Millions of people use a metasearch engine or flight comparison site to discover cheap flights and then click through to an airline website or travel agent to book their ticket. However, FlightsFinder.com,  the world's first meta-meta flight search® engine, discovered that your favourite single flight aggregator might not provide you with the cheapest possible option.

Flights Finder selected 10 top flight search engines and examined their round trip flight results for popular long haul summer destinations flying from central US and UK airports.

FlightsFinder.com analysed Skyscanner, KAYAK, momondo, Cheapflights, Google flights, Dohop, Jetcost, Jetradar, Hipmunk and Kiwi.com round trip routes, on the exact dates, at precisely the same time and compared the results.

New York to Paris,  14th to 21 August 2019 (Prices in USD not GBP)

• Cheapflights:  
• cheapest flight=$495, cheapest direct flight=$495
• Kayak: 
• cheapest flight=$494, cheapest direct flight=$495
• Skyscanner: 
• cheapest flight=$451, cheapest direct flight=$493
• Momondo: 
• cheapest flight=$486, cheapest direct flight=$512
• Google flights: 
• cheapest flight=$465, cheapest direct flight=$576
• Dohop: 
• cheapest flight=$367, cheapest direct flight=$516
• Jetcost: 
• cheapest flight=$361, cheapest direct flight=$496
• Jetradar: 
• cheapest flight=$367, cheapest direct flight=$505
• Hipmunk: 
• cheapest flight=$493 cheapest direct flight=$493
• kiwi.com: 
• cheapest flight=$484, cheapest direct flight=$556

Conclusion:

cheapest flight=$361 jetcost, cheapest direct flight=$493 Skyscanner

most expensive flight=$486 Momondo, most expensive direct flight=$576 google

Potential savings by comparing all sites via our FlightsFinder meta-meta search dashboard:

cheapest flight=25.72% savings 

cheapest direct flight=14.58% savings

New York to Tokyo, 14th to 21 August 2019 (Prices in USD not GBP)

• Cheapflights:  
• cheapest flight=$682, cheapest direct flight=$1738
• Kayak: 
• cheapest flight=$682, cheapest direct flight=$1900
• Skyscanner: 
• cheapest flight=$660, cheapest direct flight=$1443
• Momondo: 
• cheapest flight=$671, cheapest direct flight=$1703
• Google flights: 
• cheapest flight=$735, cheapest direct flight=$1740
• Dohop: 
• cheapest flight=$662, cheapest direct flight=$1517
• Jetcost: 
• cheapest flight=$645, cheapest direct flight=$1585
• Jetradar: 
• cheapest flight=$650, cheapest direct flight=$1465
• Hipmunk: 
• cheapest flight=$668 cheapest direct flight=$1521
• kiwi.com: 
• cheapest flight=$679, cheapest direct flight=$1894

Conclusion:

cheapest flight=$645 jetcost, cheapest direct flight=$1443 Skyscanner

most expensive flight=$735 google, most expensive direct flight=$1900 kayak

Potential savings by comparing all sites via our FlightsFinder meta-meta search dashboard:

cheapest flight=12.24% savings 

cheapest direct flight=24.05% savings

Chicago to Rome, 14th to 21 August 2019 (Prices in USD not GBP)

• Cheapflights:  
• cheapest flight=$793, cheapest direct flight=$1204
• Kayak: 
• cheapest flight=$793, cheapest direct flight=$1204
• Skyscanner: 
• cheapest flight=$822, cheapest direct flight=$874
• Momondo: 
• cheapest flight=$793, cheapest direct flight=$1175
• Google flights: 
• cheapest flight=$849, cheapest direct flight=$1216
• Dohop: 
• cheapest flight=$835, cheapest direct flight=$1191
• Jetcost: 
• cheapest flight=$755, cheapest direct flight=$1125
• Jetradar: 
• cheapest flight=$755, cheapest direct flight=$1187
• Hipmunk: 
• cheapest flight=$849 cheapest direct flight=$1230
• kiwi.com: 
• cheapest flight=$706, cheapest direct flight=$1201

Conclusion:

cheapest flight=$706 kiwi, cheapest direct flight=$874 Skyscanner

most expensive flight=$849 Hipmunk, most expensive direct flight=$1230 Hipmunk

Potential savings by comparing all sites via our FlightsFinder meta-meta search dashboard:

cheapest flight=16.84% savings 

cheapest direct flight=28.94% savings

San Francisco to Paris, 14th to 21 August 2019 (Prices in USD not GBP)

• Cheapflights:  
• cheapest flight=$432, cheapest direct flight=$707
• Kayak: 
• cheapest flight=$432, cheapest direct flight=$700
• Skyscanner: 
• cheapest flight=$445, cheapest direct flight=$673
• Momondo: 
• cheapest flight=$432, cheapest direct flight=$669
• Google flights: 
• cheapest flight=$441, cheapest direct flight=$876
• Dohop: 
• cheapest flight=$430, cheapest direct flight=$662
• Jetcost: 
• cheapest flight=$454, cheapest direct flight=$621
• Jetradar: 
• cheapest flight=$438, cheapest direct flight=$623
• Hipmunk: 
• cheapest flight=$437 cheapest direct flight=$654
• kiwi.com: 
• cheapest flight=$501, cheapest direct flight=$699

Conclusion:

cheapest flight=$430 Dohop, cheapest direct flight=$621 jetcost

most expensive flight=$501 kiwi, most expensive direct flight=$876 google

Potential savings by comparing all sites via our FlightsFinder meta-meta search dashboard:

cheapest flight=14.17% savings 

cheapest direct flight=29.11% savings

San Francisco to Rome, 14th to 21 August 2019 (Prices in USD not GBP)

• Cheapflights:  
• cheapest flight=$926
• Kayak: 
• cheapest flight=$992
• Skyscanner: 
• cheapest flight=$842
• Momondo: 
• cheapest flight=$926
• Google flights:
• cheapest flight=$1000
• Dohop: 
• cheapest flight=$620
• Jetcost: 
• cheapest flight=$989
• Jetradar: 
• cheapest flight=$629
• Hipmunk: 
• cheapest flight=$853 
• kiwi.com: 
• cheapest flight=$673

Conclusion:

cheapest flight=$620 dohop, cheapest direct flight=no direct flights

most expensive flight=$1000 google

Potential savings by comparing all sites via our FlightsFinder meta-meta search dashboard:

cheapest flight=38% savings 

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The results revealed huge price differences between the various search engines for last-minute long haul summer flight routes. The biggest price difference noted was a whopping 38% between Google Flights and Dohop for a return flight in August from San Francisco to Rome. Dohop's cheapest price was $620, while Google Flights Cheapest price was $1000.

Momondo was most expensive for a return flight from New York to Paris, coming in at $486, while Jetcost beat it by almost 26% coming in at $361, resulting in a saving of $125. Hipmunk proved to be the most expensive for a direct flight to Rome from Chicago in August, costing $1230, almost 30% more than the cheapest direct flight found on Skyscanner for $874.

KAYAK also produced the most expensive result for a direct round trip flight from New York to Tokyo, coming in at $1900, a full 24% more than a similar direct flight via Skyscanner at $1443. 

There was no standout winner, or loser said FlightsFinder CEO Shahab Siddiqui - "One particular search engine might find the cheapest indirect route but not fare so well for direct flights. Or one search engine may be cheapest on one route one day only for it to be the most expensive the next day. The best advice remains to search as many different flight comparison engines as you can to be sure of the best flight at an optimal price that suits you. You can potentially save up to 30% by adopting this one simple strategy."

FlightsFinder.com makes this comparison easy due to its trademarked 'meta-meta flight search®' engine. Their unique dashboard enables you to compare all the different search engines side by side in a matter of seconds, a task that would otherwise take a painstakingly long time to complete.

To test our meta-meta flight search® engine and discover further money-saving tips, visit FlightsFinder.com.