1

Flights from where to where?

Many search engines do not cover the LCCs (low cost carriers) because they do not get a commission from them. The only way to really find the lowest fare on any given day is to check as many ways as you can find to do so.

I checked travelsupermarket for a flight from Toronto to Glasgow as an example of a route I am familiar with. It did not show Canadian Affair or Air Transat flights. The cheapest it showed was Air France at $1356. A check on Air Transat's website gave me $727. Canadian Affair was $728.

So forget using one search website such as travelsupermarket or any other. If you want a flight from Mombasa to Capetown there may well be an airline you have never heard of and that is not found on any search site except their own.

If I wanted to fly Mombasa to Capetown what I would do is find the Mombasa airport website and see what airlines fly out of that airport. I would then search on the website of each airline to see which fly to Cape Town and what their fare would be.

2

In what area of the world?

In addition, as travelinstyle46 said in #1, sometimes a flight search engine isn't the way to go.

BTW, to look for the web of the airline (to know fares and schedules) isn't always an alternative as there are airlines that doesn't have a web...

3

In general from the UK,
Specifically , UK to Eithiopia.

4

Try Skyscanner or Kayak or Momondo (among others). Matrix (ITA Software) could be useful too but it doesn't tell you where you can get the fare they quote...
Note that Skyscanner doesn't allow to look for open-jaw and multi-city tickets. The rest of the webs suggested allow you to look for that type of tickets.

P.S.: If you plan to take domestic flights within Ethiopia, don't forget it's cheaper to book them in the country than to book them online in the web of Ethiopian Airlines.

5

http://www.skyscanner.net is probably the best.
There's an option where you can put in a request for fares across the whole month, so chosing the cheapest day to travel.
Also check out the following: Easyjet to Hurghada (overland to Cairo is cheap) then Cairo to Addis Ababa.

However, several years ago I found the cheapest flight to be a direct one overnight from London Heathrow to Addis with Air Ethiopia. (The food was the nicest I've ever had, too.)

6

Mrjack, WHERE in the UK to WHERE in Ethiopia? The word specific has a specific meaning. If you are talking about flights it refers to what airport to what airport.

If you are talking about London Heathrow to Addis Ababa Bole then Googling for Addis Ababa Bole airport would get you a list of airlines. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bole_International_Airport

From that list it is clear that your choices would start with Egyptair (London to Cairo, Cairo to Addis Ababa) and continue on through Yemenia Airway. Skyscanner gave me Egyptair at $667 as their best offer.

Smart fares gave me $672 on Turkish Airlines. Expedia $845 on Ethiopian. Kayak $636 on Egyptair. Woldflights $796 on Turkish Airlines. AirlineTicket found nothing. NetFlgihts found nothing. Ebookers $668 on Egyptair.

There do not appear to be any LCCs who fly to Addis so you're stuck with what you see. The best deal on the dates I picked (a couple of weeks from now) was from Kayak on Egyptair for $636 return. But simply checking Turkish Airlines own website for the same dates got me $623. I didn't check all the other airlines directly. It's enough to prove my point.

But the best deal tomorrow for the same dates is just as likely to be on another site and with another airline. If you want to chase the lowest price you have to check EVERYTHING. Even then, it is only the lowest price you can find today. Once again, there is no one site to check and no one site that is always the best on any given day.

Nor is it wise to just check for price alone. In many cases you could find you have an 8 hour wait to connect in an airport. In some cases an overnight wait which means you will need to pay for a hotel for the night. Or it might simply be that you have to be at your home airport at 5am meaning you get leave home at 2am if you live a couple of hours from the airport. You could arrive at your destination at 2am and have to deal with that issue. These inconveniences are a factor you need to put some kind of value on. Will I pay $100 more to depart and arrive at convenient times on non-stop flights for example.

Then there is the choice of arrival and departure airports. I happen live within 3 hours of 3 major airports. Which one has the best price today? I would have to check all airlines, all flight websites (skyscanner et al) for all 3 airports. What about at the other end. How many airports might I choose to fly into in Ethiopia? Addis is not the only international airport. So you multiply the choices yet again.

It seems simple to ask 'which site will get me the best price'. In fact there is no answer.

7

Agree with TiS.

You need to do the legwork...that is,check all the possible sites,and check them for the exact time/date/arrival and destination that suits you.

It is highly improbable that the site that gives you the best price today will give you the same(or the best) price tomorrow ;-)

8

TIS thanks for your input, again you are condescending in your approach. Are you such a seasoned 5 star traveler that only you consider the points you mentioned, preaching to the converted or what ?
Simple question, simple answer. Don't complicate things all the time.

9

Yes he is, if you don't give the specific answer he has in his head its wrong. Specific could be anything from flight code to country. When I was looking for flights I looked at airports in Scotland and the north of England, why tie yourself to one?

Anyhow, the sites I found useful,

Travelsupermarket
SkyScanner
Momondo
KAYAK
Expedia

Use them all, the calendar view can be useful as it shows you the cheapest dates to fly out each months.

Looking at the airports wiki page can be useful, it wasn't for me and is dwindling in its relevance but definitely still worth a look.

One final site that is really worth bookmarking is http://www.holidaypirates.com/ A compilation of travel deals, often bizarre open jaw combinations that result in extremely low prices. This however involved waiting until a deal relevant to you pops up.

10

Looks to me like everyone on here has said exactly the same thing.

There are lots of sites where you can do this,and no one is always better (or worse) than the other ones.And there are always flights that are on some search engines,and not on others....

You guys are always fighting over something,even when there is no need ;-)

11

"Simple question, simple answer. Don't complicate things all the time."

Well, this was your question: "Can anyone reccommend some good flight search engines which offer cheap flights ? I cant find anything to beat travelsupermarket.com so far!"

I gave you several examples of sites with better prices but I also told you that flight search engines are not necessarily the answer to finding a cheap flight. It is not a 'simple question, simple answer'. It is far more complicated than that. But if you want to think it is simple, go ahead.

12

'I gave you an answer' *

*answer may contain abrasive personality, condescension and depressing tone.

13

It may OneScot if someone chooses to read it that way. It does not however change the answer does it. It's complicated, not simple.

14

If one gives a complicated answer the complicated nature is analytical. Though there is a simple answer you chose not to give.