Cheap Summer Flight Hack: Compare Flight Search Engines

How we repeated the comparison

The follow-up used round-trip economy searches for one adult on New York–Paris, New York–Tokyo, Chicago–Rome, San Francisco–Paris and San Francisco–Rome. The 30 screenshots were captured on 1 October 2026, between approximately 10:38 and 10:56 am. Each route was checked across KAYAK, Skyscanner, Momondo, Aviasales / Jetradar and Google Flights within a few minutes, rather than all engines being captured at exactly the same instant.

We recorded the displayed direct and one-stop category prices from the stop-filter summaries or the relevant Google Flights results. Sponsored offers and “best” or “quickest” results were not substituted for a lower category minimum. Google Flights screenshots include round-trip estimates and return-selection prices; not every result shows a completed outbound-and-return selection.

For the purposes of this repeat study, the Jetradar tab is labelled Aviasales / Jetradar, following the service correspondence used in our searches. The original study also included Cheapflights, Dohop, Jetcost, Hipmunk and Kiwi.com; those five were not included in this follow-up. Hipmunk was retired in January 2020, as documented in SAP Concur’s release notes. The other omitted engines were outside the scope of our narrower follow-up selection; omission does not imply that they have all closed. Neither table is an endorsement of every booking agent returned by an engine.

All five routes: the 2026 screenshot results

New York to Paris — 14–21 August 2027

The lowest direct-category price was $648 on both KAYAK and Momondo. The lowest one-stop price was $714 on Skyscanner. Every engine displayed a lower direct price than its one-stop price. The visible French bee direct option used Newark–Paris Orly, demonstrating why city-wide searches should also be checked for airport choices.

New York to Tokyo — 14–21 August 2027

Aviasales / Jetradar displayed the lowest prices in both categories: $1,774 direct and $1,222 with one stop. It also displayed a $1,085 two-stop option. That two-stop fare is excluded from the one-stop comparison. KAYAK and Momondo’s visible one-stop options combined Qatar Airways outbound and Philippine Airlines inbound, whereas Google’s lowest visible one-stop departure used Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong.

Chicago to Rome — 14–21 August 2027

Google Flights displayed the lowest one-stop estimate at $710, while Momondo displayed the lowest direct price at $908. The direct spread was $51; the one-stop spread was $17. This route illustrates why the best engine for a connecting journey can differ from the best engine for a direct journey.

San Francisco to Paris — 14–21 August 2027

KAYAK and Momondo tied for the lowest direct price at $829. Google Flights displayed the lowest visible one-stop estimate at $858. As with New York–Paris, each engine displayed a lower direct price than its one-stop price. A connection was not automatically the cheaper choice.

San Francisco to Rome — 14–21 August 2027

Momondo displayed the lowest one-stop price at $782, while Google Flights displayed the lowest direct estimate at $948. The screenshots now contain direct results for this route, whereas the supplied 2019 dataset did not record direct prices. That historical omission should not be interpreted as evidence that direct flights did not exist in 2019.

The original 2019 study: August 2019 flight prices

The following graphics and tables retain the original five-route study and its 10-engine coverage. They concern 14–21 August 2019 and are historical prices. The original cheapest-flight category allowed the cheapest recorded result, rather than a verified one-stop-only result. It therefore should not be treated as directly equivalent to the follow-up’s one-stop column.

At a glance: the cheapest-flight price differences

New York to Paris: 14 to 21 August 2019

Cheapest-flight comparison: Jetcost recorded the lowest price at $361. Cheapflights recorded the highest at $495. The difference was $134, equivalent to 27.07% of the higher price.

Direct-flight comparison: Skyscanner and Hipmunk recorded the lowest price at $493. Google Flights recorded the highest at $576. The difference was $83, equivalent to 14.41% of the higher price.

New York to Tokyo: 14 to 21 August 2019

Cheapest-flight comparison: Jetcost recorded the lowest price at $645. Google Flights recorded the highest at $735. The difference was $90, equivalent to 12.24% of the higher price.

Direct-flight comparison: Skyscanner recorded the lowest price at $1,443. KAYAK recorded the highest at $1,900. The difference was $457, equivalent to 24.05% of the higher price.

Chicago to Rome: 14 to 21 August 2019

Cheapest-flight comparison: Kiwi.com recorded the lowest price at $706. Google Flights and Hipmunk recorded the highest at $849. The difference was $143, equivalent to 16.84% of the higher price.

Direct-flight comparison: Skyscanner recorded the lowest price at $874. Hipmunk recorded the highest at $1,230. The difference was $356, equivalent to 28.94% of the higher price.

San Francisco to Paris: 14 to 21 August 2019

Cheapest-flight comparison: Dohop recorded the lowest price at $430. Kiwi.com recorded the highest at $501. The difference was $71, equivalent to 14.17% of the higher price.

Direct-flight comparison: Jetcost recorded the lowest price at $621. Google Flights recorded the highest at $876. The difference was $255, equivalent to 29.11% of the higher price.

San Francisco to Rome: 14 to 21 August 2019

Cheapest-flight comparison: Dohop recorded the lowest price at $620. Google Flights recorded the highest at $1,000. The difference was $380, equivalent to 38.00% of the higher price.

Direct flights: No direct-flight prices were recorded for this route in the supplied comparison. This does not establish that direct flights were unavailable generally.