How to Find Cheap Flights: 9 Methods That Actually Work

The price of a flight can vary by 200–300% for the same route depending on when and how you search. It is not luck — there are specific, documented methods that consistently reduce what you actually pay. All nine are below.

1. Be flexible on dates (the biggest saving)

A flight price can change dramatically from one day to the next. Friday evening is expensive (business travel plus weekend demand). Tuesday–Wednesday is almost always cheaper on the same routes.

A real example: Bucharest → Barcelona on the same date: €55 at 7 weeks out, €95 at 3 weeks, €180 with 5 days to go. Same flight, same seat, very different price.

How to use date flexibility: on Kiwi or Google Flights, use the calendar view or the "+/- 3 days" option to see prices across a range of dates. Moving your departure by one or two days can save €30–80 on a European flight.

The cheapest departure days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday morning The most expensive: Friday evening, Sunday afternoon, Monday morning (business travel)

If you have any flexibility at all, build it into your search.

2. Set price alerts and let the algorithm work for you

You do not need to check prices every day manually. Price alerts do it for you.

Google Flights is the best for this. Search your route, click the bell icon, and Google will email you when the price drops significantly. You can also see a price history graph that shows whether the current price is "typical," "high" or "low" for that route.

Kiwi also allows price tracking and has a "Nomad" feature that finds the cheapest multi-city combinations if your dates are truly flexible.

Skyscanner alerts work well for routes where the cheapest option is not always the obvious carrier.

Set alerts as early as 3 months out. You are not trying to predict the price — you are waiting for a known-good price to appear, then acting quickly when it does.

3. Book at the right time (not too early, not too late)

There is a booking window that consistently produces the best prices for European flights:

For intercontinental routes (transatlantic, Asia, Americas): book 2–3 months ahead, or earlier if flying in July–August or over Christmas.

Exception: if you see a clearly exceptional price at any point, take it. These methods are averages — a flash sale at 4 months out beats waiting for the 6-week window.

4. Compare alternative airports

Flying in or out of a secondary airport can save 30–50% on the same journey. The trade-off is transfer time, but the calculation often makes sense.

For travellers starting from Romania:

For the destination side, this matters even more:

Always calculate the total cost: alternative airport saving minus transfer cost (bus, train, Uber to your actual destination). Sometimes the "cheap" option ends up equal to the direct one. Sometimes it saves €100.

5. Use a flight search engine that combines routes intelligently

Not all flight search engines are equal. The standard ones (Google Flights, Skyscanner) show you official routes. Kiwi is different: it combines separate bookings across different airlines to build routes that do not officially exist.

For example: instead of a direct Bucharest → San Francisco at €900, Kiwi might find Bucharest → Amsterdam (Wizz Air, €60) + Amsterdam → San Francisco (United, €420) = €480 for a trip where no single airline offers that connection.

This is called "virtual interlining" and Kiwi pioneered it. The catch: if one flight is delayed and you miss the connection, you have two separate bookings and no automatic rebooking. Kiwi sells its own "Kiwi Guarantee" to cover this risk, which adds a small fee but provides protection.

6. Factor in baggage before comparing prices

This is where many travellers get burned. A Wizz Air flight at €39 looks better than a TAROM at €95 — until you add the baggage.

If you need a hold bag, the "cheap" option can end up €20–30 more expensive than the full-service carrier. Always compare on the same basis: same bag size, same allowance.

The smarter approach: for city breaks of 3–4 nights, pack only a cabin bag. Wizz Air and Ryanair allow a small personal item free. A well-packed 40×30×20 cm bag holds enough for a long weekend. You save €35–55 on baggage and spend nothing on check-in queues.

7. Check the airline's own website after you find the price

Flight aggregators are tools for discovery. The actual booking sometimes has a better price directly on the airline's site.

Some low-cost carriers deliberately price their tickets higher on aggregators (to offset commission fees) and lower on their own site. Ryanair in particular often shows lower prices if you go directly.

The routine: search on Kiwi or Google Flights → find your preferred option → open the airline's direct website in a new tab → compare the total including fees.

This takes 3 extra minutes and occasionally saves €10–20.

8. Use connecting flights strategically (for longer routes)

Direct flights are more convenient, but one-stop connections can be 30–50% cheaper on longer routes.

Some of the consistently well-priced connection hubs for travellers from Romania:

Turkish Airlines via Istanbul (IST): excellent prices to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America. Turkish is a full-service carrier — food, checked luggage and good legroom included in the base fare.

LOT via Warsaw (WAW): good for North America, particularly New York. Often 20–30% cheaper than direct options.

Lufthansa via Frankfurt (FRA): reliable, lots of onward connections, part of the Star Alliance network.

Layover risk: a connection under 90 minutes is risky — if the first flight is delayed by 30 minutes, you may miss it. Two to three hours is the safe minimum for an international connection. Five or more hours is a long wait but can be used productively if the layover airport has good lounges or is in a city worth a quick visit.

9. Do not be manipulated by artificial urgency

"Only 3 seats left at this price!" — this may be true, but it is also one of the travel industry's most well-worn tactics. Scarcity signals are designed to make you book before you have thought it through.

What actually happens: prices fluctuate throughout the day and across days. A flight that shows "3 seats" at €120 today may show 10 seats tomorrow at €95 — or may indeed be sold out. The problem is that you cannot know in advance.

The right response: if you have already researched the route, know the price is good for this period, and the timing works — book it. If you are still unsure about dates or routing, set an alert and come back. Panic booking at the wrong dates because of a scarcity warning costs more than waiting.

Putting it together: a realistic booking process

1. Set your destination and rough travel window (±3 days on each end)
2. Search on Kiwi with flexible dates enabled — look at the cheapest-day calendar
3. Set a price alert on Google Flights for your route
4. When a price appears that is in the bottom 25% of what you have been seeing — book it
5. Before confirming, open the airline's direct website and compare the total
6. If booking well in advance, also search for alternative airports at both ends

This process takes one active hour and then passive monitoring via email alerts. Most people who consistently pay less for flights are not doing anything magical — they are just not booking in a rush.

Search flights for your next trip

Use the search below to compare current prices for your route. Prices update in real time from multiple airlines including Wizz Air, Ryanair, TAROM, Turkish Airlines and others.

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