How to find cheap flights

Compare the total, not the ticket price

The price you see in search results is usually just the fare plus taxes. Bags, seat selection and, if you travel with an animal, the pet fee come on top. That fee differs a lot between airlines: some charge a flat amount per flight, others price it by route. At Turkish Airlines, for example, the amount depends on the route and comes from the calculator on the airline’s site.

The second trap is low-cost carriers. Some don’t carry animals at all, so a cheap fare is simply not an option. Compare “ticket + pet + bags”, not the first line of results.

Our flight search compares airlines including the cabin and hold pet fee and shows where your pet won’t be accepted.

Flexible dates and days of the week

Shifting your dates is one of the most reliable ways to save. In Google Flights data (Google blog post of 5 October 2026, departures from the US), leaving on a Monday and returning on a Tuesday or Wednesday was on average about 14% cheaper than flying at the weekend, and on domestic routes the saving reached 20% versus a Sunday departure and return.

Expedia reaches different conclusions. According to its 2026 Air Hacks report (Expedia.com bookings from December 2024 to November 2025), Friday is the cheapest day to depart on international trips, up to 8% less than Sunday, while for US domestic flights Tuesday is cheapest, up to 14% less than Sunday.

Different companies, periods and markets give different answers, so treat this as statistics, not a rule. It’s more useful to check your own route: the Google Flights date grid and price graph show how fares change by day and week.

Connections, nearby airports and separate tickets

In the same 2026 Google Flights data, nonstop tickets cost on average about 20% more than flights with a connection. Nearby airports are another source of savings: Google Flights Help notes that fares from other airports in the area can be cheaper.

Google Flights also has a “Cheapest” tab that includes itineraries combining separate tickets from different airlines or sites. Google itself warns that on such a connection you may have to collect and recheck your bags and check in for each flight separately.

With a pet, separate tickets are a real risk. Each airline books the animal under its own rules and charges its own fee, and at the connection you’ll go through check-in again with the carrier. Before buying, check both airlines in our airline guide and the rules of the transit country.

Track prices

Fares change all the time and watching them by hand is tedious. Tools the services describe themselves:

• Google Flights: track a route for your dates or for “any dates”. With “any dates” you get an email when the route’s lowest price drops noticeably over a month.
• Google Flights shows whether the current price is low, typical or high compared with past data, and for some routes when prices have usually been lowest.
• Expedia labels as Flight Deals the flights priced at least 20% below the typical predicted price for the route (Expedia app data in the US).
• Aviasales: add a ticket to Favourites and you’ll get a notification when the price changes.

Turn on tracking early, while there’s time before departure: you’ll see what a normal price for the route looks like and what a genuinely low one is. More on timing in “When is it cheapest to buy flights”.

Low-cost airlines and pets

Low-cost carriers often top the results, but with a pet they’re hard to rely on. Wizz Air accepts no animals on board other than assistance dogs. easyJet states that pets of any kind are not allowed on its aircraft. Pegasus does take pets, but on international flights only in the cabin, not in the hold, and the pet can only be added through the call centre or a travel agent, right after you buy the ticket.

Rules of all airlines, including those that don’t take cats and dogs in the cabin, are on the airlines page.

Don’t forget the bags

A fare without bags looks cheaper, but if you end up buying a suitcase anyway the difference can vanish. Google Flights has a bags filter that recalculates prices including carry-on or checked bag fees. Google notes that it gets baggage data from partners and that taxes may be added to the fees.

How to compare fares with and without bags, and what to do about your pet carrier, is covered in “How to save on baggage”.

What to do next

Search for flights with the pet fee included: you’ll see the total and which airlines won’t take your animal. Before paying, check the entry rules of your destination and gather documents with the checklist.

When flying with a pet, it’s best to buy the ticket on the airline’s own website: it’s easier to add the animal to the booking, and if the flight or rules change you deal with the airline directly, without a middleman.

Find flights with a pet