AI Apps For Flight Booking: Use AI To Find Cheap Flights (2024)

1. Kiwi

Kiwi.com is a travel technology company founded in 2012 in the Czech Republic that offers a unique flight search and booking service. The innovative part of Kiwi is that it uses AI and historical data to propose unique virtual interlining itineraries, often referred to as hacker fares. It’s the best platform for travel hacking, including hidden-city tickets, free stopovers, self-transfers, throwaway tickets, and more.

Kiwi is a legit travel search engine and booking platform that has been in business since 2012 and has over 10 million customers. The company is based in the Czech Republic and is regulated by the Czech National Bank. Kiwi is available in over 190 countries and 40 languages and has processed over 100 MILLION bookings.

Cool things about Kiwi’s AI (read more):

• This Kiwi Travel Hack Saved Me €492 Compared to Other Search Engines
• What Are Hacker Fares and Why They Won’t End Soon

Main advantages of Kiwi.com

1. Virtual Interlining: Kiwi.com’s standout feature, virtual interlining, allows users to combine flights from airlines that don’t traditionally cooperate. This can lead to unique travel routes and potentially more cost-effective itineraries.
2. Kiwi.com Guarantee: In the event of missed connections resulting from delays, the Kiwi.com Guarantee ensures travelers are rebooked on the next available flight or provided with accommodation if necessary.
3. Broad Coverage: Kiwi.com covers a wide range of airlines, from major carriers to budget airlines, ensuring comprehensive search results for users.
4. Nomad Feature: This tool helps travelers find the cheapest possible route for multi-city trips. Users input desired destinations and the duration of stay in each, and the tool calculates the most economical route.
5. Interactive Map: Their search platform offers an interactive map that lets travelers with flexible plans see options based on price for various destinations.
6. Price Calendar: For those with flexible travel dates, the price calendar feature shows the cheapest dates to fly to a particular destination.
7. Mobile App: The Kiwi.com mobile app is user-friendly and allows travelers to search, book, and manage their itineraries on the go.
8. Customer Support: Kiwi.com provides 24/7 customer support to assist travelers with their bookings, changes, and any issues they might face during their journey.
9. Transparency: The platform provides clear breakdowns of prices, including base fare, taxes, and any additional fees.
10. Personalized Options: Users can customize their search results based on specific preferences, like the shortest travel time, cheapest fare, or a balance of both.
11. Simplified Booking Process: Kiwi.com offers a streamlined booking process that allows travelers to book multiple flights and services in one transaction.

2. Skyscanner

Skyscanner is an aggregator search engine and travel agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The site is available in over 30 languages and is used by 100 million people per month. Skyscanner lets people research and book travel options for their trips, including flights, hotels, and car hire.

One cool aspect about Skyscanner AI is that they analyze historical data to give you insights on when to book your next trip, and when it’s cheaper to travel. It’s called Skyscanner Savings Genartor, you can read more here:

• Skyscanner Savings Generator: What Is It And How To Use It?

Skyscanner also uses AI for its chatbot. When the Skyscanner chatbot is activated on Facebook or Whatsapp, users can enter their destination to start the conversation with the bot. If you are unsure where to go, just type ‘anywhere,’ and then the bot will provide you with suggestions, including the price for each destination using real-time search trends.

Main advantages of Skyscanner

1. Comprehensive Search: Skyscanner aggregates data from numerous airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies, allowing users to compare a wide range of options in one place.
2. No Booking Fees: Skyscanner doesn’t charge users any additional booking fees. They earn their revenue through referral fees from providers.
3. Flexible Date Search: For users with flexible travel plans, Skyscanner offers an option to search for flights over a whole month or even a year, helping to identify the cheapest times to travel.
4. Destination Exploration: If you’re unsure where to go, the “Everywhere” search function suggests destinations based on the cheapest available flights from a chosen departure point.
5. Direct Booking: For some airlines and services, users can book directly on Skyscanner without being redirected to another website.
6. Price Alerts: Users can set up alerts to be notified when the price of a particular flight route drops, allowing them to book at potentially lower prices.
7. Transparent Pricing: Skyscanner provides a clear breakdown of prices, ensuring users are aware of the full cost, including any potential additional fees.
8. User Reviews: Skyscanner incorporates reviews and ratings for airlines and travel providers, offering insights from other travelers to help users make informed decisions.
9. Mobile App: The Skyscanner mobile app is intuitive and offers all the functionalities of the website, making it easy for travelers to search and book on the go.
10. Currency and Language Options: Skyscanner supports multiple languages and currencies, catering to a global audience.
11. Filter Options: Users can refine their search based on specific criteria, such as direct flights, specific airlines, departure times, and more, to find the best fit for their travel preferences.
12. Travel Inspiration and Tips: Beyond just search and booking, Skyscanner provides travel articles, guides, and tips to inspire and assist travelers in their journey planning.

3. Tryp.com

Tryp.com is a new player in the game that has already served over 1.5M customers with its innovative implementation. It is Danish online travel agency that facilitates the booking of transportation services (including rail, buses, flights, and ferries), ancillary services, and accommodation. It is a registered IATA travel agency and it was crafted with the idea to be your own personal travel assistant.

Tryp.com lets you find itineraries that nobody else can. See, there’s a whole bunch of great OTAs and apps such as Kayak, Skyscanner, Kiwi, etc. Most of them do a pretty good job of finding deals to and from big airports, which is what most travelers aim for. But what if you want something different?

Tryp.com already works for over 7000 cities worldwide and lets you find unique itineraries that are also crazy cheap! For example, you can find crazy round trips from Sweden to Portugal for just €36, and easily add accommodation, busses, and stopovers.

The concept is different, though. Travelers can select desired dates for the trip (a range), a trip duration, origin, and destination cities. Then, Tryp.com using a proprietary algorithm and AI, analyzes dozens of thousands of itineraries that are likely to fit your needs and proposes them on screen. It’s also easy to filter between crazy routes with multiple stopovers in cool cities (making your trip cheaper), or more conservative options with fewer stops and places to visit. Among the options, you will also see buses and trains. Plus, you can get local info, places to visit, and add hotels with a single click.

Their unique virtual interlining capabilities open up incredible experiences and itineraries that are totally worth trying, especially if you have the flexibility! This platform can be ideal for people who can easily decide when to travel and are not bound to certain vacation dates, remote workers, digital nomads, backpackers, students, expats, and even families that want to tour around.

I love the concept because it’s different from what all other OTAs and apps for flight search with AI are proposing: let’s not target the major cities and bring opportunities for all the other places. When booking through Tryp.com, you don’t get redirected, they book it for you and get a single reference code.

Main advantages of Tryp.com

1. Unique itineraries
2. Targets out-of-ordinary cities
3. Can save a ton compared to other OTAs
4. Excellent customer service
5. Over 1.5M happy customers served
6. Trustpilot score 4.7+

4. Hopper

Hopper is a travel booking app that uses AI to predict flight prices that has been the top-1 most downloaded travel app in North America. They aspire to be the world’s best and most fun app to book travel. Hopper was one of the first apps to use AI, even before generative AI was a thing.

Hopper analyzes historical patterns of price changes and uses them to predict if prices are likely to go up or down in the future and help customers time their purchases. Hopper notifies you of super-low rates on hotels, flights, and car rentals. It also predicts the prices of flights and references you if you are below, on par, or above average prices.

Many of the deals save you up to 40% on travel costs. The app is super simple to use, and when I started using it, it was only for flights. Now they have grown into a whole technology stack that they call Hopper Cloud. You can use hopper to book hotels, experiences, and more.

Main advantages of Hopper

1. Price Prediction: Hopper’s primary feature is its ability to predict future flight and hotel prices. The app uses historical data and real-time information to forecast whether prices will rise or fall, guiding users on the best time to book.
2. Price Alerts: Users can set up notifications for specific routes or hotels. Hopper will then send alerts when the price drops or if there’s a prediction that prices will increase soon.
3. User-Friendly Interface: Hopper has a colorful, intuitive design that makes navigating the app and understanding its predictions straightforward.
4. Booking Within the App: Once users decide to make a reservation, they can book flights or hotels directly within the Hopper app, simplifying the process.
5. Watch Multiple Trips: Users can set up multiple “watches” for different dates and destinations, allowing them to track potential trips simultaneously.
6. Personalized Recommendations: Based on user preferences and search history, Hopper provides tailored travel recommendations.
7. Fare Freeze: For certain routes, Hopper offers a “freeze” option where users can lock in a particular fare for a limited time for a small fee. If they decide to book, they pay the frozen price, potentially saving money.
8. Hopper Price Guarantee: At times, Hopper offers a guarantee that if a user books a flight and the price drops later, Hopper will refund the difference.
9. Hotel Deals: Beyond flights, Hopper provides hotel booking options and often highlights special deals or discounts available to users.
10. Car Rentals: In its bid to become a comprehensive travel app, Hopper has expanded to include car rental options, offering users another layer of convenience.
11. Clear Fee Structure: Hopper is transparent about its fee structure, so users understand any additional costs associated with their bookings.
12. Travel Insights and Tips: The app provides insights about travel trends, popular destinations, and tips to help users make informed decisions.

5. Kayak

Kayak.com is a travel search engine and aggregator. It allows users to search for flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages from numerous travel sites at once. Instead of booking directly through Kayak, users are redirected to the respective travel provider’s website (e.g., airline, hotel, or car rental site) to complete their reservation.

I’ve been in love with Kayak since 2013, and it’s an app I love for planning, tracking my flights, and even finding the right place to book my tickets. Kayak is a travel tool and search engine that has been around for several years (competing with Google Flights and others).

The focus of Kayak is to quickly research and show you the best travel options and alternatives to the destinations you would like to go to. Kayak will help you find the best prices and travel times for flights, hotels, apartments, cruises, trains, rental cars, and even vacation packages.

Cool things about Kayak’s AI:

• How To Use Kayak Best Time To Travel Tool
• It has a ChatGPT plugin: I Tried ChatGPT Plugins For Flight Booking

Main advantages of Kayak

1. Comprehensive Search: Kayak aggregates information from various travel websites, allowing users to compare prices and options from multiple sources in a single search.
2. Price Comparisons: Users can quickly view and compare prices for flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages to ensure they’re getting the best deal.
3. Flexibility: Kayak offers a flexible date search, which helps travelers find the cheapest dates to travel if they have flexible schedules.
4. Price Alerts: Users can set up alerts to be notified when the price of a particular flight or hotel drops, allowing them to book at optimal times.
5. Price Forecast: Kayak’s price forecast tool uses historical data to predict whether the price of a flight is likely to rise or fall within the next seven days, aiding users in making informed booking decisions.
6. Direct Booking Links: Although Kayak itself is not a booking site, it redirects users directly to the source of the deal (airline, hotel, car rental site, etc.), streamlining the booking process.
7. User Reviews and Ratings: Kayak incorporates reviews and ratings for hotels and other services, helping users make informed choices based on other travelers’ experiences.
8. Mobile App: The Kayak mobile app provides all the functionalities of the website, ensuring users can search, compare, and book on the go.
9. Trip Planning Tools: Features like “Explore” allow users to see flight prices to multiple destinations based on their budget, ideal travel time, and other preferences.
10. Customizable Search Filters: Users can tailor their search based on specific criteria such as non-stop flights, preferred airlines, hotel class, and more.
11. No Booking Fees: Kayak does not charge users any additional booking fees. Instead, they earn through referrals and advertising.

6. Momondo

Momondo is a global travel search site that compares prices for flights, hotels, and car rentals. It acts as a metasearch engine, meaning it aggregates data from various travel agencies, airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies to present a wide range of options to users.

Main advantages of Momondo

1. Comprehensive Search: Momondo searches hundreds of travel sites, airlines, and hotel sites to provide users with a broad overview of available options.
2. User-Friendly Interface: The site offers a colorful and intuitive design, making it easy for users to navigate and understand the results.
3. Price Calendar: For travelers with flexible dates, Momondo offers a price calendar feature to help identify the cheapest days to fly.
4. Flight Insight: This feature provides a deeper look into the data behind flight prices, offering insights on the best booking lead time, most affordable days to depart, and potential price fluctuations based on seasons or holidays.
5. Trip Finder: For users who are looking for inspiration, the “Trip Finder” feature suggests destinations based on criteria such as budget, travel theme (e.g., beach, city, culture), or preferred travel dates.
6. Transparency: Momondo provides a clear breakdown of prices, ensuring users are aware of the full cost, including any potential additional fees.
7. Price Alerts: Users can set up alerts to be notified when the price of a specific route or hotel changes.
8. Multi-City Search: For those looking to book complex itineraries with multiple stops, Momondo offers a multi-city search function.
9. No Direct Booking Fees: Momondo doesn’t charge users for bookings. Instead, once users select an option, they’re redirected to the respective travel provider’s website to complete the booking.
10. Mobile App: Momondo offers a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices, allowing users to search and monitor travel options on the go.
11. Hotel and Car Rental Search: In addition to flights, users can search for hotel accommodations and car rentals, making it a versatile travel tool.

7. Expedia

Expedia is a popular website for booking travel agencies. It originally started with accommodations, but now it offers flights as well. Expedia aims to provide the lowest prices for any booking, which is backed up with the “Best Price Guarantee.” Users can search for hotels, cars, flights, or packages based on their travel requirements and sort through accommodations that meet their needs.

The Expedia group recently rebranded in 2023, migrating their Expedia Rewards program to One Key, which combines rewards from Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo.

Main advantages of Expedia

1. Cost Effectiveness: One of the most significant concerns when making international transactions is the associated costs. Foreign credit or debit cards often come with high international transaction fees, foreign exchange fees, and ATM withdrawal fees. Money transfer services, especially those tailored for international transfers, frequently offer more competitive exchange rates and lower fees. Some even offer fee-free transfers up to a certain limit or for specific corridors.
2. Transparency: Money transfer services are often more transparent about their fees and exchange rates. Users can see the exact amount the recipient will get, and there are typically no hidden charges. On the other hand, when using foreign credit or debit cards, the actual conversion rates used by banks might not be transparent, and users might end up paying more than anticipated.
3. Speed and Convenience: Modern money transfer services, especially online platforms and apps, offer swift transfers. Some can transfer funds within minutes, whereas transactions with cards might take longer due to bank processing times, especially during weekends or holidays. Additionally, with money transfer services, one can send money from the comfort of their home, without the need to visit an ATM or bank.
4. Avoiding Local Restrictions: Argentina has faced various economic challenges, leading to restrictions and controls on foreign currency and transactions. Using a foreign credit or debit card might subject one to these controls, making transactions cumbersome or even impossible at times. Money transfer services are often better equipped to navigate these restrictions and ensure that your money reaches its destination.
5. Flexibility: Money transfer services often offer multiple payout options. Recipients might choose to receive funds directly into their bank account, pick up cash at a local agency, or even get a mobile wallet top-up. This provides flexibility and convenience, especially if the recipient doesn’t have easy access to a bank or ATM.
6. Security: While credit and debit cards do have security measures in place, they are susceptible to skimming, cloning, and unauthorized use, especially when used overseas. With money transfer services, one can avoid exposing their card details to unfamiliar foreign systems, reducing the risk of fraud.

8. ChatGPT

While ChatGPT won’t get your flights booked, it will certainly help find good options and explore routes you haven’t thought of. ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) by OpenAI is an LLM specifically tailored for chat-based applications. Since this tool first came out it has revolutionized many industries, including travel.

ChatGPT has plugins for many cool travel apps, such as Kayak and Expedia. Read more articles and guides I wrote about ChatGPT here:

• I Tried ChatGPT Plugins For Flight Booking. Here’s Why They Suck
• How To Plan A Trip With ChatGPT And Save Money
• GPT-4 Released! 5 Things You Can Ask RIGHT NOW (GPT-4 Travel Planner)

9. Google Bard

Google Bard is a large language model (LLM) chatbot developed by Google AI. It is powered by PaLM 2, a newer and more powerful version of the LaMDA language model. Bard is still under development, but it has learned to perform many kinds of tasks, including helping you plan a trip and find cheap flights. Bard is currently available in more than 40 languages and over 230 countries and territories. It is still in the early stages of development.

I’ve written many posts about how to use Google Bard AI to find cheap flights and plan travel:

• How To Use Google Bard To Book Flights

10. Google Flights

Google Flights is an online flight booking search service developed by Google. It allows users to search for flights from many airlines and booking agencies and compare the prices to find the best deals. It has historically used AI since it was ITA Matrix.

I cannot wait until Google Flights and Google Bard AI (or Duet AI) are finally integrated! Looking forward to report advances on that front ASAP.