18 of the Best Flight Booking Sites in 2021

We all look forward to getting away and experiencing all that the world has to offer. However, finances can often get in the way of that. With plane tickets getting higher with each passing year, it is more and more difficult to book your dream vacation. 

For that reason, many websites are popping up that help you secure the best flight rates for your adventures. Whereas back in the day you had to call by phone or book on the airlines direct page, you now can find special rates on a variety of sites.

In this comprehensive guide, we outline 18 of the best flight booking sites in 2021. With the help of these online resources, you will be on your next vacation sooner than you think.

Continue reading to learn more about the options available. If you’re also looking to book accommodation, check out our guide to the best hotel booking sites.

Skiplagged

One of the most incredible things about the Skiplagged service is their tagline: “Our flights are so cheap, United sued us… but we won.” How much more intriguing can it get? 

When searching rates on Skiplagged, you are not just limited to one travel component. You can research the best prices on the following:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Cars

You’ll find the hottest travel deals right on their main website, or you can search by location. Skiplagged states that they find inefficiencies in airline flight prices, such as hidden cities that make the rates cheaper. As a result, the traveler gets a great rate, but the airline loses out on the extra money customers would have paid by going through a different booking option. 

What is a hidden city flight? When booking a flight, you may find it cheaper to end your trip during the layover. Therefore, if you want to go from New York to Orlando, it may be cheaper to book a flight from New York to Dallas with a layover in Orlando but never board the second flight to Dallas. 

Skiplagged helps you find all the loopholes to secure a reasonably cost vacation.

Momondo

When using Momondo to plan your next vacation’s transportation needs, you can also take advantage of the additional research services it offers, such as:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Car Rental
• Excursions
• Package Deals
• Trains

With this website, you can find the lowest rates available for travel while also seeing the future trends. Momondo researches the patterns of airfare costs and estimates whether the current price is expected to increase or decrease in the coming weeks and months. This feature allows you to conserve your funds by understanding the cost flow of the rates. 

In addition to the price forecast, you can also set up alerts. These alerts will inform you whenever your desired flights drop in price. Therefore, you can be more hands-off in the research process by allowing Momondo to do the work for you. The alerts will come to your inbox as changes are detected, and you can decide from there whether you are ready to book or hold off longer. 

Momondo is endorsed by popular media outlets and travel companies, such as Frommer’s, the New York Times, and CNN. 

Skyscanner

When using Skyscanner, you have access to all pertinent travel information in one central location. Not only do you get real-time updates on the lowest airfare rates available, but you can compare hotel and car rental rates.

Additionally, Skyscanner provides a hub for all updated Covid-19 travel information. You no longer have to flip back and forth between government websites to determine what restrictions and limitations are in place in each city and country. Skyscanner provides a live map with continual updates to help their customers make informed decisions regarding their vacation and travel plans.

When booking through Skyscanner, you can also take advantage of their travel insurance program that protects travelers from unforeseen circumstances and emergencies. You can also choose to have Skyscanner send the top travel deals straight to your inbox so that you don’t miss out on special rates. The travel aggregator also has an app that allows you to access all of the companies’ deals straight from your mobile device instead of having to utilize a computer. You can even set your search parameters to “everywhere” to find the best deals and plan a unique and exciting vacation! 

TripAdvisor

As one of the oldest travel booking sites, TripAdvisor offers many options for finding the best rates and deals for vacations and business travel. With the service, you can search multiple aspects of your trip, including:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Vacation Rentals
• Excursions
• Restaurants
• Member Travel Forums
• Independent Reviews
• Cruises
• Car Rental
• Trip Designers
• Vacation Packages

TripAdvisor allows you to thoroughly research and book your entire vacation with peace of mind. You will rest easy knowing that the selections you made were highly reviewed and booked at great rates. 

If you feel that making the proper plans and reservations is too overwhelming, you can utilize the Trip Designer service. With this option, a specially trained representative of TripAdvisor will take the dates and locations that you are looking for, as well as your activity and hotel preferences, and outline an itinerary and quote that is inclusive of those items. 

Are you interested in taking a good, old-fashioned road trip? TripAdvisor has resources for that choice as well. With their database of popular road trip routes and landmarks, all you need to do is fill up the car and drive!

Agoda

Based out of Thailand, Agoda is one of the best flight booking sites for various travel needs. Besides airfare, you can secure:

• Hotel
• Private Rentals
• Monthly Stays
• Airport Transfers
• Apartments
• Car Rental
• Excursions

Additionally, if you have a vacation rental, you can list it on their site for more comprehensive visibility to travelers. Agoda has a listing of over two million rentals worldwide for you to choose from for your travels. When exploring options, you can browse some of the top travel deals on their main page or search for specific locations. If you want additional savings, you can book your hotel and flight together as a bundle for a more significant discount in price.

One of the most excellent parts about Agoda is the ability to switch back and forth between languages. They offer their website in full in over 30 languages. Therefore, if you are not a native English speaker, you can toggle the flag menu at the top of the website to select your preferred language.

Kayak

Throughout the years, Kayak has expanded its service offerings to include a wide variety of different options, including:

• Airfare
• Verified Guest Reviews
• Covid-19 Flexibility
• Price Alerts and Private Deals
• Hotels
• Trains
• Cruises
• Car Rentals
• Excursions
• Flight Trackers
• Package Deals

One of the neatest features available is the Kayak Explore. With this, you can input your budget, and they will provide you with a list of vacation options that fit your financial means. When you have a limited amount of funding for travel, it can be overwhelming to find places to visit that are within your budget. The Kayak Explore program takes a lot of stress out of the situation and encourages you to check out new areas that you wouldn’t otherwise have thought of for a vacation. 

The newest program that Kayak has rolled out is their business travel planning services. One of the best perks that this program offers is its extensive database of corporate rates. Instead of inquiring with each airline or hotel, you have all the information available to you in one spot.

Orbitz

When you use Orbitz, as is the case with many of the best flight booking sites, you can build up points for personal use as you travel. With these points, you can redeem for additional discounts or even free stays. In addition to their points rewards program, Orbitz offers:

• Airfare
• Hotels
• Cruises
• Home Rental
• Car Rental
• Excursions
• Package Deals

When you input your travel specifications into the search engine, you will get a comprehensive result listing that includes hotels and flights (depending on what you have searched for) of different brands and companies. Orbitz will search various sites to find the lowest cost options so that you don’t have to take the time to research each company website. 

One of the downfalls to Orbitz is that they often provide the different deals in pop-up form. Therefore, your screen becomes bombarded with small screens. This layout can be overwhelming but is worth it if you find a great rate.

Orbitz also offers a search engine filter that allows you to refine your search to display only LGBTQ-friendly options. When you use this filter, you will only be given results of places and companies that have pledged to welcome the LGBTQ community.

Booking.com

There are many forums for travelers to pose questions to one another on the Booking.com website. This option allows users to get detailed information on different flights, hotels, locations, and restaurants that they can’t find elsewhere. 

This service is similar to what TripAdvisor offers, and you will find travelers asking questions about what is included in specific packages or if dietary restrictions are followed. Instead of emailing the customer service team of each establishment, you can get a quick response by asking those who have already been there.

These forums also allow users to post photos of cruise ships’ menus or pictures of different in-flight features. These photos are helpful when planning for small children and their travel needs. 

In addition to the forums, you can also research and book:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Car Rentals
• Attractions
• Taxis
• Restaurant Reservations

Like the other travel aggregators, there is no fee to use Booking.com. You can also read informative articles about different sights and attractions throughout the world. Are you looking to visit Germany’s most thrilling water parks? They cover that exact topic. Perhaps you want to take a babymoon trip before your little one arrives? Booking.com has an article that outlines the best locations for you as a couple. 

Expedia

In what is perhaps the most well-known travel search aggregator on the Internet, Expedia offers many resources for its customers, including:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Cruises
• Car Rental
• Excursions
• Package Deals
• Last-Minute Deals
• Transportation Shuttles

Expedia allows you to earn points for each booking, and you also rise up in level with the more trips you book. When you get to the higher levels, you are offered higher discounts and upgrades. You can also easily access all the necessary rewards information and travel options through their company app, which you can use on any mobile device.

One of Expedia’s newest features is its point hacking system. With this, you can accumulate points from Expedia while also collecting points from the individual travel providers. Whereas this used to not be allowed, it is now a way to gain additional points to put toward future travel plans. 

Lastly, Expedia has taken the guesswork out of packing. With their new smart packing lists explicitly tailored to your trip and destination, you can take the stress out of preparing for your trip and use that energy to plan what activities you will participate in and what restaurants you will visit when you arrive. 

CheapOair

In recent years, CheapOair has grown exponentially in popularity. As a company, they have gained more recognition and brought more customers to their platform due to their high-quality deals and vast array of services.

Like Expedia, CheapOair has a rewards program that allows you to earn points to use on future vacations. However, CheapOAir also has a credit card service that helps you accumulate points more quickly. The credit card also allows you financing options to better afford your dream vacation. 

In addition to that, CheapOair offers the following booking services:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Cars
• Activities
• Bundle Deals

You can also narrow down your search further and find flights and hotels with the following criteria:

• Military Discount
• Red Eye Flights
• Student Discount
• Senior Travel
• Last Minute Flights

Both the CheapOAir website and app are constantly updated to reflect the latest deals and rates. You can also call and speak with an authorized agent to book your travel or ask questions between the hours of 8 AM and 2 AM EST. 

Priceline

Several years ago, Priceline skyrocketed in popularity due to its “Name Your Own Price” strategy. This program allowed individuals to input the amount they were looking to pay and would then be presented with options (minus identifying information) to choose from. However, that program ended for flights in 2016 and hotels in 2020.

Currently, Priceline offers PriceBreakers, which is an off-shoot of the Name Your Own Price program. With PriceBreakers, you can see three hotels (minus identifying information) at reduced rates. After you review them, you opt in to let Priceline pick the best option. Once you book the rate, you will be able to see the hotel’s identity you booked. 

Like CheapOAir, Priceline also has a credit card that allows you to become an instant VIP member with access to more significant discounts and travel deals. The credit card also provides you with additional rewards points to redeem for future travel.

Priceline offers travel booking for the following vacation elements:

• Flights
• Hotel
• Car Rental
• Package Deals
• Cruises

Google Flights

The main focus of Google Flights is to allow you to see patterns and trends before booking your flight. The predictions come from an internal algorithm that compares past data and estimates whether prices will increase or decrease in the coming days. 

To piggyback on this feature, you can set up alerts through your Google account to inform you (via email) when your preferred route drops in price. Therefore, if you know you want to take a trip to Dublin during the week of March 14th, you can have Google alert you to all price changes that take place for that flight in particular. 

Although the primary focus is on airfare, Google Flights also offers resources for the following:

• Activities
• Hotels
• Vacation Home Rentals

Additionally, you can tell the search engine that you want to travel to a particular location in the future, say in the next six months, and it will provide the dates that travel has the lowest rates to aid you in your planning.

Hotwire

To get the best rates for their customers, Hotwire has partnered with five high-end hotel chains to offer exclusive low rates for travelers. These hotels include:

• Hilton
• DoubleTree
• Kimpton
• Intercontinental
• Hyatt

Additionally, if you book one of these hotels through the Hotwire app instead of their website, you automatically receive an additional discount of 10%. In addition to hotels, Hotwire offers discounted rates on the following:

• Flights
• Car Rentals
• Vacation Packages

The rewards program for Hotwire is unique in that you receive a discount when you give a discount. Therefore, if you send an acquaintance a code to receive $20 off their next booking and they use it, you will also receive $20 off your next travel expense when booked through Hotwire. 

Hotwire is owned by the Expedia Group, so that you will see similar discounts on the two sites. Although similar, they differ in the travel elements that they book and the rewards program structure. Additionally, Hotwire offers the Hot Deals collaboration with select four-star hotels while Expedia does not.

Travelocity

Another member of the Expedia Group, Travelocity has its own set of perks that you can take advantage of with their travel services. As one of the best flight booking sites, Travelocity helps you to find the best prices on all things travel, including:

• Flights
• Hotels
• Car Rentals
• Bundle Deals
• Activities and Excursions
• Cruises

Although Travelocity offers many of the same resources as Expedia, they also have another thing in common – their rewards program. Beginning in September of 2021, the following travel sites have joined to provide one travel rewards program for all sites to participate in together. The companies included in this are:

• Expedia
• Hotels.com
• Orbitz
• Travelocity
• Vrbo

With the new rollout, you can use your points at any of the partner companies. Not sure where to take your next trip? The assortment of travel databases that Travelocity incorporates into their website will help you make a decision. Are you looking for a carefree all-inclusive resort? Maybe you want to know what kid-friendly cities there are to visit in Europe? Travelocity researches that information for you and compiles it into an easy-to-reference database.

Hopper

Operating primarily as an app with minimal website functions, Hopper helps you to find out what flight and hotel prices will be in the future. Hopper has an algorithm so precise that it can estimate future rates with a 95% accuracy rate. 

You can set up your Hopper travel profile to alert you when your desired price becomes a reality. Not only that, but you can freeze the rate for a period of time in order to get your travel plans all set up to fully be able to take advantage of the low price.

To present the information to you in an easy-to-read way, Hopper will break down the periods where the rates will stay at one price level and where they will decrease. If you are looking to book when prices are still a bit high, Hopper will give you a message that you should wait a bit longer before doing so.

Hopper is an excellent option for a trip you want to take but is still several months off. Taking the time to monitor the prices through Hopper gives you the ability to save some cash in the long run.

Flight Network

Based out of Toronto, Canada, Flight Network directly searches for the lowest airfare, hotel rates, and car rental prices. With the Flight Network platform, you can save up to 80% off the original cost. 

Flight Network works with over 650 airlines and services 14 million customers per year. With their resources, they are able to provide families with cost-effective options to take memory-making vacations. The parent company of Flight Network, Etraveli Group, states that with their large customer base, they can fill 140 Boeing 737’s every day. 

Flight Network works directly with the airlines and service providers to make your stay and transportation as easy as possible. They have collaborated with different companies to impact the sanitization levels in airplanes, hotels, and rental vehicles to help combat Covid-19. 

QTrip/Cheap Air

Cheap Air (formerly known as QTrip) offers a host of unique travel features for customers. Outside of the typical low rate airfare deals that they seek out and inform travelers of, but they also:

• Accept Cryptocurrency Payments
• Have US-based Travel Advisors To Assist With Booking
• Offers Fly Now, Pay Later Options To Help Finance Your Trip
• Offers Up To $100 Credit If Your Fare Decreases After Booking

Cheap Air has its own custom-built fare tracker where it can predict future airfare rate changes. This technology helps travelers to secure reasonable flight costs to make their dream vacation a reality. 

Additionally, Cheap Air conducts studies that they publish every year on the best times to book both domestic and international travel. The previous year’s data will calculate how patterns have changed and what the timing means for travelers. Want to know where to find the world’s best and most haunted houses to visit on your next vacation? Cheap Air has researched that information too! 

Kiwi.com

To offer a complete travel picture, Kiwi.com not only provides access to great vacation deals, but they partner with Booking.com to incorporate low hotel rates as well. Additionally, users and Kiwi staff alike provide their own travel stories to accurately depict the experiences you can be a part of during your trip.

Kiwi.com offers a running list of top flight deals amongst top travel cities throughout the world. These opportunities are updated continuously on the company website and on their app with a simple layout that is easy to reference. Also, on the app, you can partake in one-click booking features, download your boarding pass, and receive updates and notifications about your upcoming travel.

A nice perk that comes with Kiwi.com is that even though your flight arrangements will be through the airline company, Kiwi.com will handle all booking, cancellation, and refund events through their website. This structure allows them to provide individual support to their customers instead of passing them on to a large company that isn’t fully aware of their travel situation.

In Summary

There are a lot of travel aggregator websites available today. With personal and business travel continually on the rise, the need for additional booking options grows as well. Having the ability to peruse the different rates and options before booking is appreciated, but having companies and websites that scour the Internet to find the cheapest and most affordable options is loved by many.

This guide provides a comprehensive list of 18 of the best flight booking sites in 2021. Whereas some sites have been around since the beginning of the online travel booking era, others have just come onto the scene in the past few years. Regardless, each of them plays its part in helping families and individuals create long-standing memories and achieve their dream vacation goals.