When I tell people about one of my favorite websites for cheap airfare, the name Momondo isn’t what they expect to hear. They expect to hear well-known online travel booking sites like Expedia or Travelocity, not that Momondo flights are the cheapest. More on this in just a second.
Now if you follow the blog, you know I mostly use miles and points for award travel.
However, cheap flights are just that, cheap! Sometimes, it just makes more sense to take advantage of a deal than to pay with miles and points.
Over time, I’ve tested out different websites and strategies for finding the cheapest flights. Momondo flights were consistently among the cheapest. For the record, I also use and love Google Flights and Skyscanner.
What’s more, I discovered I wasn’t alone. The Momondo flight search tool was endorsed by trusted travel sources like Frommer’s, Forbes, Travel & Leisure, and New York Times Travel.
The research done by Reid Bramblett of Reids Guides caught my attention, too. After completing test after test of online airfare sites, his Momondo reviews showed the search tool found the cheapest airfare 95% of the time!
Using a tool like Momondo cannot be ignored when you’re on the hunt for the best-priced airfare.
I know some of you have never heard of Momondo and you’re asking why not use one of the major online booking sites like Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz.
Before, diving into the reasons why you should try out Momondo and how to use it, let’s first take a look at why these well-known sites for booking airfare may not always show the cheapest airfare.
Why not use an online booking site to find the cheapest airfare?
Have you priced and booked airfare using an online booking site like Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz? If you’re like most people, you have and probably felt good about shopping around for the most affordable airfare.
But, did you know Expedia owns both Travelocity and Orbitz?
The online travel websites you use for booking airfare, hotels, and rental cars may not be all they seem.
In fact, over the past couple of years, many smaller online travel booking sites have been acquired by large companies. In addition to Travelocity and Orbitz, Expedia owns CarRentals.com, Hotwire, CheapTickets, Trivago, Venere.com, and Hotels.com.
The point is, you may think you’ve done your homework by searching across different sites, but the truth is, you’ve probably been looking at sites all owned by the same parent company, making the prices not as competitive as you might imagine.
This doesn’t mean these online booking sites can’t find cheap airfare.
But, Momondo has maintained its status as a non-biased cheap flight finder along with tools like Google Flights and Skyscanner. Their flight metasearch engine shows how important it is to do a comprehensive flight search to find cheap tickets before you take out your credit card to buy.
5 Reasons Why You Need to Know Momondo for Cheap Airfare
1. Momondo is an aggregator that searches for the best airfare across the web. Without adding fees or any extras, Momondo pulls in data for your selected route to show you all available flight options. These results are highlighted by the cheapest, quickest, and best.
2. Momondo searches 1000s of airlines, online booking sites, travel agencies, search engines, and other online travel discount sites. This is more than double and, in some cases, triple the number of sources used by typical booking sites.
3. This brings us to this fact. Momondo isn’t a true booking site. It’s a metasearch engine whose function is to return airfare data without steering you toward one set of results over another. Once you find the flights you’d like, Momondo redirects you to that booking website.
4. Unlike many online booking sites, Momondo includes small, budget airlines and lesser-known airlines as it works to find the lowest airfare. Ever heard of FlyScoot? No worries, Momondo has. Even better, Momondo shows Southwest flight results which many other travel websites, including Google Flights, do not.
5. Oh yeah, and in test after test, Momondo came up with the cheapest airfare 95% of the time! Google Flights may come out ahead of Momondo in search speed, but Momondo can be more nuanced with all the details you need to choose the best cheap flight.
How to Find Cheap Flights with Momondo
ProTip: Before getting started with any flight search tool, be sure to use an incognito window or private browser tab for searching or clear your browser’s cache after searching to avoid price increases! No matter what the naysayers think, I’ve seen firsthand in my own airfare searches that this does help! For more tips, check out my guide all about cheap flights and flight search tips.
You can do a basic airfare search with Momondo just as you would on most travel websites.
Enter your departure and arrival airports, along with the dates and number of passengers. You can even select “Nonstop only” if you’d like to filter out flights with connections. When searching for the cheapest flights, the more flexible you can be, the better!
Click on the calendar icon to enter your dates to see a color-coded calendar dropdown.
You’ll instantly be able to see cheaper dates than others before starting your search. You can even click on “exact” next to departure and return to change the search to +/- a number of days instead. In the search above, I searched +/- 3 days.
Momondo will display the results in a matrix-style grid so you can see the lowest prices and on which date combinations. Scroll down below the matrix to view the details of each flight option, beginning with the lowest-priced flight.
Momondo also shows the cheapest, quickest, and best options in the bar just below the flight price matrix. Clicking on any of these will bring the flight details to the top of the results.
Another handy feature is the “Other Sort” option on the bar with the cheapest, quickest, and best options. You can quickly sort the results by departure, duration, arrival, and price to easily see the results that match your ideal flight scenario.
This allows you to select which outbound and inbound flights you’d like to create your own itinerary.
In the left sidebar, Momondo shows a quick insights tip about whether you should book now or wait for a better price. You can also sign up or log in to Momondo to get updates on price changes for your selected route.
Aside from signing up for cheap flight email subscription services like Matt’s Flights, this is a great way to DIY airfare alerts.
Also on the left side of the results, you’ll see filters you can apply to refine your results. I like the filter by airline alliance, which is helpful when trying to earn frequent flyer miles in a particular loyalty program.
Momondo has also added a filter option by “Booking Site.” This allows you to see results only from airlines or even filter out smaller online booking sites you may not feel comfortable booking with.
When you’re ready to book, click the green “View Deal” button. Momondo will open a new window and take you to the booking site to complete your purchase.
Be sure to use a travel rewards credit card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve to get 3x the points for travel purchases.
Can You Book a Flight on Momondo?
If you’ve searched Momondo flights in the past, you may have noticed the option in the lefthand side menu to “Book on Momondo.”
Rest assured this is a feature available with select partners who allow flights to be directly booked on the Momondo platform. However, this is actually placing orders with the partners themselves. In these cases, Momondo is still acting as an unbiased airfare aggregator.
The great part is that you can toggle this feature on and off to your liking.
If you select one of the flights that can be booked on Momondo, you’ll be sent to a details page to review your itinerary and pay via a check-out button.
As always, be sure to read the airfare terms and conditions. You want to understand what your options are (if any) should you need to cancel your trip or change your dates. Also, consider that some airlines and booking sites are better than others when it comes to providing customer service when you need it. (More on this below.)
Momondo Mix & Match Itineraries
In some cases, Momondo will create a “mix & match” itinerary option.
This will include different airlines operating your departure and return flights. Look for the “mix & match” box above the price in the search results.
To see more about the flight results, again, simply click the green “View Deal” button.
The Momondo website opens a window showing the details for each flight. In most cases, it involves booking on 2 different sites, one right after the other to take advantage of the Momondo airfare you found.
Need Some Destination Inspiration?
One last fun feature to highlight is the Momondo “Anywhere” search. On the homepage, enter your departure airport and dates. But instead of entering a destination, select anywhere. If you don’t see it, start to type anywhere and the option will appear.
Momondo will come back with cheap flight ideas based on when you want to travel! You can even filter for the type of trip you want to take like city, beach, or outdoorsy.
Maybe I’m just a flight search nerd, but I can easily lose track of time scrolling through Momondo’s explore map feature comparing flight deals.
But, I saw a negative Momondo review. Is Momondo legit?
Momondo isn’t a booking site, just a metasearch engine or airfare aggregator. When the Momondo search engine finds the cheapest flight, it may very well be sold by a smaller online travel agency (OTA) you’ve not heard of.
The majority of these OTAs are completely legit and just acting as a middleman between you and the airline.
The key to success with these OTAs is to read the terms and conditions regarding any change or cancellation fees. Many times these smaller OTA fees are higher than some of the larger OTAs or had you booked directly with the airline.
In addition, some of these OTAs have less than stellar customer service further complicating communication issues if troubles arise.
To be sure of who you’d be booking a particular flight with, pay attention to 2 things.
First, under the shown price and seat class, look for the name of the booking site. In the example above, it’s a website called “mytrip.” If you book that flight for that price, you’d be booking with that online booking site.
Second, if you’d rather only see results from airlines or select booking sites, use the filter on the left to choose which ones you want displayed. Momondo will automatically hide any other results.
Ultimately, you have to make the choice you’re most comfortable with, even if that means paying a few extra bucks because an OTA has better terms and conditions than another or is a more reputable name should you need support.
What do I do when I see OTAs I don’t know?
If my travel dates are soon and I know the dates are iron-clad, I definitely consider smaller OTAs, especially if the price is noticeably better. However, in most cases, I prefer to book directly with the airline. Not only can I earn miles and points for my flight but I also know how to reach customer service should I need it.
Remember, though, Momondo serves travelers in 30 different international travel markets and is a trusted and well-respected source for cheap flights throughout the travel industry.
Bottom Line: Cheap Flights = Momondo
The Momondo flight search tool never adds fees or works with third-party sites which can add to the cost of your flights. The results you see have been compared against millions of flight data points from around the web.
When you use the aggregator and metasearch website Momondo instead of a standard online booking site, you can feel confident about the price you paid for your airfare.
Have you found a Momondo cheap flight?
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