Expert Tips for Booking Multi-City Flights

While most people book holidays travelling from A to B, more travellers are unlocking the potential of multi-city getaways, and rightly so. Travelling between several destinations during one holiday means more unforgettable travel experiences, and so more lasting memories for you to treasure in years to come. 

But, it’s understandable that the thought of having to plan to visit multiple destinations - and so coordinating logistics like flights - is overwhelming. After all, sometimes planning trips to one destination can feel like a lot to manage!

But, multi-city getaways are well worth the effort. And, in our expert opinion, they’re not that much effort at all to coordinate, particularly given the rewards they reap. If you’ve been toying with the idea of a more complex adventure to experience multiple cultures and bucket-list destinations, you can get it right, if you know the best strategy. 

That’s why our team at FlightsFinder has shared their top tips to streamline your dream travel itineraries with advice for booking multi-city flights.

What are Multi-city Flights?

For those that don’t know, Multi-city flights form an itinerary that travellers create for a trip, which require several different flights to hop between multiple destinations. Rather than booking a single return fare that flies to just one destination and back, this offers travellers the opportunity to explore several different locations in one getaway, diversifying their travel experience. 

For example, in Europe, booking multi-city flights is quite common to travel between some of the continent’s top cities. Popular routes include flying from London to Paris and then to Rome, or London to Dublin and onwards to Edinburgh.  

Most people gravitate to one particular site if they are planning to book multi-city flights to several city destinations. But, as we’ll later touch upon in this article, it’s best to keep your options open.

Are There Different Types of Multi-city Flights?

Open-jaw Flights

An open-jaw flight refers to flying into one city, but departing from another. For example, if you fly to Rome, Italy from the UK, but choose to rent a car and travel to Florence during your stay, your onward flight can depart from Florence rather than you having to travel back to Rome. 

Open jaw-flights can be a great option when you’re booking multi-city flights because they offer the flexibility to travel more when you’re in one country. It’s also possible that open-jaw flights can be cheaper than booking return flights, making your multi-city flights trip itinerary all the more affordable! 

Multi-Destination Trips

When you begin to compare multi-city flights as you’re planning out your travel itinerary, you may be toying with the idea of booking flights between several countries, states, or regions as opposed to within just one country. These are known as multi-destination trips. 

Booking multi-city flights that span several different destinations can expand your travel horizons significantly, making for a more varied and enjoyable holiday experience overall!   

Extended Layover Flights

When you’re exploring the best multi-city flights for you travel plans, it’s likely that you’ll come across flight routes that have extended layovers or stopovers. While some travellers might be put off by this, it can be an opportunity to capitalise on, especially if you want to enrich your holiday with more memorable experiences. 

Extended layovers can be a great way to spend time in an additional destination en-route to the cities you want to visit on your multi-city flight route. Layovers are considered to be any time spent waiting for an onward journey between 30 minutes and 24 hours, while stopovers last over 24 hours. 

Often, choosing an extended layover or stopover flight can be a savvy flight hack, allowing you to add a new destination to your itinerary without having to pay significantly more. Before booking your multi-city flights, it’s worthwhile considering whether these types of flights might be something you’re interested in keeping an eye out for! 

Our Top Tips Booking Multi-City Flights

If you plan on booking multi-city flights soon, there are a few things you’ll want to consider prior to doing so. As flight experts, we’ve shared our top tips for booking multi-city flights so that you can secure the best deals and make the most of your travel experiences. 

Book Your Multi-city Flights in Plenty of Advance

If you’re planning on booking multi-city flights, it’s best if you do this in advance. You can often find good deals if you book your flight tickets early, particularly if you’re planning to travel during peak season. Given the number of different flights that form your journey, this gives you plenty of time to monitor flight prices and book them when they’re affordable. 

Be Flexible 

If you want to keep the costs of your multi-city flights to a minimum, the key is to be flexible. When planning your travel itinerary, you may want to think flexibly about what cities you’re visiting. Sometimes, you can find that other major cities in destinations you want to visit offer more affordable flight fares. In this case, you could think about planning an open-jaw flight.

Additionally, you’ll want to be flexible with the dates that you travel to secure the best deals. It may be that shifting your travel dates by a week or two can make a big different to the price of your multi-city flight holiday. Considering the days of the week that your depart on too can make a difference, as Tuesdays and Wednesdays are typically the cheapest days to fly.

Make the Most of Stopovers Where You Can

As we’ve already touched upon, booking multi-city flights that have extended layovers or stopovers can be a great way for you to maximise your holiday experience. If you’re always looking for ways to enhance your trip and visit additional destinations (often affordably) keep an eye out for multi-city flights with longer layovers or stopovers.

Choose Your Multi-city Flight Route Wisely 

When in the early stages of planning your multi-city trip, you’ll want to think about how your route can be organised so your flights are as efficient as possible. For example, if you want to visit several countries at once, don’t pick a route where you have to zig-zag between destinations. Instead, plan a geographically swift route that will keep the cost of your multi-city flights to a minimum. 

Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

While it might be tempting to fill your itinerary to the brim during a multi-city getaway so you can have plenty of memorable experiences, you don’t want to end up overfilling your trip. This will leave you with little time to fully immerse yourself in each destination, and will likely lead to burn out - or even jet lag - as you continue your journey. 

So, when booking your multi-city flights, be sure to leave at least 2-3 days in each destination so that you can make the most of your visit to each destination, and enjoy your holiday as a whole. 

Double Check Baggage Allowances

When you’re booking your multi-city flights, chances are you’ll be travelling with multiple airlines for the duration of your travels. If this is the case, it’s all the more important to double check baggage allowances before you fly. 

Different airlines can have different baggage allowances for cabin and checked luggage. This means that while you might be travelling within the weight and dimension allowances for one airline, you might get caught out travelling on another if this is different. Make sure you research these allowances carefully prior to booking multi-city flights if you’ll be travelling with different airlines.

Make The Most of Multi-city Flights Comparison Sites

You can compare multi-city flights easily on dedicated flight platforms. These sites seamlessly search multiple flight comparison sites so that you can find the cheapest - and best - multi-city flights for you, saving you hours searching the internet having to find them for yourself. 

Here at FlightsFinder, you can search for and book multi-city flights affordably and easily from the best websites. Our site helps you to locate the cheapest possible multi-city flights by carefully selecting the best multi-city flight search engines, so you have comprehensive results to choose from. 

Use our online search engine today to book your multi-city flights and make your next adventure a reality. 

Are Multi-city Flights Cheaper Than One-Way Flights? 

In some cases, booking several one-way flights can be cheaper than booking one multi-city flights itinerary. What we would always recommend is using a trusted flight search engine, comparing one-way flights to booking multi-city flights, and seeing what the difference is. You might be surprised at the savings you can make choosing one method over the other. 

Though, you may find that there is minimal difference between the cost of both options. In which case, it may be more convenient to just book a multi-city flights route. 

Where Can I Find The Most Affordable Multi-city Cheap Flights?

Some of the more popular sites which offer the ability to book multi-city flights include  KAYAK, Expedia, Lastminute.com, and KIWI.com.

What many people don’t realise is that each of these sites can produce different results for the same multi-city flight route. So, to be sure of the best deal, you need to compare all of them simultaneously.

To demonstrate this, below there are four different multi-city flight routes, so you can see how the prices vary.

Route 1: London - New York - San Francisco - London

With a week in both New York and San Francisco before flying back to London, the prices for this multi-city flight route on different search engines are: 

KAYAK: from £519

Skyscanner: from £572
KIWI.com: from £574

Route 2: London - Paris - Rome - London

With a week in both Paris and Rome before flying back to London, the prices for this multi-city flight route on different search engines are: 

KAYAK: from £84

Skyscanner: from £91
KIWI.com: from £93

Route 3: New York - London - Rome - New York 

With a week in both London and Rome before flying back to New York, the prices for this multi-city flight route on different search engines are: 

KAYAK: from £405

Skyscanner: from £578
KIWI.com: from £412

Route 4: Tokyo - Barcelona - Dubai - Tokyo

With a week in both Barcelona and Dubai before flying back to Tokyo, the prices for this multi-city flight route on different search engines are:

KAYAK: from £741

Skyscanner: from £918
KIWI.com: from £725

As you can see, the prices for multi-city flights can vary between different travel agents, to differing extents. In order to get the best price on your multi-city flights, it is always wise to compare a number of different sites to be sure of the best deal.

That’s why using our multi-flight search engine that compares multiple metasearch engines and over 1,200 websites with one single search makes doing this all the more possible. 

Popular Multi-city Flight Routes From The UK

If you’re still considering what multi-city flights to book for your next globetrotting adventure, here are a few popular routes to inspire you: 

London - Amsterdam - Berlin - London

Hitting off two of Europe’s biggest capitals in one trip, travellers can depart from London to explore the beauty of the Netherlands and Germany. On your multi-city adventure, you can explore two completely different cities, crafting a diverse and unique European getaway. Amsterdam’s maze of beautiful canal bridges and atmospheric coffee shops make it a peaceful getaway destination with much artistic and historic heritage to discover, with popular sights including the Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum.

On the other hand, Berlin’s thriving cityscape has a buzzing nightlife scene, as well as a poignant past, with its most-visited destinations including the Berlin Wall and Brandenburg Gate. 

London - Tokyo - Seoul - London 

For a multi-city adventure in Asia, travellers can visit two of the continent’s most beautiful countries, each with their own unique cultures and ever-evolving city scapes. Tokyo, on the one hand, is renowned for its cutting-edge modern architecture and attractions, and bustling districts, including the likes of Shibuya Crossing, Skytree Tower, and the Akihabara District. 

Just a short flight away though lies Seoul, South Korea’s capital with its own unique cultural atmosphere. Its street culture and vibrant nightlife is breathtaking, with highlights during a visit here including the bustling Myeongdong area and gorgeous Gyeongokgung Palace. 

London - New York - Toronto - London 

Flying to North America from London is a popular flight route, and it’s all the more simple in our modern era to travel between two major cities in the U.S. and Canada - New York and Toronto. Hit up the Big Apple first and explore this concrete jungle, with both fast-paced and more leisurely experiences at your fingertips for the best of both worlds, including exploring Central Park and visiting the vibrant Times Square. 

Toronto’s multi-cultural cityscape offers urban sophistication and natural beauty in bucketloads too, with a dynamic arts scene and diverse cuisine enhancing travellers’ stays in the city. Popular attractions to fill your itinerary include visiting the Distillery District, or heading to the top of CN Tower. 

Summary 

Booking multi-city flights is all the more simple and easy if you know how to search for them and secure the best deals. Apply the insight you’ve learnt in this article, and you’ll bag yourself a multi-city escape to remember.

Saving yourself the time and hassle of searching for lots of multi-city flights on different flight search engines has never been simpler with our FlightsFinder multi-city flight search which you can use to your advantage to secure the best deal every time.