Denver leads for domestic travel, Boston tops international, and American Airlines ranks No. 1 among airlines for domestic flight deals
NEW YORK, Aug. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Going announced the launch of its 2026 Top Airports and Airlines for Flight Deals, based on proprietary data from the thousands of flight deals sent to members over the past 12 months, spanning more than 200 U.S. airports and 500 destinations worldwide.
“A single cheap fare doesn’t tell the whole story,” said Willis Orlando, flight expert at Going. “With most travel headlines featuring affordability right now, we built these rankings around what actually matters to travelers: not just the price of the ticket, but how deep the discount is and how often a good deal comes around. An airport that has one amazing fare a year isn’t as valuable to travelers as one that delivers solid deals every week. That’s the kind of everyday practical knowledge we wanted this data to reflect.”
Top airports for domestic flight deals
- Denver (DEN)
- New Orleans (MSY)
- Orlando (MCO)
“Denver, New Orleans and Orlando got there in different ways, but the throughline is the same in that more competition means lower fares,” said Orlando. “In Denver, United and Southwest are locked in a fare war with Frontier. In New Orleans, Southwest and Breeze are doing the same, on top of rising leisure demand. And in Orlando, all those planes flying in for theme parks have to fly back out, so locals benefit from that extra capacity too.”
Top airports for international flight deals
- Boston (BOS)
- New York (JFK)
- Newark (EWR)
“Boston, JFK and Newark all lead the pack for the same basic reason. They’re the country’s primary East Coast gateways to international travel,” said Orlando. “Boston’s proximity to Europe makes it a strong pick for transatlantic deals, and its JetBlue base adds a steady stream of Caribbean fares on top of that. JFK and Newark complement each other on international coverage.”
Where deals are hardest to find
In addition to identifying the best airports for flight deals, Going also identified the markets where deals are harder to come by. Kahului (OGG) and Anchorage (ANC), for example, are two airports that see roughly 0-2 deals per week and see average roundtrip prices well into the $500 range, ranking them among the bottom three for both domestic and international travel.
- Domestic: Honolulu (HNL), Kahului (OGG), Anchorage (ANC)
- International: Kahului (OGG), Anchorage (ANC), Oakland (OAK)
Top U.S. airlines for domestic flight deals1
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Southwest
- United Airlines
- Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue
“While American takes the cake for the most deals, it’s really the Big 3 plus Southwest all landing in the same ballpark,” said Orlando. “That’s steep competition and fare wars at work, and those are exactly what drive the best deals for travelers.”
See the full rankings for the 2026 Top Airports and Airlines for Flight Deals HERE.
Methodology: Going analyzed more than 45,000 routes across US airports that were sent as Going deals between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, to develop rankings for the top US airports to fly from domestically and internationally. A fare is deemed a “deal” when it meets the standards set out by the Going Grade, our proprietary scoring system that ranks each fare against the historic pricing for that specific route, with top-scoring deals falling multiple standard deviations below the route’s average price. Airport rankings are based on a weighted score factoring in average price (30%), average deal savings on full-service airlines (35%), and deal volume (35%), giving a fuller picture of where travelers found the best combination of frequency and savings. Airport lists are based on FAA enplanement data, which classifies airports into hub-size categories. Each list represents either ‘large and medium hub’ or ‘small and nonhub’ airports. Hawaii and Alaska airports are included in the domestic rankings. The Top Airlines and Top Airports for Points & Miles Deals rankings are based solely on deal frequency—the number of Going deals sent for full-service U.S. airlines and the number of points and miles deals sent for each airport, respectively, over the same period.
1The ranking for Top U.S. Airlines for Domestic Flight Deals includes only full-service U.S. carriers. Budget airlines like Breeze and Avelo were excluded to allow for a direct comparison among legacy and full-service airlines.
About Going
Going, the travel app for discovering flight deals, has helped 10 million members around the world make their travel dreams come true since 2015. We combine sophisticated software and human flight experts to discover flight deals and mistake fares up to 90% off and send them to our members. Unlike fully automated fare alerts services, every deal alert we send to members has passed a rigorous quality evaluation by our team to ensure it’s worth members’ hard-earned money and limited travel time.
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SOURCE Going
