Want to fly smarter and spend less in 2025? Whether you’re planning a spontaneous getaway or mapping out your dream vacation, knowing a few smart flight booking hacks can save you hundreds—if not more—on airfare.
In this post, I’ll walk you through five powerful strategies that every savvy traveler should know:
- Why metasearch engines like Aviasales and Kiwi.com are your best friends
- The best times to book for maximum savings
- How to unlock cheaper routes with self-transfer options
- The importance of flexibility and how to use fare alerts to your advantage
- And yes—why browsing in incognito mode might actually help you score a better deal
These tips for cheap flights are perfect whether you’re flying domestic, crossing continents, or planning a multi-city adventure. Let’s get into the smartest ways to book flights in 2025 without overpaying.
Hack #1: Use Flight Comparison Engines Wisely
One of the most underrated flight booking hacks is learning how to use advanced filters and search tricks to your advantage. Platforms like Aviasales and Kiwi.com offer powerful filters that let you narrow down results by price, duration, number of stops, airline, and more — helping you spot better deals in seconds.
Another pro tip: don’t overlook hidden deals. These are often multi-stop or less direct flights that cost significantly less than standard routes. They may take a bit longer, but the savings can be huge.
Instead of sticking to round-trip bookings, try mixing and matching one-way flights — it’s a simple move that can unlock major savings. Airlines often price one-way tickets differently, and sometimes, two one-ways with different carriers cost less than a single round trip.
Kiwi.com excels here. Their booking system is designed to scan thousands of options across multiple airlines, even those that don’t typically work together, to build custom itineraries. This means you’re not limited to flying out and back with the same company — you’re free to choose whatever is cheapest.
It’s one of those flight booking hacks that’s both easy and powerful: split your trip, pick the best legs, and keep more money in your travel fund.
Aviasales
Aviasales is a flight metasearch engine that enables users to compare flight options across various airlines and agencies. Here’s how it can help:
- Comprehensive Search: Aviasales allows you to compare all available flight options based on the filters you set, helping you find the most suitable flights for your needs.
- Transparent Booking: The platform doesn’t sell tickets directly; instead, it redirects you to the airlines’ or agencies’ websites to complete your booking, ensuring transparency and potentially better deals.
- Free of Charge: Using Aviasales is completely free, making it a cost-effective tool for travelers seeking the best flight deals.
Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com offers innovative tools and features designed to help travelers find unique and affordable travel options:
- Virtual Interlining: Kiwi.com’s technology combines flights from airlines that don’t usually cooperate, creating unique itineraries that can be more affordable.
- Nomad Tool: This feature helps customers save time and money when planning trips to multiple destinations by finding the lowest possible prices for multi-city trips.
- Disruption Protection: Kiwi.com offers a guarantee that covers you if carrier changes stop your trip, providing services designed to ensure a smooth and hassle-free journey.
- Automatic Check-in: The platform offers automatic check-in services, saving you time and reducing the hassle associated with manual check-ins.
Hack #2: Book at the Right Time
Timing is everything when it comes to scoring the best flight deals. According to data from travel industry studies and platforms like Aviasales, the sweet spot for booking domestic flights is usually 1 to 3 months in advance, while international trips are often cheapest when booked 2 to 8 months ahead.
Avoid booking too early or too late — prices tend to spike outside the ideal window. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are also typically cheaper days to book and to fly, thanks to lower demand.
Aviasales can help you track these trends. Their flexible date feature shows you the cheapest days to fly within a range, and price alerts notify you when fares drop on your preferred route. This saves you from having to constantly refresh booking sites and helps you make smarter decisions based on real-time data.
If you’re flexible, try searching for flights across an entire month — you’ll often spot huge price differences between days.
Hack #3: Take Advantage of Self-Transfer Options
One of the most unique features of Kiwi.com is its self-transfer option, which allows you to book separate tickets with different airlines. This is useful when airlines don’t typically cooperate or when traditional connections aren’t available.
By using self-transfer, you can create custom itineraries that are often much cheaper than booking directly with one airline. While this can be a great way to save money, it’s important to plan ahead. Since these flights are separate tickets, you’ll be responsible for managing the transfer between flights, including checking in for each airline and collecting your baggage between flights if necessary.
Pro Tip:
Make sure to leave plenty of time between your connecting flights to account for delays and airport transfers, especially if you’re changing terminals or airlines. Kiwi.com will help you find the best self-transfer options, but it’s important to be aware of the added responsibility.
Hack #4: Set Fare Alerts & Be Flexible
Both Kiwi.com and Aviasales offer powerful fare alert features that can help you save money on flights. These tools allow you to track price changes for your chosen routes, ensuring that you get the best deal when the price drops.
Kiwi.com:
- Fare Alerts: Set up notifications for your preferred route, and Kiwi.com will alert you when prices drop. This feature is especially useful if you have specific travel dates and want to book when fares are at their lowest.
- Flexibility: Kiwi.com makes it easy to adjust your travel dates and explore different routes. You can find the cheapest options by being flexible, especially with multi-city trips.
Aviasales:
- Fare Alerts: Similar to Kiwi.com, Aviasales allows you to set price alerts for your chosen flight. Once the price drops, you’ll get notified via email or app, so you can book at the perfect time.
- Flexibility: Aviasales also offers a Price Schedule tool, showing you the cheapest dates within a range, so you can pick the most cost-effective time to travel. Additionally, the Price Map feature lets you explore affordable destinations even if you’re still deciding on where to go.
Pro Tip:
Set fare alerts for multiple routes and be flexible with your dates. Both platforms make it easy to track changes in flight prices and find the best deals available.
Hack #5: Clear Cookies or Use Incognito Mode
Dynamic pricing is a strategy where airlines adjust ticket prices based on various factors, including demand, booking patterns, and market conditions. While it’s a common belief that airlines increase prices when users repeatedly search for the same flight, studies present mixed findings.
- Consumer Reports conducted a study in 2016, analyzing 372 flight searches in both regular and incognito modes. The results showed that incognito mode produced a cheaper flight approximately 7% of the time, but also resulted in a more expensive flight 5% of the time. Notably, 88% of the time, the flight price remained unchanged regardless of the browsing mode .
- Skyscanner explicitly states that they do not adjust prices based on cookies, location, or search history. They emphasize that flight and holiday prices change in real-time due to factors like availability and demand, not because of individual user search behavior .
- Thrifty Traveler, a travel deal platform, also debunks the myth that searching in incognito mode or clearing cookies affects flight prices. They argue that airlines and booking platforms do not track individual user searches to manipulate prices .
While these studies suggest that cookies and incognito mode have minimal impact on flight prices, it’s still advisable to use incognito mode or clear cookies if you prefer to avoid personalized advertising or tracking.
Pro Tip: Regardless of browsing mode, it’s essential to compare prices across different platforms and be flexible with travel dates to secure the best deals.
Check out these articles:
One-Way vs. Round-Trip Flights: Which Saves You More Money? – Wanderlust
Best Flight Comparison Sites in 2025 (Tested & Ranked) – Wanderlust
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