Cheap flights to the USA

Is your next vacation going to the United States of America? We'll show you the best tips to help you find cheap flights to the USA easily!

Are you looking for cheap flights to the USA without spending a lot of time and effort? With flight search engines and comparison platforms, you can keep your research time to an absolute minimum.

These websites are ideal for finding a bargain flight:

Skyscanner is a metasearch engine founded in 2001 in Scotland, with the help of which you can not only find cheap flights to the USA but also compare prices for hotels and car rentals.

Because Skyscanner cooperates with a large number of partners, you can usually discover a wide range of cheap deals here. The search engine is available in over 30 languages and both as an iOS and Android app. Another big plus of Skyscanner is the handy, monthly overview, which allows you to identify the cheapest airfares within a month at a glance.

If you are flexible in choosing your flight connection to the USA, you are sure to find a bargain using the Kiwi search engine. Kiwi allows you to specify a radius of +250 km as the departure and arrival airports. You can also choose a whole country or continent as your destination. And if you still have no idea where to go on your next trip, you can even select “Anywhere” as your destination and “Anytime” as your departure date – Kiwi will suggest the best deals for you!

With the help of the search engine giant Google, you can find almost anything – including cheap flights to the USA. The online search of Google Flights is particularly appreciated for its simple and user-friendly interface. Also, undecided users can get inspiration regarding their destination at Google Flights by selecting "Anywhere."

But be careful: Google Flights doesn't always show the best fares, as it doesn't include many of the smaller carriers, and it also doesn't display so-called "mistaken fares," where an airline accidentally lowers the price by up to 90 %.

Depending on how flexible you are in your travel planning, there can be huge differences regarding the price. Here is a brief introduction to the different types of flights with their advantages and disadvantages:

As the name suggests, a direct or non-stop flight gets you from A to B without changing planes. It is the fastest way to go to America, however, it is usually not the cheapest option to travel to the USA.

If you depart on your journey in Great Britain or Ireland, you can take a direct flight with Lufthansa from London, Edinburgh, or Dublin. These are some direct connections:

• London Heathrow - New York Newark
• London Heathrow - Chicago
• London Heathrow - Los Angeles
• Dublin - New York Newark
• Edinburgh - New York Newark

→ Book a direct flight to the USA with Lufthansa

Travelers who have a little more time on their hands and accept one or even two stopovers can often save a lot of money on their trip. Also, if your journey starts or ends at a smaller airport, a stopover is usually necessary.

These are some Lufthansa connections from Europe to the USA with a stopover:

• London Heathrow - Orlando (via Washington Dulles)
• London Heathrow - Las Vegas (via Denver)
• Dublin - Dallas / Fort Worth (via Frankfurt on the Main)
• Edinburgh - Las Vegas (via Chicago)

→ Book a flight to the USA with Lufthansa

Some connections from Great Britain and Ireland to the USA with Condor are:

• London City Airport - San Francisco (via Frankfurt on the Main)
• Dublin - New York JFK (via Frankfurt on the Main)
• Edinburgh - New York JFK (via Frankfurt on the Main)

If you decide to take a flight with a stopover, be sure to check beforehand that you have enough time to change planes. At major airports such as London Heathrow or Paris Charles de Gaulle, for example, you may need to change terminals for your connecting flight.

When changing planes at a US airport, you will additionally have to go through time-consuming immigration controls and security checks. To avoid being pressed for time in the event of long queues, you should plan a changeover time of around three hours.

Open jaw flights are connections where the destination airport of the outbound trip and the departure airport of the return trip are not the same. For example, you can book your outbound flight from Frankfurt on the Main to New York City, but on your return flight, you travel from Washington, D. C. to Frankfurt on the Main.

Booking open jaw flights is well worthwhile, for example, if you are taking a round trip or visiting a densely populated region such as the US East Coast, where many airports are located within a relatively small area.

The United States is a fascinating and incredibly multifaceted country, covering all climatic and vegetation zones. So, the best time to travel for your USA adventure depends a lot on which part of the country you want to see.

In general, it can be said that spring and fall offer ideal conditions for travel to the East Coast and the Midwest, where exciting metropolises such as New York City, Chicago, Boston, or Washington, D. C. can be visited. However, the relatively mild temperatures in spring and fall are also ideal for exploring the national parks in the west of the United States.

Winter is the best time to travel to Florida for a beach vacation, while it's better to avoid the autumn hurricane season here. But wintry New York also has a special charm. Cooler regions like Alaska or Montana, on the other hand, are best visited in summer.

Average temperatures:

• New York City: summer 22 °C - 25 °C / winter 2 °C - 9 °C
• Chicago: summer 16 °C - 28 °C / winter 2 °C - 9 °C
• Los Angeles: summer 19 °C - 28 °C / winter 13 °C - 14 °C
• Las Vegas: summer 34 °C - 40 °C / winter 14 °C - 17 °C
• Miami: summer 24 °C -31 °C / winter 23 °C - 24 °C

Have you decided where to go on your next holiday? Then here are some tips on how you can research and find a cheap flight to the USA:

Flight bargains mostly can be found on connections to major international hubs, as these are served by a variety of airlines that compete with each other. These are the American airports with the highest passenger traffic:

• Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport
• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
• Denver International Airport
• Chicago O'Hare International Airport
• Los Angeles International Airport
• New York John F. Kennedy International Airport

Especially in regions where there are several major cities or popular tourist strongholds, there are often several larger airports that are well-connected to the local infrastructure. You should, therefore, also research flight connections to other hubs that you can easily reach on your itinerary.

For example, if you want to travel to Philadelphia, you should not only look at connections to Philadelphia but also check out flights to New York JFK, Newark in New Jersey, or Washington Dulles.

Does your destination in the USA not lie close to a major international airport? Then it might pay off for you to travel to a large US airport anyway and book a connecting flight with an American low-cost airline for the onward journey.

Cheap domestic flights to the USA are available with these airlines, among others:

• Alaska Airlines
• Allegiant Air
• Frontier Airlines
• Jetblue
• Southwest Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• Sun Country Airlines

However, be sure to schedule about three to four hours to change planes. If you decide to book your flights separately and with different airlines, you will have to pick up your bags at the baggage carousel and check them again with the second airline.

In addition, an immigration and customs check will be carried out on arrival. You may also have to go through another check-in at the counter, and another security check for your connecting flight.

There is much speculation about when it is the ideal time to book a flight. Some travel experts advise booking as early as possible, while others say the ideal booking period is about two months before the departure date.

Unfortunately, however, airlines don't reveal their pricing strategy. Prices can rise or fall from day to day. Also, the myth that you should book at a certain time of day to get cheaper flights cannot be proven.

Generally, the demand for a particular connection determines whether and how much the airfare will increase. If you have several months before your vacation, take a few more weeks to wait and compare prices. If not many travelers have booked the flight you are watching, you may be able to get a cheaper flight. However, do not wait until the last minute to make your booking!

In contrast to the booking day, you do have the possibility to influence the ticket price when choosing the travel day. For flights on weekends and holidays, you generally have to expect higher prices than for connections in the middle of the week. Statistics have shown that, in general, Wednesday is the cheapest day to travel.

Subscribe to the newsletters of various airlines and travel providers and follow their channels on social media. This way, you'll always be up to date when a new flight schedule comes out, or there are exciting promotions and last-minute deals that can help you to make big savings.

Have you found a cheap flight to the USA, and your well-deserved vacation is just around the corner? Take a moment to look through our other travel guides. You will find useful tips that will make your stay in the USA a success:

• Entering the USA
• Credit card for USA travel
• Travel health insurance for the USA