Living in the Bay Area, I’m lucky enough to have three relatively close airports to choose from when planning a trip. Both the San Francisco and Oakland airport are roughly a 20-30 minute drive from my house depending on the time of day, and if I need to I can catch a train to San Jose that will get me to its airport in around an hour. That means I can shop around for flights.
The price of an international plane ticket can vary dramatically depending on the airport you’re flying out of. For instance, last year my boyfriend and I traveled to France with two friends that live in North Carolina. We all flew on the same day, us from San Francisco and them from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Even though we were all flying the same class of service on Delta, and purchased our tickets on the same day for the same travel dates, we paid roughly $500 for our roundtrip tickets while my friends paid over a thousand for theirs. They were even technically closer to our destination. The difference was our airport.
Where you fly out of makes a difference. Scott’s Cheap Flights recently looked at all the airports in the United States and determined which ones offer the most deals on international flights as well as which ones offer the least. The idea being if you live near one of the airports that offer a lot of deals on international flights, it might be worth it to comparison shop before booking a flight rather than just booking one that’s simply out of the closest airport.
While driving an hour might not be worth it for $20, if your family of four can save $500 a ticket flying out of another airport, then you might want to add a little road trip to the beginning of your vacation.
The best airport on the list had more than 400 deals on international travel, and all the others in the top 10 had more than 25 deals per month on average.
The Best Airports For International Flights
1. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
2. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
3. General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS)
4. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
5. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
6. O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
7. Miami International Airport (MIA)
8. Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
9. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
10. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
As you might imagine, smaller metro airports are the ones that ended up at the top of the “worst” list. While smaller towns technically made the “top,” the report only included cities that have a population of more than 1 million, so these are the biggest of the smallest airports, or at least those in some of the most populated areas.
The Worst Airports For Deals on International Flights
Piedmont Triad international Airport (GSO)
Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP)
Gerald R. Fold International Airport (GRR)
Norfolk International Airport (ORF)
Albany International Airport (ALB)
Long Beach Airport (LGB)
Louisville International Airport (SDF)
Will Rogers World Airport (OKC)
General Mitchell International Airport (MKE)
John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH)
Airports on this list received fewer than two deals per month, on average. There were still deals, so even those that made the “worst” list might still be worth a look when booking that trip.
Like most big purchases, the biggest takeaway is that it always pays to comparison shop.