how to find cheap flights to europe

*FYI - this mail may contain chapter links, which means we earn a commission at no extra toll to you if you purchase from them. Also, every bit an Amazon Acquaintance I earn from qualifying purchases. Check out our Privacy Policy and Disclosure. for more than info.

Cheap flights to Europe are surprisingly easy to observe if you know where to expect… and trust me when I say I'm nearly to unload the appurtenances.

I mean… Y'all know me. I loves me a good bargain, and nowhere exercise I get the thrill of a proficient bargain more when I successfully salve hundreds, even thousands of dollars on airfare.

Well, as a full-time travel blogger and someone who has lived in Europe on and off for about four years, I've had time to maniacally master the art of finding inexpensive flights to and from Europe.

These days, I normally fly home to Vancouver and back for less than 600 Canadian dollars or most 400 euros.

At this signal, I think my parents are more excited to hear most my cheap airfare wins than my actual life, just what can I say?

The love of deals and frugality runs radically deep in my Dna.

Save these inexpensive flying tips for after!

You'll be very glad you did.

And the craziest function is, finding inexpensive flights isn't actually that hard… you just demand to know all the tricks.

SO, that's what today's post is all virtually.

Below, I'll be sharing my summit 10 tips for booking cheap flights to Europe each and every time. Go prepare to take some notes, because this is a long one.

Merely Await! No need to take notes, considering I'm your Fairy Flightmother and I've got you lot covered. I have some actionable checklists that you lot can see hither, or simply download from my VIP library!

Like checklists? Y'all might also relish this international travel checklist of things to practise before you get abroad.

Don't feel like reading? Take hold of these cheap flight tips in video grade:

Tip #1: Know how to get instant discounts and cash back on flying bookings!

We'll get-go with a very basic trick that many cheap flying seekers aren't enlightened of: free greenbacks back and instant discount services!

In the spirit of all things free, at that place are several services that you lot tin take advantage of which will help you get the cheapest deal on your bookings every time, whether that's for a flight, for a hotel, or just for your everyday online purchases. Here are 2 you should definitely use…

1) Dearest

The first one is Dearest.

Honey is a Google Chrome extension that scours the spider web for coupon codes and automatically applies them for you at checkout, which ways you lot can relieve coin without doing… anything.

It's kind of like your sly ninja bestie for online shopping of all kinds, including flights and travel.

And well, for those of usa who are forgetful and lazy, it's perfect considering y'all just install information technology one time and and so information technology'll work in the background and pop up to allow you know anytime they're able to find an additional coupon code or deal.

Super low maintenance, and basically free coin. Click here to check out Honey!

Case: One neat mode to speedily meet what travel deals Dearest can find is by browsing the travel department on their website. This is a more proactive approach, but as y'all can meet, there are nifty deals to be establish, like this coupon code for $150 off flight and hotel packages at Travelocity:

two) Rakuten, Formerly Known as Ebates

The second is Rakuten, formerly known as Ebates. Information technology's a cashback website that gives you anywhere from 1-10% cashback on your purchases that yous make online.

I know it sounds besides good to exist true, simply I've used them for years and have had no trouble collecting my so-chosen "Big Fat Check" payments from them via Paypal.

In brief, this is how it works: when you make a free account with Rakuten and get-go shopping online at your favourite vendors through them, Rakuten makes a small chapter commission (at no extra price to you).

They then basically laissez passer on a portion of their commission to you as cashback, sharing their earnings and saving yous some dough!

Sure this won't get yous rich overnight, simply it's (again) pretty much free money, and can add up nicely for big purchases like flights. Click here to check out Rakuten and even get a free $10 greenbacks credit to get you started.

Instance: Rakuten is partnered with dozens of different airlines which offer a range of cashback options, from measley 1% cashback (which I estimate can add upwards also) to even ten% for select sites. Most of the world'southward major airlines and travel aggregators are included, so it'south likely your desired airline will be function of the list.

And while one-5% doesn't seem similar much to go back, it's still better than nothing, and can add together upwardly nicely when you use it for multiple purchases.

I oasis't been able to employ Rakuten in years as they don't work in Germany, only I was even so able to accumulate hundreds in cashback back in the day:

Tip #two: Beware of outdated rumours and cheap flight myths… except one

The internet is a weird place.

(Anybody could accept told y'all that)

Just, it'due south an important fact to remember, considering internet rumours and myths accept this strange way of perpetuating themselves… and nowhere is this more truthful than the world of cheap flight seeking.

If I took a shot every time I heard a ridiculous statement similar, "flights are always cheaper on Tuesdays" or "you must volume EXACTLY 47 DAYS IN ADVANCE", I'd be very securely inebriated right now.

But I'm sure you've heard those myths before too! In fact, many of them continue to exist on the pages of reputable travel sites, but allow me (a questionably reputable travel site) tell you the truth: alllll those myths are outdated and untrue!

Get them outta your head.

It's true that there are sure patterns when it comes to cheap flights (east.g. offseason will ever exist cheaper than peak season, weekdays will always exist cheaper than weekends).

But blanket statements like the whole "Tuesday booking" thing cannot perhaps exist true 100% of the time anymore, because nigh airlines at present use dynamic pricing systems and algorithms to determine how much flights should cost.

This ways the systems used to determine flight prices have gotten a lot smarter than an employee going "durhhh, it'due south Tuesday, improve driblet my fares", hence why you should never trust any overarching generalized statements like that.

EXCEPTION: Browsing in Incognito Mode

In that location is 1 relatively new flight myth that I do stand by though, and that is to scan flights in incognito style.

For those of you who aren't aware, Incognito browsing or private browsing is a magical trivial style available on nigh internet browsers that allows you to browse the Internet without storing whatever information on your computer or tracking your history from that session.

While it's uh, normally used for other things, it'southward actually VERY helpful when booking flights.

That's considering equally I said before, flying pricing systems are incredibly smart, sometimes in a pretty scheming way and the myth goes that when the system recognizes that you are looking at a particular route, they WILL jack those prices up because they know you're interested.

I know what yous're thinking, and yes, that IS a pretty messed upwards dating tactic!

Simply regardless, while it's not as common as some people say, I would notwithstanding browse on incognito but in case – it might not do annihilation, but it also couldn't hurt.

Instance: I know this cost jacking trickery does happen sometimes because information technology has happened to me in the past. In one case, I was looking at a bargain and came back a few hours later, only to run into that the price had gone upwards. To double check, I went on Incognito mode and saw the price was back at its original. Non sure if it was a fluke or not, but it was enough to brand me paranoid enough to volume on Incognito every fourth dimension now.

Tip #iii: Deck out your inexpensive flying tool kit

When seeking out the cheapest flights to Europe, y'all're going to need a fully decked out arsenal of tools.

This is important to know because sadly, times have changed.

These days, you don't simply log onto 1 airline'south website and hope for the best…

Instead, there are dozens of aggregators and tools out there designed to aid y'all detect the best deal.

Here are some of my favourites that I've been using for years.

i. Skyscanner

Skyscanner is probably ane of the most OG flying aggregators on the Internet.

I've been using it for over five years, and it'due south my personal favourite because I'thou a classic millennial who fears change and it works neat, so why mess with it?

The all-time features on Skyscanner include…

Searching flights to 'Everywhere'

Skyscanner'due south Everywhere choice lets you type in your Departure City, then a vague destination like Everywhere, or a country, to assistance you detect the best deal.

This is platonic if y'all don't take a set destination in mind, and are happy to explore different options. To demonstrate the power of this, hither'due south a wait at flights from London to 'Everywhere':

Browsing flight prices by month and on a agenda

I likewise beloved the browse by month and calendar option, which shows you when the cheapest flights are on a calendar with fun colours.

This is ideal if you know where you desire to go, but are still exploring the cheapest months/days to fly.

Lastly, you can also employ Skyscanner to set price alerts, although I detest spammy emails and then I don't use this much.

ii. Airfarewatchdog

Another peachy selection for finding cheap flights to Europe is Airfarewatchdog.

Now, this site does a lot and has style too many features for me to cover in this one post, simply the feature I use almost is their Deals folio where you enter your Difference airport and it shows you cheap flights leaving from there in a sure time period.

While this is mostly better for flights within North America, if you go on scrolling you will often find very inexpensive flights to Europe too.

EXAMPLE: When I type in Vancouver on Airfarewatchdog, it'll take me to this custom page with the best deals departing from YVR Airport. After sifting through a lot of flights to the US, Mexico and fifty-fifty Asia, the European deals begin! Look at these flights for only $460 roundtrip to London:

three. Secret Flying and Other Flight Bargain Sites

So, Secret Flight… permit's talk most information technology, because I adore this website and am Bieber-fever level obsessed with it. Honestly, it's one of the only reasons I still use Facebook!

Secret Flying is basically a site that posts news on fault fares, inexpensive fares, and all sorts of dandy deals effectually the world.

I like to follow their updates on Facebook, but you can also subscribe on other channels. Their team does an amazing task at finding error fares and flight deals then y'all don't take to.

Of course, there are a lot of other websites like to Secret Flying that might be better suited to you depending on where you alive.

For example, a lot of my American friends love using Scott's Cheap Flights, meanwhile my Vancouver friends swear past YVR Deals (which only posts deals local to Vancouver).

Many major cities have like sites these days all bachelor for free, so be sure to do some research and see if your metropolis has 1.

Instance: Ane time, Secret Flying helped me score a VERY cheap flying home ($400!) for Christmas.

This was a few years dorsum and I had ruled out visiting home for the holidays considering I was still a recovering bankrupt student at the time.

Seeing that deal (to Seattle, just getting to Vancouver from in that location was easy) was like a sign from Santa himself.

I've worshipped Underground Flying ever since. With a quick glance, I was able to find equally epic deals on the site, including this $400 bargain from Vancouver to Republic of iceland AND London.

4. Google Flights

There are usually 2 camps in the cheap airfare globe: those that Sksycan and those that Google Flight.

[Heh, never used those equally verbs before]

Given the order of this list, I think you already know which camp I autumn into.

That said, I beloved to requite credit where it's due, and Google Flights is i incredible website with a lot of unique functionalities.

I don't use it as often as Skyscanner (recollect, I fear change) merely here is a taste of what it'south capable of…

Searching Multiple Airports Simultaneously

Firstly, a function I love on Google Flights is you can search up multiple departure/destination airports at once.

All you need to do is blazon your start drome code in the search surface area, hit comma, and then it'll add that airport and too let you add together additional airports afterwards.

This is really good if your urban center has multiple airports, if you're willing to use other nearby airports in the area, or are otherwise flexible with your destination.

For example, Vancouver is apparently the best airport for me when I'thou departing from home, but often Seattle will have deals that are style too adept to laissez passer up, so I can hands search them all at once like so:

Seeing Inexpensive Flying Results on a Matrix

Another peachy affair I love nigh Google Flights is the way they display their search results. I'm a very visual person, so I'g a sucker for tables.

Luckily, Google Flights organizes results in a cool matrix with the cheapest dates shown in green, which is really satisfying to await at:

Using an Explore Map to browse multiple destinations at once

Speaking of visual satisfaction, some other great Google Maps feature is their Explore Map.

With it, you can plug in your deviation airport and see all the inexpensive places you lot can go along a map.

The results actually pop upwardly equally y'all navigate through the map then y'all can encounter results from anywhere in the world at a glance. Really great!

So, if you desire a really robust tool, endeavor Google Flights!

Do conduct in mind though that their prices are not ever the cheapest.

That'southward because other aggregators like Skyscanner and especially Momondo partner with more online travel agencies which means they are often more probable to give cheaper fares.

That's a whole other topic though, but if you'd like for me to requite a thorough tutorial on all this, leave a comment and permit me know.

5. Budget Airlines

Last just non to the lowest degree, the final tool you need in your arsenal is knowing the budget airlines that operate in your area.

Luckily for us, these days, travel has become a lot more attainable, with low cost carriers offering no frill services fifty-fifty internationally.

At that place are too many budget airlines to list, but for my fellow North Americans, you tin expect into names like Westjet, Eurowings, and most pop of all Norweigan.

Certain theses airlines might non exist equally glamorous every bit mainstream ones, but if budget is your priority (rather than frills and comfort), it really pays off to know which low cost carriers serve your local airport.

Instance: For me personally, Westjet is a depression cost Canadian airline that offers straight flights from Vancouver to London, often for less than $500 CAD fifty-fifty at regular toll.

If I need to become domicile on a certain date and don't have a lot of flexibility, usually I'll exist able to find cheap flights on this road regardless of the season.

Since flights between London and Munich are very very affordable (I use Omio to check for travel options inside Europe),

I sometimes employ this equally an easy manner to speedily visit home. The cost on a "regular airline" can ofttimes be double this!

Sure everything costs extra (even meals!) just the savings tin often justify the less glamorous experience.

Tip #4: Forget loyalty… trust NO ONE

Ooh how dark.

BUT seriously, in that location's a fourth dimension and place for loyalty, like with me and Chipotle, or with your favourite airline that yous have condition with, but trust me, if budget is your #i priority, you will never get the cheapest flight possible if you e'er stay loyal to 1 airline or 1 website or service.

I mean, I just gave you all my favourite tools, but that's non to say they're the just ones I use.

See, at the core of finding really cheap flights to Europe is a baseline level of paranoia and stubbornness.

If you lot search one site and telephone call information technology a mean solar day, you lot might get the best deal, but (more often than not), yous won't.

On the other mitt, if you search one site, don't trust it'south the cheapest, and cross-cheque with all your other options, that is when yous'll definitely find the best deal possible.

The reality is there is no one tool out there that will ever give you the cheapest flight every single time, so to discover those deals, you really demand to put on your detective hat and go to work.

Double check every site, bank check the airline straight, even requite them a call… persistence in this game pays off!

Tip #5: Embrace flexibility if y'all desire to notice dirt inexpensive flights

Now this tip isn't for everybody because sometimes y'all need that cheap flight for a specific destination or set of dates, maybe you need to be at a wedding ceremony, at a briefing or something else very grown-up.

If however y'all take the luxury of flexibility, one of THE best ways to ensure you're getting the cheapest flight possible to Europe is by having some wiggle room when it comes to dates, and when information technology comes to your destination.

Recall of it similar this, if y'all NEED to fly out on ONE specific date to one specific place, you lot are locked into a very small puddle of options. Expand that puddle and y'all tin can find some truly astonishing deals.

Many of the websites mentioned before are great for this. Like I said, the Skyscanner Everywhere tool is crawly, as is the agenda tool… and Google Flights as well gives you lots of great search options to check for different times and destinations.

And then, recollect, flexibility is key.

Some general rules of thumb to keep in mind though are that yous should avoid weekends and holidays if possible, especially school holidays.

Moreover, flying during undesirable times like early on mornings or red-eye overnights tend to exist cheaper.

NOTE: If y'all don't mind information technology, yous tin can besides look into flights ON holidays like Christmas day, when people are less likely to fly.

All that said, if flexibility isn't really that much of an option, and you know you need to be somewhere specific at a certain fourth dimension, make use of…

Tip #6: DIY your own stopover

Then hither'south the chief trick I use to consistently get cheap flights to Europe and also explore some cool new places: I engineer my ain niggling stopover!

Here'south why.

Major transit hubs in Europe ofttimes are the ones that accept the cheapest fares. From my own personal experience, I've found that London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Milan tend to be cheaper to fly into than other smaller cities.

And then, using this bit of info, a very skilful manner to fly to Europe cheaply is to just book the cheapest flight possible to Europe, then take reward of upkeep airlines, trains and buses to reach your final destination.

Pssst… Omio is a great complimentary tool you tin use to search, book and compare these options, then check that out.

This is a technique I have used And so many times and it's neat, because I get to add another city to my itinerary and save a lot of coin at the aforementioned time.

EXAMPLE: One time I was on Secret Flying and found a very very cheap roundtrip flight from Vilnius to Vancouver for less than 300 euros.

Vilnius was never a place I thought I'd visit, just I decided to go anyway and I LOVED it!

It was such a cool unexpected city, and then I got to visit domicile and an awesome new place for a fraction of what a regular flight would cost. Now that's most definitely a travel win in my books.

Tip #7: Check flights in the local currency and language

At present this a sort of ninja tip that a lot of travellers do not know about then listen upward, smarties.

Oftentimes, you can save quite a bit of money on fares by really browsing on that airline's local language website.

The gist of this technique is that you browse flights on the airline'south local language and currency, so volume through that local version to find cheaper deals.

This is unremarkably done with Norweigan, a popular low price carrier, and I've tested information technology before, and it works!

Basically you lot log onto the Norweigan website, use Google Chrome to translate and make it less scary, then compare the fares.

Frequently, y'all'll find that the local currency works out to be cheaper, depending on the substitution charge per unit. A unproblematic flim-flam, but one that tin can save you lot loads!

Tip #viii: Expect for error fares

Ah, in the grand scheme of inexpensive airfare, I think Error Fares are the dream.

Like, deals that are and so incomprehensibly cheap that they must be directly uperrors?Music to my ears.

Merely how practise yous find fault fares to Europe?

Well, there are a lot of corking websites as I mentioned before like Airfare Watchdog and Secret Flight that purposefully suss out amazing deals and fault fares.

I personally subscribe to Surreptitious Flying on Facebook, because that'due south the platform that I use most only you tin can also become email alerts and things like that from a diversity of other websites.

Staying up to engagement with these websites is a great way of staying on height of error fares every bit they come up.

But wait, I actually have a BONUS tip here that I don't see mentioned in many places, and that is, to utilise these inexpensive flight alerts as a SIGNAL to search other routes, namely, routes from your difference airport.

What do I mean by that?

Well, allow's use a real life example. The other day, I saw Secret Flight mail a deal from Paris to Los Angeles for 280 euros roundtrip, which is absolutely rock bottom cheap. I had been wanting to go to LA from Munich, and so I thought if I could just become inexpensive flights to Paris, I could accept advantage of this deal.

BUT actually, I was able to find the exact same deal leaving from Munich, despite the fact that at the fourth dimension, only the Paris deal had been published.

This is important to annotation because as painfully obvious as this may sound, deal sites can't possibly publish every single bargain in the universe.

SO, instead of but checking deal sites religiously and waiting for your airdrome's plow for celebrity, you can instead be more than proactive and use their published content as hints!

If y'all see that at that place'due south a bargain with a specific airline for case, that may be a point that the airline for whatsoever reason is discounting their fares, meaning other routes may be on sale likewise.

Plus, keeping an eye on deals tin give yous sort of a sixth sense near the routes that tend to go along sale, and likewise give you a experience for the cheaper airlines that run out of different cities.

Tip #nine: Dip your toes in credit card points

I am very very new to this, as in, I only got my new American Express Platinum Card last week (even so over the moon about that).

But guys, there's a reason so many people are obsessed with credit carte hacking. Y'all actually can utilize it to your advantage if you're smart near it!

I know that the world of credit card hacking can seem VERY daunting and overwhelming for newbies, but permit me break downwardly how taking advantage of welcome bonuses can become you a VERY cheap, even free, flight to Europe.

I'll apply my bill of fare as an instance. This BAD Boy is not a inexpensive menu. Canadians like me pay $699 a year for it, and Americans pay $550 USD for it.

That's crazy.

BUT getting this carte du jour, at to the lowest degree in the first year, can help you wing to Europe for cheap.

That'due south because included with your sign-upwardly is a $200 travel credit, and if you use my special referral link here, 60,000 points as a welcome bonus, which would score you a roundtrip flight anywhere in Europe from North America according to Amex'southward fixed points travel programme.

So effectively, when you get this sign up bonus, you go a flight to Europe.

So the worst case scenario is that you're paying $700 for a roundtrip flying to Europe, which is very cheap. Simply add together on the multitude of other perks like free lounge access for y'all and a +1, and it is SUPER worth it for the starting time year.

Again, here'due south my referral link for the 60,000 point bonus. Wink wink, please utilise it.

Alright last but not to the lowest degree, my final tip is a controversial one… Many people don't endorse it, and I personally wouldn't either, but for the sake of comprehensiveness, I will mention it…. So…

Tip #10: Utilise hidden urban center ticketing

Subconscious metropolis ticketing is basically the practice of saving coin by buying a cheap flight with a stopover in your actual destination, then abandoning the last leg.

Sometimes, you can find flights like this and save hundreds in the process. It's weird, but it works.

I practise admit, I used hidden metropolis ticketing ONCE about two years ago.

When I flew roundtrip from Vilnius to Vancouver (as I mentioned earlier), I came back and got off in Amsterdam to see the tulip fields, and didn't take my flight from Amsterdam to Vilnius.

At the time I thought it was great, but I don't think I volition do it again for a few different reasons.

The main one being tremendous guilt, because every time I went to check in for a Star Alliance flight for that twelvemonth, they had that flight left for me to bank check in, and it was haunting me the entire fourth dimension.

Only, more chiefly, as I said, this is a controversial do, and one that airlines actually frown upon. It's not technically illegal, but airlines have taken legal action in the past against big websites that promote it.

Lufthansa also made headlines for trying to sue a client for information technology in early on 2019, a case which was dismissed and is currently being appealed.

Regardless of these results, conspicuously there'south some pushback so I would arroyo this technique with caution!

BONUS TIP: Know your rights as a passenger

And since that was kind of a downer, here's a bonus tip just in case: Know. Your. Rights!

This is something many visitors to Europe do not know, just passengers flying in/out of the European union, especially with an EU airline, have a LOT of rights thanks to something chosen the Eu Regulation 261/2004.

And if your flight is delayed by more than three hours, or cancelled, yous actually are eligible for compensation.

I know lots of people who have actually claimed it, and have gotten up to 600 euros in bounty for flights that have arrived tardily. That could be a free flight.

SO, if you find yourself in a situation where your flight to, from or inside Europe is delayed, be sure to read upwardly on whether or not y'all're eligible for bounty.

Airhelp.com is a service that's corking for this.

Any questions about booking cheap flights to Europe?

Alright, did I miss any of your best tips when it comes to finding inexpensive flights?

Let me know in the comments. I hope this guide to inexpensive airfare tin aid you find the best possible deal on your trip.

Safe travels, and don't forget to download your costless cheap flight checklists made with love by yours truly here.

Watch my most popular YouTube video this week:

Source: https://happytowander.com/cheap-flights-to-europe-tricks/

Posted by: fernandezsucer1950.blogspot.com