Best Airports in the US for Cheap Flights—And the Worst

Key takeaways

• Due to a number of factors, including the amount of airlines serving the airport and the amount of competition on various routes from that airport, some airports see more frequent flight deals than others.
• The best airports in the US for cheap international flights: NYC (JFK), LA (LAX), Boston (BOS), DC (IAD), Chicago (ORD), Miami (MIA), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), Orlando (MCO), and Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW).
• The worst airports in the US for cheap international flights: Provo (PVU), Seattle (PAE), Long Beach (LGB), Chicago (MDW), Oakland (OAK), Sacramento (SMF), Honolulu (HNL), Dallas (DAL), Spokane (GEG), and Boise (BOI). 
• If you live near one of the best US airports, you won't have a hard time finding good deals, as long as you don't have too many restrictions over when and where you fly. But if you live near one of the worst US airports, there are some tactics that you can use to increase your changes of scoring a cheap flight. 
• With a Going membership, you can get notified about the cheapest flight prices, and by setting price alerts, you can let us know which airports you'd like to receive deals for. Once you receive a deal that you'd like to book, you can use Google Flights or another app to book your flight. 

The team of flight experts at Going spends hundreds of hours every week searching for flight deals. In the past twelve months, we’ve sent thousands of emails with cheap flights from nearly 200 US airports.

We have high standards for our deals, too. We don’t send deals on certain budget airlines (like Spirit, Frontier, or Allegiant), we don’t send super-last-minute flights or flights with terrible routing. In short, we only send truly great deals to our members—with a savings of $550 per international economy ticket on average—and we know that when it comes to scoring cheap international flights, geography counts.

Some airports, many of them the largest airports in the US, simply see more frequent flight deals than others, thanks to a number of factors including the amount of airlines serving the airport and the amount of competition on various routes from that airport.

To determine which airports offer the most frequent deals on economy class international flights—and which major airports offer the least—we looked at commercial airports in metro areas with a population of at least 700,000 people and collected data on how many deals we sent to Going members for cheap flights departing from each airport in the past year.

Here are our US airport rankings.

If you live near one of the best airports, you’re in luck: Your airport often has great deals on economy class international flights. But, if you live near one of the worst, it doesn’t mean you need to give up your dreams of affordable international flights. Beneath each of the “worst” airports, we list examples of the types of deals you’ll see from your airport—and give you tips on how you can score even more cheap international flights without moving to a new city.

The best US airports for cheap international flights

The best airports for cheap international flights are airports you might expect; they’re among the busiest airports in big cities, located on both coasts plus one in the Midwest and one in the South. While that’s great news if you live in one of the areas, it also means that no matter where you are in the US, you’re likely only a short flight away from one of these airports where deals are the most frequent.

How frequent? Our top airport received 384 international deals in the past year—more than one deal per day on average—and others in the top ten received 19 or more deals per month on average.

Here are the top ten airports in the US for scoring cheap international flights in economy class.

10. Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW)

The Dallas–Fort Worth airport is the largest in the state of Texas and the second-busiest in the US, only behind Atlanta. It’s the largest hub for American Airlines and acts as an operating base for Frontier and Spirit. It’s served by 28 airlines flying to about 260 destinations in about 36 countries on direct flights—primarily in the US, but also in Mexico, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean. While Houston airport serves a larger metropolitan area, Dallas–Fort Worth sees far more international deals. In the past 12 months, we found 228 economy deals, an average of more than four per week out of DFW. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Dallas–Fort Worth:

• Dallas–Fort Worth to Peru for $413 roundtrip
• Dallas–Fort Worth to Belize for $338 roundtrip
• Dallas–Fort Worth to Bahamas for $271 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Dallas–Fort Worth

9. Orlando (MCO)

In 2023, Miami, which previously had a monopoly on cheap flights for Floridians, was forced to make way for Orlando on our list of top US airports for international deals. And this year, MCO—the largest airport in the state—has held its spot. It acts as a hub for Silver Airways, a focus city for JetBlue, and an operating base for Avelo, Frontier, Spirit, and Breeze. (While we don’t send deals to our members on Spirit or Frontier, their presence helps drive down fares.)

MCO is served by 42 passenger airlines offering direct flights to more than 170 destinations throughout the US, Mexico, Canada, Caribbean, Europe, and Central and South America. We found our members 257 economy class deals in the past year—more than 21 per month on average. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Orlando:

• Orlando to Sint Maarten for $297 roundtrip
• Orlando to Ireland for $394 roundtrip
• Orlando to Guyana for $285 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Orlando

8. San Francisco (SFO)

We see an average of 24 economy class international deals per month from SFO, thanks to a plethora of routes and airlines serving more than 130 destinations in Canada, Mexico, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania.

SFO is the second-busiest airport in California, the 14th-busiest airport in the US, and the fifth-largest hub for United Airlines. It’s also served by another 50+ airlines, which helps keep prices down.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from San Francisco:

• San Francisco to Medellín for $348 roundtrip
• San Francisco to Milan for $418 roundtrip
• San Francisco to Delhi for $679 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from San Francisco

7. Newark (EWR)

A major hub for United, Newark is served by 30 airlines with direct flights to almost 100 international destinations in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. If you can’t get to a place on a cheap flight from Newark, you probably can’t get there on a cheap flight from anywhere. All those options for airlines and routes means increased competition and more chances for cheap flights.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Newark:

• Newark to Madrid for $395 roundtrip
• Newark to Prague for $411 roundtrip
• Newark to Madagascar for $826 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Newark

6. Miami (MIA)

Miami is the ninth-busiest airport in the US by number of passengers. It’s served by 58 airlines and is a hub for American Airlines; a focus city for Avianca and LATAM; and an operating base for Spirit, Frontier, and Norse, which makes it a great city for scoring deals, especially to the Caribbean and Latin America.

The airport offers direct flights to about 185 international destinations, including cities in Europe and the Middle East; connections to other major hubs make it easy to travel to destinations in Asia, Africa, and Oceania. In the past year, we’ve sent our members 307 economy class international deals from Miami, which averages out to about 25–26 deals per month.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Miami:

• Miami to Turks & Caicos for $280 roundtrip
• Miami to Bogotá for $317 roundtrip
• Miami to Barcelona for $347 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Miami

5. Chicago O’Hare (ORD)

Chicago O’Hare is one of the busiest airports in the world. It’s a hub for both United and American and an operating base for Frontier and Spirit Airlines (the presence of Frontier and Spirit helps increase competition, but Going doesn’t send deals on those airlines for a number of reasons).

O’Hare offers nonstop service to more than 230 destinations (65 of them international) on more than 45 airlines. The abundance of international airlines and routes means pretty healthy competition, and the frequency of flights to the rest of the US means that if you can’t fly direct to a major destination from Chicago, chances are you can get there with one connection—and both of those things mean lots of deals for travelers.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Chicago:

• Chicago O’Hare to Stockholm for $370 roundtrip
• Chicago O’Hare to Guadalajara for $299 roundtrip
• Chicago O’Hare to Taiwan for $813 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Chicago O’Hare

4. Washington Dulles (IAD)

Dulles serves the greater Baltimore and Washington, DC, area and has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the Mid-Atlantic region outside of New York. It offers direct flights to 59 international destinations on five continents, serving Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

It’s a hub for United Airlines, but it’s also served by more than 40 airlines, and that competition helps ensure frequent economy class international deals—about 27 per month on average.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Washington Dulles:

• Washington Dulles to Panama City for $284 roundtrip
• Washington Dulles to Amsterdam for $370 roundtrip
• Washington Dulles to Johannesburg for $808 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Washington Dulles

3. Boston (BOS)

The largest airport in New England and the 16th-busiest airport in the US by number of passengers, Boston Logan is a Transatlantic hub for Delta and a focus city for JetBlue. It’s also served by an additional 40+ airlines.

There are direct routes to more than 50 international destinations in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Mexico, Canada, and Central and South America. Basically you can get just about anywhere in the world from Boston, and more options translates to more deals.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Boston:

• Boston to Nairobi for $681 roundtrip
• Boston to Greece for $460 roundtrip
• Boston to Cape Verde for $553 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Boston 

2. Los Angeles (LAX)

LAX holds a lot of superlative titles. It’s the largest and busiest airport on the West Coast, the fifth-busiest international airport in the US, and one of the busiest airports in the world. It’s also a hub or focus city for tons of airlines; it’s a hub for Alaska, American, Delta, and United, as well as an operating base for JetBlue, Allegiant, and Southwest.

About 70 airlines serve the airport, with direct flights to nearly 190 destinations in more than 40 countries. All those flights mean more chances for deals, so it’s not surprising that, on average, we see about 30 international economy class deals per month out of LAX.  

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Los Angeles:

• LA to Singapore for $691 roundtrip
• LA to Ibiza for $498 roundtrip
• LA to Puerto Vallarta for $226 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Los Angeles

1. New York (JFK)

Coming in as the best airport for international deals, JFK is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, a focus city for JetBlue, and an operating base for Norse, but it also serves a whole lot of other international airlines—more than 70 in total. Those airlines collectively serve more than 120 international destinations on six continents, making JFK the busiest international air passenger gateway into North America. It’s also the sixth-busiest airport in the US by passenger number. In short, there are a ton of planes traveling between JFK and the rest of the world every day, and all those routes and airlines mean—yep, you guessed it—a whole lot of deals.

We send more deals for international economy class flights from JFK than any other airport. That means if you live near JFK—or can get there by plane, train, bus, or car relatively cheaply—you can take advantage of some amazing flight deals.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from JFK:

• JFK to Costa Rica for $202 roundtrip
• JFK to Grenada for $229 roundtrip
• JFK to Bali for $601 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from JFK

It’s important to note, though, that airports outside the top ten still receive many, many deals.

Raleigh–Durham (RDU), Atlanta (ATL), Seattle (SEA), Nashville (BNA), Austin (AUS), Philadelphia (PHL), Norfolk (ORF), Houston (IAH), Denver (DEN), Pittsburgh (PIT), Jacksonville (JAX), Syracuse (SYR), and Louisville (SDF) all receive 15–20 economy class international deals in an average month.

Even smaller airports like St. Louis (STL), Dayton (DAY), and Sioux Falls (FSD) receive an average of 2 international economy class deals per week. Meaning, there’s a whole lot of airports on the list before we get down to the “worst” airports for international deals.

The worst US airports for cheap international flights

Of course, the smaller the metro area and airport, and the fewer flights and airlines operating from that airport, the fewer chances for deals. Airports like Juneau, Alaska, and Hilton Head, South Carolina, see less than one deal per month, but they also represent very small metro areas so they aren’t on this list.

For this list, we only looked at airports in metro areas with a population of more than 700,000 people. Less populated states in the West, South, and Midwest dominate the list. While passengers can travel internationally from each of these airports with a connection (and many of these airports are labeled as “international airports”) not all of them actually offer direct international flights. The lack of direct flights typically translates to a lack of competition, and thus a lack of deals.

Live near one of the “worst” airports? Don’t despair. Even though these airports see far fewer deals than the top 10 on this list, they still receive an average of 5–8 international economy class deals per month, or at least one deal per week.

Even better news: Most of them are located within an hour or two of a bigger airport that receives a lot more deals. When you sign up for Going, we’ll tell you if you can expect a high volume of deals for your airport or not, and which nearby airports we recommend you follow for more frequent deals.

10. Boise (BOI)

As far as capital cities go, Boise isn’t as well connected as some of the others on our list. It only offers direct flights to cities in the US (primarily on the West Coast, Texas, and the Midwest) on nine airlines, including Alaska, Allegiant, American, Avelo, Delta, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, and United. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a lot of flight options to the East Coast, save for Atlanta, but there are flights to other major hubs—like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), and Chicago (ORD)—if you don’t mind making a connection for your onward flight. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Boise:

• Boise to Guyana for $296 roundtrip
• Boise to the Scottish Highlands for $592 roundtrip
• Boise to Auckland for $784 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Boise

9. Spokane (GEG)

Spokane International Airport serves the Inland Northwest, including Spokane in Washington and Coeur d'Alene in Idaho on seven airlines (either year round or seasonally), including Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Southwest, Sun Country, and United. From GEG, you can get to nearly every corner of the US (except the Northeast); however, if you’re looking to head internationally, you’ll need to make at least one stop. 

A lack of international options translates to a lack of international deals, with GEG seeing 6–7 international economy deals on average per month. It’s not all doom and gloom though. While Spokane is a good way from any drivable alternate airport, it’s just a short flight from Seattle, Portland, and SFO. Just a bit longer and you could make it to LAX, Minneapolis, Denver, all of which see about double the international deals that Spokane does each month. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Spokane:

• Spokane to the Belize for $358 roundtrip
• Spokane to San Miguel de Allende for $369 roundtrip
• Spokane to Morocco for $595 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Spokane

8. Dallas Love Field (DAL)

If you’re looking to stick around the US—or maybe even head down to San Jose Cabo in Mexico—flying out of Dallas Love Field will work just fine for you. DAL flies passengers to more than 80 destinations on three airlines: Alaska, Delta, and Southwest. However, anywhere beyond the US and San Jose Cabo, you’ll need to make at least one stop if you’re planning to fly out of DAL. 

The good news is that Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) is located less than 30 minutes away by car and is one of the top 10 airports that see the best deals for international travel. While DAL sees 6–7 international deals per month, DFW sees 19. From Dallas Love Field, you could also take a short regional flight to any number of hubs that would connect you with far more deals, including Houston, Orlando, or LA.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Dallas Love Field:

• Dallas Love Field to Lima for $413 roundtrip
• Dallas Love Field to Tulum for $297 roundtrip
• Dallas Love Field to the Valencia for $491 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Dallas Love Field

7. Honolulu (HNL)

Honolulu is the busiest airport in Hawaii. It’s the main hub for Hawaiian Airlines and is served by an additional 18 airlines. It offers direct flights to nearly two dozen international destinations, including spots in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.

We often see great deals to Asia and the Pacific from HNL, but deals elsewhere are a bit less common—and with fewer flights to Asia over the past couple of years, deals were a bit less frequent than in normal years.

In total, over the past year we saw about six international economy deals from Honolulu in the average month. For more, watch deals from California airports like San Francisco, LA, San Jose, and San Diego. Each sees a lot more deals, and we frequently see nonstop roundtrip flights from HNL to those cities for under $200.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Honolulu:

• Honolulu to Oaxaca for $549 roundtrip
• Honolulu to Copenhagen for $494 roundtrip
• Honolulu to American Samoa for $1,878 roundtrip in business class 

>> See cheap flights from Honolulu

6. Sacramento (SMF)

Sacramento International Airport is one of several gateways to Northern California hotspots, such as wine country, Lake Tahoe, and national parks like Yosemite. SMF offers flights through 13 different airlines to nearly 50 destinations, with the majority in the US save for a few in Mexico and Canada. US destinations from Sacramento include LA, New York City (JFK), Boston, Chicago, and Washington (Dulles), so if you can’t get to your international destination on a nonstop flight from SMF, you can probably get there with one stop through another US hub. On average, this airport sees about six deals per month.

To find more cheap flights, look at deals from either San Francisco or Oakland. SFO sees about four times as many deals as SMF, and while OAK similarly doesn’t see great deals (it’s rated #5 on our list of worst airports for international deals), it does have farther-reaching destinations throughout Mexico and Central America (plus seasonal flights to the Azores), so you might find better availability there. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Sacramento:

• Sacramento to US Virgin Islands for $290 roundtrip
• Sacramento to the Cook Islands for $794 roundtrip
• Sacramento to Barcelona for $491 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Sacramento

5. Oakland (OAK)

Oakland is an operating base for Southwest and served by a total of 11 airlines, mostly serving the US. Its only consistent nonstop international destinations are to Mexico and El Salvador, though it offers seasonal nonstop service to the Azores in Portugal. As a result, we just don’t see a lot of great international deals from Oakland—we send our members about 5–6 per month on average.

The good news is that SFO is just across the Bay and saw 289 amazing international economy class deals over the past year, so a great fare is just a quick BART ride away.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Oakland:

• Oakland to Dublin for $453 roundtrip
• Oakland to Auckland for $861 roundtrip
• Oakland to Cancún for $379 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Oakland

4. Chicago Midway (MDW)

Chicago Midway offers nonstop flights to about 80 domestic airports on five different airlines, including Southwest, Frontier, Avelo, Allegiant, and Delta; Southwest dominates that list. MDW also offers nonstop flights to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Toronto, and a number of destinations in Mexico. To access just about every other country in the world, you’d be able to connect through another major hub, such as LA, Boston, or Miami, to name a few. Or, even easier, you could depart out of Chicago’s other airport, O’Hare, which sees about five times as many deals per month. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Chicago Midway:

• Chicago Midway to Rome for $475 roundtrip
• Chicago Midway to Porto for $530 roundtrip
• Chicago Midway to Toronto for $265 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Chicago Midway

3. Long Beach (LGB)

Flights from Long Beach Airport fly to 24 nonstop destinations in the US, but it’s only served by three airlines, including Delta, Hawaiian, and Southwest (and Southwest dominates that list); also, there are no international departures, so the lack of competition and direct routes makes deals rare.

But Long Beach passengers looking for international deals have an easy solution: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is less than 23 miles away and sees far more deals. In fact, LAX is number two on our list of best airports for international flight deals.

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Long Beach:

• Long Beach to London for $476 roundtrip
• Long Beach to Iceland for $539 roundtrip
• Long Beach to Nairobi for $867 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Long Beach

2. Seattle Paine (PAE)

It’s possible you didn’t even know Seattle had another airport—well, surprise! It does, and Seattle Paine serves 10 destinations (Anchorage, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Palm Springs, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and Tucson) on Alaska Airlines. Unfortunately, being served by only a single airline means that deals tend to be very infrequent, about one per month. Luckily, Seattle–Tacoma (SEA) ranks 12 on our list of US airports with the cheapest international deals; from there, you can easily reach Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East on a nonstop flight.  

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Seattle Paine:

• Seattle Paine to San José del Cabo for $326 roundtrip
• Seattle Paine to Costa Rica for $398 roundtrip
• Seattle Paine to Dublin for $552 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Seattle Paine

1. Provo (PVU)

Provo airport is Utah’s second-busiest airport and a decent jumping off point for adventures through some of the state’s great national parks, including Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef. PVU is served by Allegiant, American, and Breeze, connecting passengers to only about a dozen destinations, all of which are in the US, though the possibilities for connections through some of those airports to other destinations around the world are nearly endless. Unfortunately, with only three airlines, there just isn’t much competition, so deals are less frequent. We send our members about four international economy class deals from Fresno each month on average.

Salt Lake City sits less than an hour to the north and sees a ton more international deals per month than Provo, so it’s likely worth your while to make the short drive if you want to snag a better deal. 

Actual deals we've flagged for Going members from Provo:

• Provo to Nice for $495 roundtrip
• Provo to Tulum for $388 roundtrip
• Provo to Copenhagen for $535 roundtrip

>> See cheap flights from Provo

Methodology

To reach our conclusions on the best and worst airports, we first determined our list of airports. We only looked at airports that serve metro areas of more than 700,000 people and the 180+ US airports we serve at Going.

Once we had our list of airports, we tallied up the total number of deal emails we sent to members departing from those airports between May 22, 2023, and May 22, 2024. The airports that received the highest number of deals per year were deemed to be the best airports for cheap international flights. And the airports that received the lowest number of deals were deemed to be the worst airports for cheap international flights.

Learn more about our top hacks for scoring cheap flights and how to set up a Google Flight alert so you never miss a deal. 

Join Going and save an average of $550 on international economy flights.