Kayak Review

Kayak is a powerful flight meta-search engine that compares fares across hundreds of airlines and booking sites. The Hacker Fares feature combines one-way tickets from different airlines for lower total costs. The price forecast tool predicts whether fares will rise or fall on your route.

Kayak flight search is comprehensive and well-designed. Results from hundreds of sources are presented in a clean layout with sorting by price, duration, and stops. The Hacker Fares tab shows combinations of one-way tickets that cost less than any round-trip option. Filters are extensive and include baggage inclusion, seat class, and alliance.

Price accuracy is good but the redirect model means some fares change between Kayak and the booking site. The price forecast feature analyzes historical data for your route and recommends whether to book now or wait. In our testing, the forecast was directionally correct about 70% of the time.

The Explore feature shows cheapest fares from your airport on an interactive map. Multi-city search handles complex itineraries. Price alerts track routes and send notifications for fare changes. The Trips feature organizes flight confirmations from your email automatically.

Kayak interface is clean and fast with intuitive navigation. The results page is well-organized with key details visible at a glance. Mobile app performance matches the desktop experience. The Hacker Fares tab is clearly separated from standard fares to avoid confusion.

Kayak does not handle bookings directly, so support is limited to platform issues. Booking problems must be resolved with the airline or OTA. The help center covers search, alerts, and account questions. For a meta-search tool, this is standard.