In the first half of 2021, we’ve sent thousands of deals to members departing from 168 US airports in 48* states (plus USVI, Puerto Rico, and Guam). We found those deals available on 85 different international and US-based airlines.
You might be wondering which airline is most likely to offer a great deal on flights from your state. While there are so many variables and making broad generalizations can mean missing out on some great deals, there are some lessons to be learned from the data.
Check out the map below to find which airline offered the most flight deals from your state, and read on for more details.
The results point to a few lessons when it comes to finding cheap flights.
Lesson #1: Despite dozens of international airlines serving the US, most deals from your airport will be bookable on one of the big three US carriers, with United and American dominating the deals game right now.
We have high standards for the deals we send members and there are certain carriers—including Sun Country, Spirit, and Frontier—that we never send to our members. That still leaves nearly 90 airlines, though, with 8 of them US-based and the rest international.
However, three US legacy airlines still dominate when it comes to the best deals. In every state, the airline that we most frequently found great deals on was either American or United. While Delta was a close third in number of total deals sent, it didn’t dominate the deals in any one state (though it tied with American for most number of deals departing from Alaska). Note though, that this means a deal was bookable on that airline, not that the flight was operated by the airline, as sometimes the flight is operated by a codeshare partner (more on that in a bit).
Despite not being US-based, Air Canada had the fourth highest number of cheap flights for US travelers followed by US-based Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and Southwest.
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You might assume that if we found the most deals on an airline, it’s because that airline offers the most flights from that state. But that’s not always the case, as we’ll explain below.
Lesson #2: At an airport monopolized by one airline, the best deals are usually on their competitors.
Some airports are known as hubs for particular airlines and in some cases the airline’s presence is so strong it essentially has a monopoly on that airport. For example, Atlanta is Delta’s biggest hub, and the airline’s flights account for more than half of the roughly 600 daily departures from the Atlanta airport, which is Georgia’s largest airport. You might think that with so many flights, Delta would have the most good deals, but we actually found more deals bookable on United.
In fact, when one airline has a monopoly on an airport’s flights, a good rule of thumb is that the greatest number of deals are typically offered by competitor airlines.
We saw this in other states, too. For example, Detroit (DTW), is a Delta hub as well, but we saw more deals from DTW (and Michigan as a whole) on United.
Lesson #3: Don’t ignore the international carriers and smaller US airlines.
Of all the deals we sent, 58% were bookable on one of the big three American carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. These airlines all codeshare with at least a dozen other airlines, which means that many of the deals we send are bookable on both those airlines and another international airline, and the flight may actually have been operated by that other airline.
But that doesn’t mean you should only look for deals on the major airlines. More than forty percent of the deals we sent were on smaller US airlines such as JetBlue, Alaska, Southwest, and Hawaiian, or foreign carriers like KLM, Air France, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, or Qantas.
In some cases, these smaller airlines and international carriers are the only airlines that go to these places; for example, if you want to visit Malta, you’ll need to fly an international carrier. Though the flight may be bookable on a US partner airline thanks to codesharing, at least the final leg would be operated by an international airline.
Lesson #4: It’s hard to beat Star Alliance.
Across the board, we found the most deals on airlines that are part of Star Alliance (which includes United and Air Canada). In fact, 36% of all the deals we’ve foundso far in 2021 have been on Star Alliance and it was the dominant alliance for deals in 32 out of 48 states.
Lesson #5: More airlines flying from that state = more deals.
The single biggest factor guiding how many cheap flights there are on a given route is simply how much competition there is between airlines. Cities and states with more flights tend to see more frequent deals.
The bottom line: Cast a wide net when looking for cheap flights.
The airline that dominates your region or the airline that’s your typical go-to may not offer the best deals for your particular trip. For the best chance of snagging a great deal, use a search site like Google Flights to search multiple airlines. Or join Scott’s Cheap Flights and let us do the searching for you.
Breakdown by State
Alabama
Number of deals we found: 228
Number of airlines we found deals on: 26
Number of airports we search: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Alaska
Number of deals we found: 31
Number of airlines: 12
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: American/Delta tie
Arizona
Number of deals we found: 295
Number of airlines: 43
Number of airports: 4
Airline with the most deals: American
Arkansas
Number of deals: 140
Number of airlines: 22
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
California
Number of deals: 1,479
Number of airlines: 65
Number of airports: 14
Airline with the most deals: United
Colorado
Number of deals: 324
Number of airlines: 42
Number of airports: 4
Airline with the most deals: United
Connecticut
Number of deals: 105
Number of airlines: 28
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: American
*Delaware
We don’t currently search for deals from any airports in Delaware, but airports in Maryland or Pennsylvania are 1-2 hours away.
Florida
Number of deals: 1,485
Number of airlines: 57
Number of airports: 14
Airline with the most deals: American
Georgia
Number of deals: 278
Number of airlines: 35
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Hawaii
Number of deals: 172
Number of airlines: 22
Number of airports: 5
Airline with the most deals: United
Idaho
Number of deals: 103
Number of airlines: 27
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: American
Illinois
Number of deals: 535
Number of airlines: 61
Number of airports: 7
Airline with the most deals: American
Indiana
Number of deals: 232
Number of airlines: 28
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Iowa
Number of deals: 276
Number of airlines: 26
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Kansas
Number of deals: 78
Number of airlines: 22
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
Kentucky
Number of deals: 298
Number of airlines: 21
Number of airports: 33
Airline with the most deals: United
Louisiana
Number of deals: 240
Number of airlines: 31
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: American
Maine
Number of deals: 66
Number of airlines: 20
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: American
Maryland
Number of deals: 181
Number of airlines: 42
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
Massachusetts
Number of deals: 225
Number of airlines: 52
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Michigan
Number of deals: 224
Number of airlines: 27
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Minnesota
Number of deals: 191
Number of airlines: 29
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Mississippi
Number of deals: 66
Number of airlines: 23
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
Missouri
Number of deals: 351
Number of airlines: 33
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Montana
Number of deals: 224
Number of airlines: 30
Number of airports: 5
Airline with the most deals: United
Nebraska
Number of deals: 136
Number of airlines: 27
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Nevada
Number of deals: 276
Number of airlines: 43
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
New Hampshire
Number of deals: 49
Number of airlines: 18
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: American
New Jersey
Number of deals: 247
Number of airlines: 57
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
New Mexico
Number of deals: 88
Number of airlines: 26
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
New York
Number of deals: 829
Number of airlines: 64
Number of airports: 9
Airline with the most deals: American
North Carolina
Number of deals: 665
Number of airlines: 39
Number of airports: 8
Airline with the most deals: American
North Dakota
Number of deals: 87
Number of airlines: 23
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Ohio
Number of deals: 389
Number of airlines: 39
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Oklahoma
Number of deals: 183
Number of airlines: 25
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: United
Oregon
Number of deals: 285
Number of airlines: 47
Number of airports: 4
Airline with the most deals: United
Pennsylvania
Number of deals: 460
Number of airlines: 46
Number of airports: 4
Airline with the most deals: American/United tie
Rhode Island
Number of deals: 74
Number of airlines: 28
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
South Carolina
Number of deals: 313
Number of airlines: 30
Number of airports: 4
Airline with the most deals: American/United tie
South Dakota
Number of deals: 107
Number of airlines: 20
Number of airports: 2
Airline with the most deals: American
Tennessee
Number of deals: 419
Number of airlines: 34
Number of airports: 4
Airline with the most deals: United
Texas
Number of deals: 1,098
Number of airlines: 51
Number of airports: 10
Airline with the most deals: American
Utah
Number of deals: 118
Number of airlines: 34
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: United
Vermont
Number of deals: 54
Number of airlines: 18
Number of airports: 1
Airline with the most deals: American
Virginia
Number of deals: 681
Number of airlines: 53
Number of airports: 6
Airline with the most deals: United
Washington
Number of deals: 267
Number of airlines: 40
Number of airports: 5
Airline with the most deals: United
*West Virginia
We began serving one airport in West Virginia, Charleston (CRW), in August 2021 so as of publishing we don’t yet have enough data on deals.
Wisconsin
Number of deals: 246
Number of airlines: 29
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Wyoming
Number of deals: 42
Number of airlines: 23
Number of airports: 3
Airline with the most deals: United
Methodology
The Flight Experts at Scott’s Cheap Flights use a combination of technology and human-powered flight searching, to look at thousands of possible airfare deals every week. When we find a deal that meets our high standards, we send it to our members with instructions on how to find and book the deal. We send more than 7,000 deals out to US-based members every year, saving travelers an average of $550+ per ticket off normal prices.
To reach our conclusions on the best and worst airlines, we tallied up the number of deals sent from each airport we serve in each state, and counted the number of deals that were bookable on each airline. As noted above, there is overlap; some deals are bookable on multiple airlines due to codesharing and price competition.
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