

The two I use most often for inter-europe flights are http://www.low-cost-airline-guide.com/ and http://www.govolo.com/
I learned to check on www.kayak.com as well when my husband found a much lower cost flight on Air France (via Kayak) than any I was finding on the cheapo airlines!
The two main sites I use for North America to Europe flights are kayak and trip advisor/flights, then when I find a flight I like, I check every imagineable OTA (online travel agency) until I find the best fare for the routing, always making sure I'll get mileage credit for the flights.

 

[Anne]

Matrix is my 'go to' site. It has a flexibility I haven't found anywhere else. I can get a list of flights for multiple destinations, variable departure dates (any date within a month), and variable lengths of stay (21-28 days, for example), sorted by price...with one search. It's not a sales site, so I have to book my flight with the airline or a site like Expedia, but Matrix is (by far) the least time consuming way for me to find reasonably priced flights.

And it sometimes turns up options that surprise even the airlines...once I found a great deal on a flight from Halifax to Milan (Air Condor to Frankfurt, then a connecting flight on Lufthansa to Linate)...I called Condor to book it and the agent checked and re-checked his system, insisting it wasn't possible, they had no connecting flights with Lufthansa into Linate, only Malpensa. In frustration, I said "I'm looking right at the booking codes on Matrix, shall I read them to you?" And he then said "Oh, well if it shows up there, it must exist. But it isn't in our system...try Expedia." (Which I did and bought the tickets.)

 

[BC Brenda]

I've become a fan of Hipmunk -used them to search out my last 3 flights. I especially liked their "agony" rating.....a combination of cost, timing and hours in flight.

 

[Fmax]

I tend to use flightnetwork for initial search to get idea of flights from north america to europe. Within UK/Europe I check out skyscanner.

 

[Chris]

I use Kayak to watch fares and explore possible routes (no direct international flights from Sacramento and I'm no longer willing to deal with getting home from SFO after a long international flight), then I usually do better pricewise by booking directly with the airline. You have to fiddle with Kayak to get reasonable results -- the first thing I do is set layover lengths to no less than 1 hour and no more than 6.