Best Apps for Cheap Flights: Who Searches and Who Sells

Start with Google Flights. It is free, it is a website with nothing to install, it emails you when a fare you are tracking moves, and it will show prices in naira. Then run the same search on Skyscanner or KAYAK, because Google and Skyscanner both say they do not cover every seller. If you are paying from Nigeria in naira, Wakanow and Travelstart sell the ticket themselves.

That last point is the one to understand before you book. Some of these services are search engines: they find a fare and send you to an airline or a travel agency to buy it. Others are the agency. When a flight is cancelled or you need a refund, you deal with whoever took your money, not with the app that found the fare.

We went through each company’s own description of itself, its Google Play and App Store listings, and its help pages. Every app here is free to install.

Flight apps and sites compared

All seven apps are also free in Apple’s App Store for the US, the UK, India and Nigeria.

Search engines

Google Flights has no app. Search either store for it and you get other companies’ apps, so use it in the browser. Google’s help pages say it shows offers from more than 300 airlines and online travel agencies, and that when you pick a flight you are usually taken to the airline’s or agency’s website to pay. Google also says those partners do not pay to appear and that its ranking is not influenced by them.

Two limits are in the same help pages. Not every airline is included, because an airline has to partner with Google. And the calendar prices are refreshed about once every 24 hours, so the fare can differ when you click through.

To track a price, search a route and switch on Track prices. You can track your exact dates or choose Any dates, and Google emails you when the price changes significantly. It will also flag a fare as lower than usual, or warn that prices are likely to rise, with the caveat that these are predictions from past prices.

Set to Nigeria, Google Flights showed fares in naira, with Air Peace flights among the results and Nigerian Naira in its currency list.

Skyscanner states plainly on its own site that it is not a travel agent: you are redirected and deal directly with the travel provider. It says providers usually pay it a commission when you book, that it also earns from adverts, and that it does not compare every provider in the market. It belongs to Trip.com Group.

Its useful tools are the Everywhere search, which lists the cheapest places you can fly to from your airport, a calendar view of the cheapest dates in a month, and Price Alerts. Parts of Skyscanner’s website put up a human-verification check, so this is from the pages that loaded and its store listings.

KAYAK calls itself a travel search engine and says it labels each result Book with Airline or Book with Partner. The app tracks a search and notifies you when the price changes, and KAYAK Explore shows where a set budget will take you. Its listing adds a flight tracker and a camera tool that measures your hand luggage.

momondo says on its About page that it is not a travel agency and does not sell tickets. The same page says it is managed by KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings. The two Google Play listings are almost word for word the same, under the same developer. Install one of them, not both.

Apps that sell the ticket

Hopper is the one built around waiting. Its listing says you watch a trip and it notifies you when it thinks it is the best time to buy, recommending that you book now or hold off. A colour-coded calendar shows the cheapest dates. You book and pay inside the app, and Hopper sells add-on plans to cancel or change for any reason. The listing says it has no ads.

Hopper’s website gives almost no detail and does not say which countries it serves. Its App Store listing is in English, French and Spanish, and its phone support is a toll-free line for the US and Canada with a second US number for everyone else. We could not confirm where else it sells, so check that it shows your route in your currency before you rely on it.

Kiwi.com describes itself as a flight-focused online travel agent. Its speciality is joining flights from airlines that do not work together, which it calls self-transfer. That can be cheaper. The risk is a late first flight and a missed second one. Kiwi.com sells an add-on for that, the Kiwi.com Guarantee, which it says covers cancellations, major delays and schedule changes and includes automatic check-in.

Google’s help pages make the same point about self-transfer tickets on any site: you may have to collect and re-check your bags, and a delay can make you miss the second flight. Kiwi.com’s site lists rupees, pounds, dollars, euros, rand and dirhams among its currencies, and not the naira.

Booking in naira

Wakanow is still operating. Its site says it was founded in 2008, has its headquarters in Lagos, and lets you book and pay in naira. It sells domestic flights on Arik Air, Air Peace and Ibom Air as well as international ones, and says it has 32 physical travel centres if you would rather talk to a person. We found no route-by-route price alert on its pages. It sends deals by email or WhatsApp.

Travelstart calls itself Africa’s leading travel agency. Its Nigerian address, travelstart.com.ng, now forwards to travelstart.com, and the site’s country list still includes Nigeria with the naira as its currency. The app is on both stores.

Travelbeta, which calls itself Nigeria’s leading online travel company, also has a working site and apps on both stores. Its home page showed no fares without a search, so we could not confirm the currency from the page.

For flights inside Nigeria, compare an agency’s price with the airline’s own website before you pay. Our list of domestic airlines in Nigeria covers the carriers. If you are booking around a public holiday, the dates are in our guide to public holidays in Nigeria.

When fares are lower

Each company has its own account of this. They are claims drawn from that company’s data, and none is a rule.

• Google published figures from Google Flights for trips from the US on its own blog. It said the day of the week you book barely matters: Tuesday was cheapest, but only 1.3% below Sunday. The day you fly mattered more, with Monday to Wednesday about 13% cheaper than the weekend, and a layover saved about 22% on average. It put the lowest prices at 39 days before departure for US domestic flights and 49 days or more for international ones.
• KAYAK has a Best Time to Travel tool that estimates when to book a given route from a year of its own search data. KAYAK itself calls the result a rough directional guide.
• Hopper makes the call for you, trip by trip, with its book-or-wait notification.
• Skyscanner says its calendar view shows the cheapest dates in a chosen month.

The sensible use of all this is to track the route you want on one or two services and buy when the alert shows a price you are content with. Google’s own numbers are for US travellers and say nothing about Lagos to London.

Which to pick

• First search, anywhere: Google Flights, with price tracking switched on.
• Second opinion: Skyscanner, for the Everywhere search and because its results are not the same as Google’s.
• Flexible on destination: Skyscanner’s Everywhere or KAYAK Explore.
• Paying in naira: Wakanow or Travelstart, checked against the airline’s own price.
• In the US or Canada and happy to wait: Hopper.
• Odd routes on airlines that do not connect: Kiwi.com, with your eyes open about self-transfer.

When a search engine shows the airline and an agency at the same price, book with the airline. Google’s help page says you must go back to whoever sold the ticket to change or cancel it, and the airline is the one flying you.

What happened to the old list

Kiwi.com and momondo are still here. Hipmunk is gone: its website no longer loads and no Hipmunk app turns up on Google Play or the App Store.

Travelzoo still exists, but its home page now sells exclusive travel deals for club members. It is a deals club, not a flight search. Priceline‘s website showed us a human-verification page, so we could not check its current claims and left it out. Its app is still in the App Store.

Quick answers

Which app is best for cheap flights?

There is no single one, because no service lists every airline. Google Flights for the first search and price tracking, and Skyscanner or KAYAK to check it, covers most trips.

Is there a Google Flights app?

No. Google Flights is a website. The apps with similar names on Google Play come from other companies.

Is Skyscanner or Google Flights better?

Both are search engines that send you elsewhere to pay. Google Flights needs no app and tracks any dates on a route by email. Skyscanner has an app, which carries ads, and the Everywhere search. Run both.

Which flight booking app works in Nigeria?

Wakanow and Travelstart sell tickets in naira and have apps on both stores. Google Flights shows naira prices and Nigerian airlines such as Air Peace, and sends you to the seller.

Is there a cheapest day to book a flight?

Not one you can rely on. Google’s own figures for US trips put the cheapest booking day only 1.3% below the dearest. Tracking the fare tells you more than the calendar does.