There are two ways to use your vacation budget every year:
- You can spend it all on one expensive trip to a single destination.
- You can take multiple trips to see more of the world for less money by choosing the destinations where flights are the cheapest.
Flights are usually the most expensive part of a trip, and airfare prices are more volatile than the rest of your travel expenses. Airfare can change dramatically day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, which is why we’ve been screaming about the Flights First Rule from the rooftops for years now. Follow the flight deal, and then plan your trip around that. It’s that simple.
But there’s another level to this. To travel more for less, focus on the destinations where flight deals are most prevalent.
We search all day, every day, for cheap flights to send to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members … and the airfare landscape is extremely friendly for consumers right now.
In fact, 2025 has been crazy cheap. And I’m not talking about a trip to Milwaukee or Tulsa, either – no offense to either city. We keep finding low fares to places you’ve been dreaming about, like Australia, Brazil, Iceland, Japan, and more.
Now more than ever, scoring a good deal on flights is about using the right tools and picking the right spot. Here are a few places we’re consistently finding great deals.
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Japan
For years, Japan flight deals have been hard to come by. With fares in the $1,200s or even $1,500s roundtrip in economy, a lot of travelers had to punt their plans to 2025…and boy are they glad they did now.
This flight deal from Washington, D.C. (DCA) to Tokyo (HND) is just the tip of the iceberg in what has been a bonanza of Japan flight deals for 2025. From coast to coast, travelers in the U.S. have had access to the lowest fares we’ve seen since the pandemic.
These Delta fares above were a great example of how cheap things got. But even if you wanted to take the nonstop from your home airport, you didn’t have to settle. Below is a list of nonstop fares from all over the U.S. to Tokyo (HND, NRT) this winter and spring.
Here’s another trend we’re fired up about: It’s not just Tokyo, either!
Over the past four months, we’ve seen record low fares to places like Osaka (KIX), Okinawa (OKA), and Sapporo (CTS), among others! These Japanese cities almost never go on sale to U.S. flyers, so we made sure to round up the best of these fares and put them in our subscribers’ inboxes right away.
If you’d rather use your hard-earned points, there have been ample opportunities for that, too. Delta SkyMiles rates to Tokyo (HND) have been stellar the last few months, dropping as low as 42,000 SkyMiles roundtrip!
And up front, in the fancy seats, we notified our subscribers of multiple chances to fly lie-flat business class to Japan for 60,000 miles each way!
Japan Airlines Business Class is one of the best ways to fly to Tokyo, and this deal with availability from San Diego (SAN) was just the latest way to get there in style.
The Caribbean
Gone are the days when roundtrip flights to the Caribbean cost as much or more than flights to Europe. With airlines putting more and more flights and seats into destinations like the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and Turks & Caicos, flights started getting cheaper earlier this winter. And now, with winter in full swing, prices are staying low.
How low?
This flight deal to the Cayman Islands included a sizzling $295 roundtrip fare from Boston (BOS) flying JetBlue. A few days earlier, we found a low fare of $335 roundtrip flying from New York (JFK) to Sint Maarten (SXM), too.
These flight prices are long gone! Join Thrifty Traveler Premium to get the next deal sent to your inbox!
On both deals, dozens more U.S. and Canadian airports featured low nonstop or one-stop fares down to the Caribbean in the $300s roundtrip.
And while the $300s roundtrip is definitely a terrific deal to get to the beach, you should look hard at flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) to get the absolute cheapest deal. Look at some of these fares in the $100s and $200s roundtrip!
Beyond Puerto Rico, other seemingly out-of-reach Caribbean jaunts have benefitted from cheap and convenient flights. Take Providenciales, Turks & Caicos (PLS), for instance.
These nonstop flights to PLS were some of the lowest we’ve ever seen to the sought-after islands.
If you’d rather save your cash for daiquiris and sailing tours, use those hard-earned Delta SkyMiles instead.
These nonstop prices on Delta down to the finest islands of the Caribbean had us swooning at Thrifty Traveler headquarters.
Brazil
The biggest shocker on this list is Brazil – where flights haven’t been cheap for years now.
But then, all of a sudden…
This Dallas (DFW) to São Paulo (GRU) flight deal for just $332 roundtrip in basic economy or $396 roundtrip in Main Cabin made us double take. We haven’t seen a Brazil fare that cheap in many years.
But this one-off turned into a trend when we found all these incredible fares flying down to Rio de Janeiro (GIG), too.
Anything under $600 roundtrip all the way to Brazil deserves your attention, but if you want something a little comfier for the long ride south, look no further than the lie-flat business class offerings of LATAM.
We found availability from Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), and Orlando (MCO) to GRU for 50,000 Alaska miles each way or 75,000 Finnair Avios miles each way. You can transfer Amex and Hawaiian points to Alaska and Capital One points to Finnair to book these seats. Plus, Finnair Avios are easily combined with other Avios programs like British Airways and Iberia.
Iceland
If Japan and Brazil were surprises to this list, Iceland is not. The land of ice and fire has been a tried-and-true cheap flight destination for many years now. And the airlines don’t seem inclined to change that.
Delta jumped in with some unbelievably cheap airfare to Reykjavik (KEF) this spring and summer, including roundtrip fares to Iceland in the $300s! The Detroit (DTW) nonstop flight above was just $371 roundtrip in Main Cabin, and the rest of these fares include one quick stop in New York (JFK) to get fares in the $300s roundtrip.
There is one major reason why Iceland fares stay so cheap, and that’s because of Iceland flag carrier Icelandair. The budget-friendly but surprisingly comfortable airline offers dirt cheap fares like these – forcing airlines like Delta to compete on price.
Icelandair also offers a comfy forward cabin called Saga Premium. The airline calls it business class, but the seats are not lie-flat. The seats themselves are plush and super comfortable, but they don’t recline flat. That said, everything else about the experience is truly luxurious, from the lounge, to the food, the service, and more.
Plus, because it’s not a true lie-flat seat, Icelandair prices these seats very competitively, often dropping the roundtrip fares under $1,000 a few times a year during big sales.
Ireland
Iceland and Ireland are shockingly similar when it comes to cheap flights. Both have been cheap flight mainstays for several years now, thanks to the country’s flag carrier offering insanely cheap roundtrip flights to their main hubs.
In Iceland, that’s Icelandair. In Ireland, that’s Aer Lingus. Here’s what Aer Lingus can do for U.S. travelers…
Aer Lingus drives the airfare market like almost no other. By cutting its roundtrip fares to Dublin (DUB) into the $300s, it gives travelers at more than a dozen U.S. hubs a shot at a trip to the Emerald Isle.
But Dublin travelers don’t get to have all the fun. In places like Shannon (SNN), you can also find cheap fares, along with travelers interested in southern Ireland’s Cork (ORK). For Cork-minded flyers, there were options to fly there from more than 100 U.S. cities in our latest flight deal alert.
If you’re making the flight across the Atlantic, you probably wouldn’t mind a chance at a lie-flat bed, though, right? Well, Aer Lingus can take care of you there, too.
Aer Lingus Business Class is a surprisingly affordable and comfortable way to get to Europe – especially for travelers with Alaska miles (transferable from Amex and Hawaiian), and Aer Lingus Avios (transferable from Amex, Bilt, Chase, or Wells Fargo and other Avios programs).
Spain
Stop me if this sounds familiar: It’s a European country with a strong, low-cost flag carrier that keeps flight prices down for American travelers…
The situation in Spain is the same as in Iceland and Ireland, keeping airfare low for American travelers who want to go to places like Barcelona (BCN), Madrid (MAD), and beyond.
This lowest fare from Boston (BOS) was incredibly cheap, as were these roundtrip flights from all over the U.S. in the $400s!
Earlier this year, however, we found perhaps the best value of any trip to Madrid (MAD), and that was flying Delta Premium Select from just $603 roundtrip!
These flights are normally closer to $2,000 roundtrip, so these fares were clearly a mistake. Mistake fares are some of the coolest, most fun things you can book in travel, and we heard from dozens of our subscribers who snagged these seats heading over to Spain this year.
If that value isn’t good enough for you, Iberia – Spain’s flag carrier – also offers a sneakily inexpensive business class seat, too. Starting at just 34,000 points each way, these seats are some of the least expensive (in points) business class seats flying across the pond every day.
Thanks to Iberia’s big network in the U.S., you can snag these seats from these six airports from just 34,000 points each way when you book with Iberia Avios (which you can transfer in from Amex, Bilt, Chase, or Wells Fargo).
Australia and New Zealand
When it comes to some of the longest flights in the world between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, remember: You’re not paying by the mile flown.
In fact, some of these long-haul flights to Australia and New Zealand sank to unthinkable lows for flights this year. This fare from Minneapolis (MSP) to Melbourne (MEL) is just one example.
More likely, you’ll find flights to Sydney (SYD) in the $800 range roundtrip to fill out your Australia trip like these fares.
But lately, Brisbane (BNE) has been the center of the cheap flights universe when it comes to Australia. We wrote about the reasons here, but the bottom line is that you should aim for Brisbane (BNE) if you’re looking for the absolute cheapest deal. These fares from four Delta hubs illustrate what I’m talking about here.
Of course, better than paying cash, using SkyMiles to fly to Australia and New Zealand is the best way. Here are some of the cheapest fares we found in our latest roundup for Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers.
And finally, if you want to go to Auckland (AKL) instead of Australia, you’re going to find similarly competitive airfares…if not better!
Flights under $600 roundtrip are usually reserved for Europe – not New Zealand! Los Angeles (LAX) was the lowest fare here, but flyers from all over the U.S. could have snagged fares in the $600s, $700s, or $800s roundtrip to make their New Zealand adventure a reality, too.
Bottom Line
Instead of blowing your travel budget on one expensive trip every year, you can travel more often to more places if you focus on the destinations that are cheapest right now.
Luckily, for travel in 2025, the cheapest destinations are some of the best places on earth, and you might be surprised how cheap and easy it could be to get there.
