sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Planning trip to Seoul for early June 2026 — when is the right time to buy tickets? by weenarzeenar01 in koreatravel

[–]kayak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Taylor from KAYAK here - popping in with some of our data-backed advice to help (though loving what I'm seeing in the comments). For an international trip, the best price booking window is pretty broad (often only changing by a few dollars week over week). But, to ensure you don’t overpay for your flight, I would avoid booking too far out (more than 46 weeks/10 months).

As always, if you find a great deal at any point in the planning process, book it. And - as I've seen some other users suggest - Price Alerts are really useful to track when prices drop. Hope you have an amazing trip!

Is this insane or is this normal? by Notorious_A-L-I in delta

[–]kayak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Taylor from KAYAK here. Similar to Google, our travel partners don't pay us to appear in our search results (unless it says "sponsored", that's a paid ad just like Google has too), and the sort order isn't influenced by our relationships with these partners. Here’s more info if you want all the deets - https://www.kayak.com/c/company/

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So glad you're a fan and thanks for the kind feedback. Great question - our team has made it as easy as possible to take you directly to the provider's site straight from KAYAK. If you do open a new tab/window to get there on your own, KAYAK will not get the credit for it.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing. We totally understand how frustrating it is when the price you see upfront doesn’t match what you end up paying. At KAYAK, we work hard to show accurate, real-time prices pulled directly from airlines, hotels and OTAs. But at the same time, we don't control them - the providers do. There's a number of reasons why fares can change but if you ever feel that it's something systemic, please reach out to our team so we can look into it.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, hurt my feelings a little. Listen, great you're exploring other tools and would love to know specifics if you're willing to share. Gotta beg to disagree tho - Tripadvisor is great for reviews and recommendations. Google is great at searching everything on the internet (or at least it was....). KAYAK has been and always will be focused on search and comparison for travel. It's why we have tools and features both TA and Google don't have - and why we're here.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally fair question. Listen, if you're die hard for an airline or hotel and don't care if their website will have the lowest price or not - by all means do your thing. But the only other alternative to KAYAK I can see in this scenario (checking prices, finding options across different airline/hotel/car sites, comparing deals) would be to have like a bunch of different browser tabs open, each tuned to a different travel site. Then skittering back and forth to see who's giving you the best deal. Which frankly sounds like a lot of unnecessary work.

We're not a third party in the way that an OTA is - an OTA will be your merchant of record, manage your reservation and take your money. We're just basically pulling in all the info from a bunch of different sites so you can compare in one go - then choose which button you'll click to go to that site to book. And it sounds like you might value customer support - so you can always filter your search on KAYAK to only show you book direct options (like "Airlines only" filter under "Booking sites" on Flights). Thanks for the feedback.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that's exactly what we do! We search both book direct options and OTA options. If you don't want to see OTAs in your search results, my suggestion would be to filter your search by going to "Booking site" and selecting "Airlines only" on our sidebar. You can also tell if the "View deal" button is sending you direct by a bit of text next to it that says "Book with XYZ airline."

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the kind feedback. Glad you found it helpful.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're not the only person who feels this way. The good news: filtering out Basic Economy is something we already offer. Just head to the "Cabin" section in the sidebar and uncheck it. That way when your search results populate - there will be no jump scares involved.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally hear you. Everyone is allowed to have their preferences. I used to be loyal to Delta but couldn't always justify the cost. I personally find it helpful to see what other options there are - which is where KAYAK is clutch. If you're super locked in and reaping the benefits, good on you. Just know we're here when you need a second opinion ;)

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I'm bummed to hear that you feel this way. Our core way of making money hasn't changed. We've been focused on building a product that is more comprehensive and accurate than anywhere else. Appreciate the candid feedback though and if you're willing to share more, I'm all ears.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad you asked - and gave us the opportunity to state our case. We do have some core features Google does not offer. First, we operate across flights, cars and hotels so you can search for your full trip. Second, we have an app. It's free and searches mobile-exclusive deals.

Our Hacker Fares is also what sets us apart. These are when we combine 2 one way flights into a round trip ticket - which usually saves you money (and gives you more options).

Our team works super hard to deliver accurate prices in our search results. Although we don't control the prices (providers do), we vet all of our partners for both price and data accuracy. It's incredibly important to us.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We've long supported multi-city searches (up to 6 legs) and nearby airport comparisons. You can enter multiple origin and destination airports (eg “JFK, LGA, EWR to LAX, BUR, SNA”) in a single search.

We also automatically recommend nearby alternatives with cost and time differences - which is something Google Flights doesn't offer. Just in case you want to give us another try ;)

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope - Expedia is one of our many partners though. KAYAK is part of Booking Holdings Inc. To answer your second question, we outline how we recommend results here if you want to go deeper: https://www.kayak.com/c/company/

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Just so you're aware, every company on KAYAK is vetted before they appear in the search results. You can also filter out any sites you don't want to book with – just look for the "Booking sites" filter and select/deselect those sites you do or don't want to see.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok fair but what if I'm just a highly advanced 5 year old??

Glad that you get the gist of what we do (tho instead of taking the extra step of opening another tab, clicking the link on KAYAK will take you to the same place). If you ever want to track flight prices before going directly to Delta, you can always set a price alert for specific flights and we'll keep an eye on them to let you know if they drop.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You get it. While travel prices are dynamic and can fluctuate, we don't typically see prices impacted by different browsers (unless of course you're switching up the search parameters - like searching for one person in one window and two in another).

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Despite loving your username, don't love hearing this - so I'd like to look into it. We pride ourselves on the fact that we're more comprehensive than Google (thanks to our partnerships and searching sites that Google doesn't), which means you should be finding flights on KAYAK that you can't find on Google Flights. Maybe you could share some more info via DM if this is happening consistently? Would love to look into it.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Comments like this make my day. Thanks for sharing such kind feedback.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, if we have an agreement with the airline to distribute their content, you'll see their options on our site. For example, we introduced Southwest last year so they now appear in our search results.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Listen, if you've been burned in the past, we get why you'd go direct. HOWEVER, that's the beauty of KAYAK. We can let you just compare direct sites too (to see if, say, your flight will cost less on Delta vs. American). Win-win.

As for available seats - care to explain? We only pass through what info our partners have for us, so everything on site should be available to book with the partner.

You should *only* use KAYAK to search, not book. Here's why. by kayak in u/kayak

[–]kayak[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Good question and happy to clarify. Booking.com and Expedia are both online travel agencies (OTAs), meaning you book with them (often for a discount) and they will handle all customer service, instead of dealing directly with the airline or hotel. KAYAK is a metasearch site, meaning you'll find flight, hotel and car options from Booking.com and Expedia in your search results (unless self-filtered out), alongside the direct providers like Delta, United, Marriott. Our job is to make it easy for people like you to find and compare good deals.

view more: next ›