How to Get Cheap Flights With a VPN: Budget Travel in 2025

Airlines charge different prices for the same flight based on where you book from. This means travelers in high-income countries often pay premium rates, while those booking from regions like Southeast Asia or South America see much lower fares. However, with all the misinformation out there, finding airfare deals can be much more confusing than it has to be.

How to get cheap flights from anywhere? If you buy the first ticket you see, chances are that you’ll pay much more than you have to. By being flexible and creative when it comes to your travel plans and airline, you can save a lot of money that’s better spent on enjoying your actual holiday.

Below, I’ll show you how to access deals that can save you hundreds on airfare. I fly a lot, and most of the methods I’m sharing here are the same ones I rely on to keep my travel more affordable — and they make booking a whole lot quicker too.

1. Use a VPN To Get Cheap Flights: Ultimate Guide

Airline fares can differ by anything from 5% to 30% based on different IP locations. A VPN helps you find better flight deals by connecting you to a secure server in a different region, potentially making it possible to safely access prices from virtually anywhere. While you may need to play around with locations to get good results, it’s still one of the simplest methods.

Most of the time, you’ll only find relatively small discounts of between 1% to 5%. However, discounts of 15% to 30% are sometimes possible when there are market-specific promos or under very favorable currency exchange rates. The only catch is that you’ll likely need a payment method from that location to get that same price at checkout.

Here’s how to find and book the cheapest flight with a VPN:

1. Install a Fast and Secure VPN

Choose one with many servers and set it up on the device you use to book flights. Most high-quality VPNs offer multi-device support for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. This is great so that you can also take advantage of mobile-only promos and discounts.

You can test most paid VPNs risk-free with a free trial or a money-back guarantee

2. Connect to a Server

Connect to a server in your current location to check prices without revealing your online identity or activity. If you use a VPN with a built-in ad and tracker blocker, activate it to block airlines from monitoring your activity and influencing your buying behavior.

Checking different airline booking websites can reveal varying prices. Remember to open an incognito or private browsing window to prevent price manipulation based on your digital footprint (cache, cookies, browsing history).

Airlines often store your past searches in cookies. If they see you repeatedly looking for tickets on the same route, they may hike up the price as they assume you have a high intent to buy. Be sure to write down the initial price, so you can accurately compare fares.

You can confirm that your IP has changed by using a free online IP checker tool

3. Compare Prices From Different Countries

Switch to different servers to see if airfare drops when searching from different locations. For example, try servers in the same country where the airline is located or in countries known for having cheaper prices.

Remember to browse in incognito or private mode. Repeat the process until you find the best deal.

If prices don’t look right, you likely need to clear the cache and cookies and try again

4. Finalize Your Booking

Keep the VPN connected for the entire booking process to prevent changes to the low fare you found. Also, you’ll likely get the best results by combining a VPN with some of the other methods on this list.

A VPN also encrypts your traffic and hides your real IP, so it’s even safer to make online payments, especially when using public WiFi. Some VPNs even offer automatic WiFi protection that launches as soon as a new network is detected, so your data remain private from the moment you join a cafe, hotel, or airport network.

Quick Comparison Table: Best VPNs for Cheap Flights

The most important thing to consider is server locations, as that determines what market-specific pricing is available to you. All my recommended VPNs offer military-grade (256-bit) encryption to secure your flight searches and online payments, along with built-in ad, malware, and tracker blockers. However, what they block and how effective they are depends on the provider.

2. Check Flight Comparison Sites

Flight comparison sites let you quickly compare routes from various airlines and bundle deals with a single search. Just choose your departure point, destination, and dates, and it’ll pull up flights from virtually every major airline for you to compare. You can even set your preferred currency beforehand, and filter by price, flight time, layovers, and other factors.

It’s also a good method to combine with a reliable VPN, allowing you to see the prices different airlines charge in various regions. Plus, they often have special deals and lower rates than the original airlines to attract customers. Even if you prefer booking with the actual airline, it’s still a great way to narrow down the cheapest flights for specific routes.

Here are some popular online travel agencies (OTAs) to check out:

• Kayak. Useful pricing forecasts to help decide whether to book now or wait for better deals.
• Expedia. Often gives cheaper fares if you combine flights with hotels or car rentals, and has loyalty rewards for frequent users.
• Skyscanner. One of the most popular sites in the world, with flexible searches for “every airport” / “nearby airports” and price alerts.
• Trip.com. Strong coverage of Asian airlines and low-cost carriers, with frequent region-specific promos that don’t always appear on Western OTAs.
• Google Flights. Conveniently integrated with Google Search, and provides trend graphs and “best deal” suggestions when you’re flexible about destination or dates.
• Kiwi. Its user-friendly map feature lets you compare fares between different destinations around the world.
• Momondo. It searches a massive database of fares and almost always finds the lowest price.
• CheapOair. This flight comparison site sometimes offers promo codes for even greater savings.
• Aviasales. Unlike many search engines, this one also includes budget airlines.

It’s important that you compare the results from multiple OTAs. For example, while searching for flights between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Johannesburg, South Africa, the cheapest I found on Kiwi was $671, while the cheapest on Kayak and Skyscanner was $623. A difference of $48!

3. Check Budget Airlines

Budget airlines offer much cheaper flights than major carriers, especially region-specific airlines. You’ll often find much lower base fares, particularly for short-haul flights. The catch is that you usually need to pay extra for the same amount of bag space or other amenities. For example, ANA and JAL charged upwards of $500 for a flight between Singapore and Tokyo. On the same dates, budget airlines like Scoot and Zipair had flights for under $400.

Even if you’d prefer to use a major carrier, it pays to fly on the same routes as budget airlines. According to an article published in the Journal of the Air Transport Research Society, fares on full-service carriers are approximately 11% lower when they’re competing with a low-cost carrier¹.

Here are some of the most popular budget airlines across major regions:

4. Be Flexible on Times, Dates, and Destinations

Search across multiple dates and nearby airports to find the best deals. Mid-week flights and early morning or late-night departures (“red-eye” flights) are usually cheaper. Although many avoid them, I like overnight flights because they don’t waste a day, and go by faster if you can sleep on the plane. It’s like a free night of accommodation!

Also, prices are usually higher during peak seasons. Travel around Christmas and New Year is almost universally more expensive worldwide. Major holidays, festivals, or observances (e.g., Chinese New Year, Japan’s Golden Week) can also drastically hike up prices. The same goes for city-specific festivities, so it might be cheaper to change your plans slightly to land in a different city.

One nifty way to “hack” this is to fly on the actual holiday date itself, like the 25th of December itself. Most people want to travel just before or after the holidays. So, not only will flights likely be cheaper, but you’ll have more last-minute options and might get an emptier plane.

Those savings could cover gifts for loved ones rather than going to the airline

5. Get Creative With Flight Routes

Consider flying into alternative airports or booking multi-city (“open jaw”) tickets when traveling to popular destinations. This often works for places that are super popular all year round, like Rome, Paris, London, and Singapore. Minimizing flights to and from these tourist magnets is usually enough to offset the cost of any extra travel arrangements.

Flights to “gateway airports” like Frankfurt and Istanbul are also often cheaper because of high competition. So, it might be cheaper to book a long-haul flight there and then a short-haul flight to your final destination. It’s even better when these are near destination cities, without being that popular for disembarkation themselves (like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore).

On a recent trip to Europe, I actually saved roughly 20% on airfare by flying into Düsseldorf and returning from Rome. This also allows you to not have to waste time or money going back to your original arrival airport, especially if you’re traveling long distances over land.

You may also be able to book individual legs of a flight for less than a combo ticket. So, for a flight from the UK to Australia, for example, you may find it cheaper to book a separate flight from London to Singapore, and then from Singapore to Melbourne. Just be careful to plan your layover time and check whether there are any visa requirements for transit.

6. Use Airline Booking Ploys to Your Advantage

For example, check whether they offer child, student, senior, large group, or corporate discounts. Airlines use these strategies or incentives to attract first-time customers, potentially saving you some money.

Family or small group discounts are rare, and may actually be more expensive due to how airlines bucket seats. However, some airlines offer perks like free infant seat selection, which is usually a paid extra nowadays.

Other ways you may be able to save by booking through airline websites are:

• Discount or promo codes for signing up to newsletters or loyalty clubs.
• Occasional “companion sales” for add-on tickets.
• Seasonal promotions or flash sales.

7. Use Loyalty Programs and Points To Fly for Free

Airline loyalty programs and travel credit cards can cut flight costs — but they’re a long game. For instance, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is known for excellent partner redemptions, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve card lets you transfer points to United MileagePlus or British Airways, occasionally with transfer bonuses that add extra points simply for using your card.

However, it often takes months to build enough points, and you’ll sometimes end up booking pricier flights with a specific carrier just to earn miles. That said, it does feel good when you can finally upgrade from economy to business for free or get an entirely free ticket. Upper loyalty or credit card tiers also often come with perks like lounge access, free checked bags, and priority boarding.

8. Sign Up for Price Alerts

If your booking isn’t last-minute, set up fare alerts on multiple booking sites using different regional settings. Connect to various VPN servers to create alerts in different currencies and from different departure cities. This helps you spot price drops and special offers quickly.

You may also want to pay attention to the news. Alternative Airlines reports that 30–40% of flight operating costs come from fuel expenses², so if there’s a sudden drop in the price of fuel, you may be able to secure a cheaper ticket.

9. Know When To Book

Timing can matter almost as much as destination. Book too early and you risk missing sales; too late and you may compete with business travelers who pay premium rates for last-minute tickets. For domestic flights, the sweet spot is usually 1–3 months out, while international fares are best booked 2–8 months in advance (more if you travel during peak times).

Airlines also often follow what’s called the 21-day rule: prices typically rise at 21, 14, and 7 days before departure as cheaper fare classes sell out. A CheapAir study of millions of flights found the overall “best day to book” averaged around 42 days before departure³.

“Traditional advice” also often claims that cheaper prices are to be found on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Others swear by booking flights late at night or early in the morning. However, this doesn’t seem to be reliable, and it’s not nearly as important as how far in advance of your travel dates you book.

Still Not Getting Cheap Flights? Other Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

Patience and flexibility are the two most effective tips to secure cheap flights. However, there are some other methods you can try if you’re not getting the prices you want and you’re running out of time. These aren’t guaranteed to work for a variety of reasons, but may help you land a deal every now and then:

• Look for error fares. This is when you buy flight tickets that airlines mistakenly sell at unrealistically low prices. The easiest way to find them is to regularly check on sites like Secret Flying or Going Flights. However, you have to snap up tickets fast as companies catch these mistakes quickly. Airlines have also started clamping down on this practice by refunding, cancelling, or downgrading bookings made at incorrect prices.
• Shop around in different currencies. Depending on exchange rates, it’s sometimes possible to get different prices by changing the currency setting on the booking site. However, actual differences in pricing are more likely to be based on your physical location and payment method country.
• Skiplagging. Also called hidden-city ticketing, this is when you book a flight with a layover but disembark after the first flight, skipping the next leg of your journey. For example, you want to fly New York → Chicago, but the direct route is pricey, so you book New York → Chicago → Denver instead, but just get off in Chicago.
• Throwaway ticketing. This is a similar practice where you can sometimes find round-trip tickets that are cheaper than a one-way flight. Throwaway ticketing is when you book a round-trip flight to reach a destination with the intent of not boarding the return flight.

Our Methodology for Testing Solutions for Cheap Flights

First, we focused on methods that actually result in cheaper flights and aren’t just overhyped social media hacks. After all, it takes a lot of time and research, so it’s not worth it to risk your money as well if it’s not reliable. Another thing we looked at was whether it’s possible to replicate these strategies over multiple trips.

We recommend choosing a couple of methods that you’re most comfortable with and sticking with them. The results will vary for everyone based on their location, travel plans, personal situation, and risk appetite. So, for example, you may want to start with using a VPN, flight comparison sites, and price alerts to see which locations and websites work best for you before expanding your tactics.

Understanding Airline Dynamic Pricing Tactics

Airlines use dynamic pricing algorithms that adjust fares based on multiple factors, creating significant price variations for the same flight. Understanding these tactics helps you find better deals:

• Location-based pricing. Airlines show different prices based on your location, which is determined by your IP address, local market, and the site’s PoS (point of sale). They often charge more to customers from wealthier countries. You may also get better deals if you book from a country where your chosen airline is based.
• Search history tracking. Repeated searches for the same route can trigger price increases as airlines detect your interest.
• Demand fluctuations and the 21-day rule. Prices change based on local events, holidays, and seasonal trends in different regions. Airlines also raise fares in the run-up to departure, especially around the 21-, 14-, and 7-day marks when cheaper fare buckets close.
• Currency differences. Exchange rate variations can create pricing disparities across different countries.
• Fare buckets. Seats are divided into fare classes (or buckets), with the cheapest ones selling out first. Once those are gone, the system automatically moves you into higher-priced buckets, even if the plane isn’t full. This happens a lot when you book multiple seats for a single trip.

The Most Economical Countries for Booking Flights

Airfare prices are highly dynamic, but they do tend to follow certain rules based on regional market trends. For example, some countries are positioned in the middle of major travel routes, so competition can drive prices up or down. More affluent countries also have more tourists willing to spend more money on flights.

With that in mind, here are some of the countries that generally get the best deals:

FAQs on Getting Cheap Flights With a VPN

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2941198X24000113/
2. https://www.alternativeairlines.com/blog/how-airlines-price-flights/
3. https://www.cheapair.com/blog/the-best-time-to-buy-flights/
4. https://live.worldtourismforum.net/news/global-travel-and-tourism-set-for-record-breaking-2025-despite-uneven-recovery/