As a one-stop travel search aggregator that lets users look up not just flights but car rentals and hotel accommodations, among other things, Kayak is a popular go-to among air travelers who have a budget at the top of their priority list. It has a user-friendly interface, whether you use the platform on desktop or mobile. After entering the airports you’d like to depart from and arrive at as well as your preferred travel timeframe, you’ll immediately see a list of available flight combinations, with the cheapest and best — in terms of flight times, the duration of all flight legs and layovers, and price combined — options at the top of the queue. Various filters are also on hand to help you finetune your results, allowing you to limit the number of stops, prioritize takeoff and landing times, and choose your preferred airlines, among other things.
When you access Kayak on a computer, even before you hit the search button on the main page, you’ll immediately see a price trends graph given your selected destination, so you can sort of plan to keep an eye out for potentially lower prices. On the search results page, a useful Advice box at the top of the filter side panel tells you if it’s a good time to buy or wait for a better deal. In any case, you can also switch the Track Prices toggle on so you can get email alerts regarding your flight search.
If your travel dates are not set in stone, simply indicate it in the date selection dropdown box before hitting the search button. This will produce a helpful Flexible Dates table on the results page that will let you choose the cheapest timeframe possible without having to do multiple searches.
