Ever hear about someone scoring a $130 round-trip to Milan or a $63 ticket to Chile?
You probably wonder how they pull that off. Do they have some secret connection? Do they know a hidden corner of the internet?
Turns out, they do. But not in the way you think.
For years, travelers have been hunting for the “secret” websites that promise cheap flights. They clear cookies, use VPNs, check on Tuesdays at 3 PM. Most of that stuff doesn’t actually help.
The real secret isn’t one magic website. Some tricks are just features hiding in plain sight. Others are the high-stakes moves that can save you a fortune, or get you into trouble with an airline.
This is the real insider’s guide. We’re about to show you the apps and sites pros use to find cheap flights, from the totally safe to the slightly risky.
Contents
The ‘Secrets’ Hiding in Plain Sight
The best deals come from being flexible. You need to flip how you search. Start with your budget and your dates, not the destination.
The Destination Anywhere Hack
This is the number one way to stumble on insane deals.
Google Flights Explore: Open Google Flights, put in your departure airport, and in the destination box, click “Explore.” You can leave the dates blank or pick something like “a weekend in October.” The map will fill up with cheap fares all over the world. That’s how you find a $400 round-trip to Spain you never even planned on.
Skyscanner Everywhere: Skyscanner has a similar tool. Enter your home airport, type “Everywhere” in the destination, and it spits out a list of countries ranked cheapest to most expensive. It totally flips the usual travel planning on its head.
The When to Go Hack
If you know where you want to go but don’t care when, this is gold.
Google Flights Date Grid & Price Graph: When you search a route, don’t stop at your selected dates. Click the calendar to see the cheapest price for every day over the next year. The Price Graph shows if the fare you’re looking at is high, low, or average.
Skyscanner Cheapest Month: This tool lets you pick “Whole month” then “Cheapest month” for your route. It scans the year and tells you exactly when flying will be cheapest.
Flying on a Tuesday instead of a Friday, or in October instead of July, is one of the most reliable ways to save hundreds without gambling on a mystery deal.
Also Read: This Secret VPN Trick Travelers Use to Find Crazy Cheap Flight Tickets Instantly
How to Actually Find Flights 90% Cheaper: Error Fares
Alright, now for the part that sounds too good to be true: the 90% off deals. This is real. They’re called “mistake fares” or “error fares.”
Basically, airlines or travel agencies sometimes mess up. A person might type $200 instead of $2,000. A system glitch might forget fuel surcharges. Or a currency conversion could list a $1,500 flight for $150.
These fares are legit, but they’re rare. And they vanish fast. Hours, not days. You won’t find them by randomly searching. Like one expert said, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The trick isn’t searching. It’s letting someone else do the hunting for you.
The Real Secret Websites to Find Cheap Flights: Alert Services
Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights): This is the classic. The founder, Scott, started the service after finding a $130 roundtrip to Milan. Experts vet every deal so you get quality alerts, not junk.
Secret Flying: This one’s more like a raw feed of deals, but it’s where some of the craziest mistakes pop up.
Dollar Flight Club & Jack’s Flight Club: Dollar Flight Club specializes in business and first-class deals. Jack’s is big for the UK and Europe.
You subscribe, set your home airport, and then wait for a jackpot alert to hit your inbox. Some real examples:
- $219 round-trip to Paris
- $161 round-trip to Lima
- $63 round-trip to Santiago, Chile
- $119 round-trip from Boston to Barcelona
One lucky traveler even snagged a 2-bedroom Four Seasons villa, normally $3,000 a night, for under $200 thanks to a mapping error. The hotel honored it.
Related: This Genius Google Trick Travelers Are Using to Find Crazy Cheap Flight Deals Before Anyone Else
The Book First, Ask Later Rule
When you get one of these alerts, you have to move fast:
Book Immediately: These deals disappear in hours.
Book Directly with the Airline: Skip third-party sites if you can.
Do Not Call: Don’t try to “confirm” the price. That just alerts the airline and kills the deal for everyone.
Wait: Don’t book hotels or rental cars right away. Airlines can cancel mistake fares; about 10% get canceled. You’re safe once you have a confirmed ticket number, not just a reservation code.
The High-Risk, High-Reward Secret Websites to Find Cheap Flights
Some secret websites can save you serious money, but they come with big risks. Pros know about them, and many actually stay away.
The Hidden City Hack: What is Skiplagged?
You’ve probably heard of Skiplagged. Their tagline? “Our flights are so cheap, United sued us… and lost.”
Here’s how it works:
Say you want to fly from New York to Orlando. A direct flight costs $250. But the airline also sells a flight from New York to Dallas that connects through Orlando for just $130. You book the cheaper flight to Dallas and simply get off in Orlando. You skip the final leg.
Airlines price flights based on competition, not distance, which is why this works. Sounds awesome, right? It is—until it goes wrong. If you try it, there are five rules you cannot break:
- One-Way Tickets Only: Skip a leg on a round-trip, and your return gets canceled.
- Backpack Only: Checked bags go to the final destination, so you can’t get them at your layover.
- Carry-Ons Are Risky: Full flights might force you to check your bag. Only bring a small personal item.
- Never Link Your Frequent Flyer Account: Airlines can shut it down and void your miles.
- Do Not Overuse It: One-time use might be fine. Repeated use gets you flagged.
The Skiplagged Reality
Airlines hate this. It violates their “contract of carriage.” Here’s what can happen:
You can get banned. One teen got a three-year ban from American Airlines.
You can be fined. Some travelers had to pay thousands or lose all their miles.
You can be stranded. If your first flight is delayed, the airline might rebook you directly to the final destination, skipping your secret stop.
Most pros agree: the savings usually aren’t worth the risk.
Also Read This: Skyscanner Is Outdated: These 6 Hidden Sites Find Cheaper Flights Every Single Time
The Self-Transfer Hack: Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com is another “hack,” but it works differently. It uses something called a “self-transfer.”
Kiwi stitches together flights from airlines that don’t normally cooperate. For example, you fly United to London, then Ryanair to Rome. But these are separate tickets. You have to leave the secure area, grab your bags, check in again, and go through security all over. It’s a huge hassle.
Kiwi offers a “guarantee” if your first flight is delayed. They promise to get you on a new flight. But user reports show this is hit-or-miss. You have to deal with Kiwi, not the airline, and getting help from a foreign airport can be a nightmare.
Bottom line: Kiwi is great for finding creative routes, but booking these self-transfers is a gamble. You’re trading convenience and reliability for a lower price.
Flight-Booking Myths Insiders Know to Ignore
Finally, let’s bust the “secrets” that are just myths.
The Myth: Using a VPN or Incognito Mode to change your “point of sale” or “clear your cookies” will show you cheaper prices.
The Reality: Modern airline pricing is too complex. Prices are not based on your IP address. They are based on “fare buckets”.
Here’s what’s really happening: Say an airline has 10 seats at $150. Once those 10 sell, the price jumps to the next bucket, maybe $180.
The price didn’t go up because you searched. It went up because someone else snagged the last cheap seat while you were thinking about it.
Stop wasting time with VPNs. It doesn’t make a difference.
Your New Secret Strategy to Find Cheap Flights
You don’t have to be some hacker to find cheap flights. You just need the right strategy. The real insider approach is a mix of smart tools and smart habits.
Start all your planning with Google Flights Explore and Skyscanner Everywhere. Be flexible with dates and destinations. This is where you’ll find reliable 30–50% savings without gambling.
Subscribe to an error-fare service like Going.com. Let the crazy 90% off deals come to you. It’s a passive, low-effort strategy.
And whenever you can, book straight with the airline. It makes solving problems later way easier.
Finding affordable travel can be fun. Now you know how to actually find cheap flights, which secret websites are the real deal, and which ones are just digital traps waiting to catch you out!