I’ve had a lot of luck finding cheap flights so far, mainly because I’m happy to travel just about anywhere. I chose my island destination based on flight prices last winter, and wound up in pop-song perfect Puerto Rico. Crossing the pond from North America to Europe is where flight prices start to really heat up. There are always more tips and tricks to help you find better deals, and today I’ve got some for you in the form of a guest post!
A self-proclaimed cheap-flight guru, Keani Abel from Keani Travel put together her best tips on finding cheap flights from Canada and the U.S.A. to Europe. I definitely learned a couple things, and hope you do too!
Read on if you want cheap flights from Canada/ the U.S.A. to Europe!
Traveling as a student (or in general) can be a strain on wallet. As an avid traveler I am always looking for ways to cut costs and save money wherever I can. One of the biggest expenses of traveling overseas is usually the plane ticket.
Before I started traveling regularly, I had this idea that I had to save up at least $10,000 for my first rendezvous to Europe. It wasn’t until my boyfriend found a flight $400 round trip flight to Norway that I really opened my eyes to how affordable traveling can actually be!
Four years and 25 countries later, I’m kind of a self-proclaimed cheap flight finding professional. Whenever my friends and family are traveling, they turn to me!
Without further ado, here are some of my best travel tips for finding cheap flights from the U.S.A and Canada to Europe!
1 . Search Everywhere
Want to go to Paris in March? In addition to looking for flights to Paris, search for flights to Oslo, Stockholm, England, etc. Once you are in Europe you can find flights as low as $20 to your desired destination. Europe is a relatively small continent, so you can travel from country to country quickly and for a low cost
2 . Use Your Resources
There are so many amazing travel resources out there nowadays all dedicated to finding you the cheapest flight possible. So sure, you could spend hours tracking down the perfect flight, or you could have other’s do it for you. Some of my favorite travel websites are:
www.skyscanner.com: What I love about Skyscanner is how user friendly it is. Just type in two airports and a date and bam, a whole calendar month of different date and price options pop up. Not sure where you want to go? Put in the closest airport to you and hit the “Everywhere” feature to snag the best deal. Don’t have a date locked yet? Put in your destination and the “Cheapest Month” feature will show you the best time to fly!
www.Getmetoeurope.com: Okay, these guys have been my Holy Grail. This free subscription website sends you the latest deals from the U.S. & Canada to Europe. They have their eyes on the skies around the clock to pick up mistake fairs, last minute flight deals, and exclusive industry discounts! The last deal they sent me was a $248 round trip flight to Copenhagen. I mean wow.
3. Fly During Offseason
A little planning goes a long way, find out when ticket prices are going to skyrocket for your desired city and avoid those dates. For example, I have noticed that April and May flights to Europe are dramatically cheaper than June, July, and August.
4. Try Different Departure Airports
It might do you well to drive a little further for a better deal! I live in Naples, Florida and I once drove to Orlando (instead of my typical departure airport of Miami) because I couldn’t miss out on a $145 one-way flight to Manchester!
Nina here! I tried this tip last summer and scored a $500 round trip flight to Dublin! I drove down from Ottawa, Canada, to an airport in New York state.
5. Try Different Dates
Keeping in mind the offseason, sometimes leaving at a different date or time will dramatically drop the flight price. Try playing around with the date feature on skyscanner.com or googleflights.com to see what you can find!
Guest Blogger Profile
Keani Aabel: I am a 22 year old student traveler/travel blogger! My posts involve saving money, making the most of your trip, and never saying “no” to an adventure! I’ve been to 25 countries & the furtherest I’ve been from home is St. Petersburg, Russia! One of my craziest adventures was bungee jumping in Peru!
This is super helpful. I used this to poke around a little for this fall andddd…found $200 flights to London that I’ll definitely be buying. Thanks!
That’s so cool! I’m so glad this helped someone so quickly!
I’m heading to Euorpe next year. Still haven’t got my tickets booked. I found these tips really useful. How long before would you suggest booking the tickets?
In my experience, at least 2 months before, maybe as early as 6 months. If you book *too far* in advance, flight details often get changed on the cheap flights.
I agree, it’s definitely about investing the time, searching hard, being flexible and signing up to airline newsletters is good too.
Definitely! A couple airlines offer amazing deals in their newsletters.
Living in the UK I need cheap flights going the other way! Norwegian is always a good shout for their insanely cheap fares to NYC. And you’re definitely right about cheap flights within Europe – I often find returns from London to Spain, Italy and France for under £50!
Nina! Omg you won’t believe me if I say I just booked a flight for my winter gateaway a few hours ago, will you? LOL! And it was all started with searching a flight to “anywhere” on Skyscanner. I agree that being flexible (where to, when, which airport, date & time) is the key to get a cheap flight 😀
Where are you off to?? That’s amazing! Definitely – I once drove 6 hours away for a cheap flight hahahah!
I’d also recommend The Flight Deal adb SecretFlying
Thanks for all the tips on finding cheap flights. I’m going to start using some of these and hopefully, I’ll be able to jet off more often!
That’s always the goal 😉
We live near Naples (Italy) and the prices from there are SO expensive unless we go on the hunt with good deals. In fact flights are where we spend most of our budget every time we plan a new trip 🙁 We’ll try to use your tips next time!
I hope these tips work the other way around! Maybe you can make your way to a hub and fly from there cheaper 🙂
Great tips! I’ve never tried those websites and am excited to check them out!!
You just nailed it. This was such an interesting read. Loved your tips and tricks about flights. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Glad you found it so interesting!
What a great post! I have never heard of getmetoeurope.com so I’ll have to get on there and check it out! Thanks for sharing.
I hadn’t either! It looks like an awesome resource!
Flights to Europe have been pretty affordable this year! With budget airlines like Norwegian Air and WOW Air coming to the states, it’s becoming a lot less pricey to get to Europe.
so true! I found an amazing deal with Norweigan air not long ago
These are really great tips! I try to practice most of these until I find a price I’m happy with. In the U.S I’m a huge fan of the 3 day deals from Southwest and have flow for $49 which is one of the lowest prices one can find. Skyscanner is my go to for all flights too!
I wish we had Southwest in Canada!
Some good tips here. We generally use Skyscanner too as a push off point and then search other sites for better prices. It really helps with people who travel a lot as we are generally more flexible with dates and destinations and can link in between by other modes of transport and the like. Thanks for sharing.
Yeap, save on flight then can spend more on other things. 😀
As an Aussie, every trip we take has to start with an expensive flight, usually much more than most people in the world are used to. Add to that all the other connections and it can add up so apps like Skyscanner can be really useful.
Love Skyscanner, I’ve also found the google flights feature works really well to browse pricing just by moving around on the map. So many great tips to find a cheap flight!
Awesome tips! I absolutely love Skyscanner 🙂