Table of Contents
The Going 2026 Top Airports & Airlines for Flight Deals is an annual ranking of the US airports and airlines delivering the best flight deals, based on a full year of data across thousands of routes.
It's seemingly been a rough year to be a fare-watcher. Average airfare prices have climbed steadily since late 2025, this spring brought an uncomfortable spike, and the summer price panic (while not entirely novel) had everyone reconsidering whether they could travel anywhere at all. These awards aren’t meant to gaslight you into thinking that everything has been fine over the past year, but rather to showcase where the gems have been hiding. Turns out, they didn’t disappear. They just concentrated in fewer, more predictable places.
→ Related reading: Going 2026 State of Travel & Flight Deals
In 2026, we also changed how we crowned the winners. In the past, an airport's ranking came down to one thing: how many deals we sent from it. That's a fine way to measure top airports, but it misses airports where the deals that do show up are exceptionally cheap or unusually deep discounts, even if there aren't as many of them.
So this year we built a weighted system that factors in deal volume, average Going deal price, and savings off the average normal price. The result is a set of winners that wouldn't all have shown up under the old rules. Some longtime favorites are still here, but a few airports are here specifically because the new math caught what deal counts alone were missing.
Here are the award categories for 2026.
- Top US airports for domestic flight deals
- Top US airports for international flight deals
- Top US airports for points and miles deals
- Top US airlines for domestic flight deals
- Top US airlines for international flight deals
- Members' Choice: Top US airports for flight deals
Top airports for domestic flight deals
After Tampa's reign at #1 last year, Denver took the top spot this year, thanks to good old-fashioned fare wars that kept prices low. And for the second year running, three Florida airports cracked the top ten, though Fort Lauderdale dethroned Miami on the domestic rankings. Spirit's collapse caused a shakeup, with airports grappling with what it means to have one fewer budget carrier populating its flight schedule. Some airports, such as Las Vegas, held on, maintaining a top-10 spot, but that’s not to say the tides won’t shift in 2027. Here are the winners for 2026.
Large and medium airports
| Rank | Airport | Average Going deal (roundtrip) | Number of deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver (DEN) | $219 | 150 |
| 2 | New Orleans (MSY) | $228 | 166 |
| 3 | Orlando (MCO) | $211 | 146 |
| 4 | Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL) | $219 | 135 |
| 5 | Los Angeles (LAX) | $208 | 136 |
| 6 | Charleston (CHS) | $167 | 115 |
| 7 | Raleigh-Durham (RDU) | $217 | 137 |
| 8 | Tampa (TPA) | $216 | 143 |
| 9 | Portland (PDX) | $226 | 130 |
| 10 | Las Vegas (LAS) | $201 | 113 |
Small airports
| Rank | Airport | Average Going deal (roundtrip) | Number of deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Akron-Canton (CAK) | $135 | 52 |
| 2 | West Palm Beach (DJT) | $171 | 71 |
| 3 | Providence (PVD) | $212 | 83 |
| 4 | Wilmington (ILM) | $152 | 57 |
| 5 | Savannah (SAV) | $192 | 70 |
Top airports for domestic flight deals We did a deep dive into the top 10 airports for domestic flight deals (and, just as importantly, the worst airports). Want to learn more about why these made the list and how to maximize your chances of finding a domestic deal worth booking? Check it out here. |
Top airports for international flight deals
Boston takes the #1 spot for international deals this year, a big upset for JFK. Although, together, JFK and Newark still make the case for the New York metro as a two-airport international powerhouse. Plus, two new names shake up the international top-ten list this year: Raleigh-Durham and Austin. Consider this proof that you don't need to live near a coastal mega-hub to score a great international deal.
Large and medium airports
| Rank | Airport | Average Going deal (roundtrip) | Number of deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston (BOS) | $451 | 415 |
| 2 | New York City (JFK) | $445 | 404 |
| 3 | Newark (EWR) | $450 | 333 |
| 4 | Chicago (ORD) | $487 | 354 |
| 5 | Los Angeles (LAX) | $524 | 364 |
| 6 | Raleigh-Durham (RDU) | $448 | 300 |
| 7 | Orlando (MCO) | $472 | 317 |
| 8 | Miami (MIA) | $467 | 304 |
| 9 | Washington, DC (IAD) | $472 | 300 |
| 10 | Austin (AUS) | $475 | 301 |
Small airports
| Rank | Airport | Average Going deal (roundtrip) | Number of deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Syracuse (SYR) | $436 | 211 |
| 2 | Rochester (ROC) | $435 | 208 |
| 3 | Providence (PVD) | $427 | 202 |
| 4 | Westchester County (HPN) | $416 | 171 |
| 5 | Burlington (BTV) | $431 | 176 |
Top airports for international flight deals No surprise, we dug into the best and worst airports for international flight deals, too. Here, our flight experts are shedding light on why these airports claimed the top spots, and how you can take advantage of their wealth of deals. Here’s the lowdown. |
Best airports for points & miles deals
JFK holds onto the top spot for points and miles deals for another year, leading the way on high-value redemptions to Singapore, Cathay Pacific, and Emirates. The list's biggest mover is Miami, cracking the top ten for the first time and edging out last year's #10, Newark. It earned its place thanks to strong Iberia availability to Spain and a deep bench of Latin America and Caribbean redemptions, plus the highest concentration of business class deals of any airport on this list.
Here’s a brief rundown of each airport’s top points-and-miles traits, according to a Going flight expert.
| Rank | Airport | Number of deals | Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City (JFK) | 95 | High-value redemptions on Singapore, Cathay Pacific, and Emirates |
| 2 | Boston (BOS) | 69 | Strong award space to Europe on carriers such as Iberia, Air France/KLM, Swiss, Aer Lingus, and Virgin Atlantic |
| 3 | Los Angeles (LAX) | 63 | Good repositioning hub for award flights to Australia |
| 4 | Chicago (ORD) | 62 | Occasional rare first-class award space to Tokyo via ANA |
| 5 | Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) | 55 | Great for Qatar Airways Qsuites and JAL premium cabin awards |
| 6 | Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) | 52 | Occasional rare first class award space to Tokyo via ANA, plus first class deals to Hawaii |
| 7 | San Francisco (SFO) | 46 | Strong award space to Europe, and the only US airport to have a direct flight to Vietnam (via Vietnam Airlines, bookable with Flying Blue) |
| 8 | Washington, DC (IAD) | 42 | Strong award space to Europe |
| 9 | Atlanta (ATL) | 38 | Strong award space to Europe |
| 10 | Miami (MIA) | 35 | Strong availability to Spain on Iberia, high concentration of business-class deals, and strong coverage throughout Latin America and the Caribbean |
Top airlines for domestic flight deals
This list only includes full-service US carriers, and here’s why. Going typically only sends deals on the major airlines. We don't feature bare-bones budget fares unless the price is drop-everything-and-book good.
But that doesn't mean budget carriers sat this year out. Breeze and Avelo, in particular, held their own, and they're a big part of why so many of this year's winning airports (Charleston, Raleigh, New Orleans, and Florida's trio among them) saw fares drop in the first place. More budget-carrier competition on the ground usually means the full-service airlines here have to compete harder, too.
| Rank | Airline | Number of deals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Airlines | 646 |
| 2 | Delta Air Lines | 609 |
| 3 | Southwest Airlines | 594 |
| 4 | United Airlines | 576 |
| 5 | Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines | 515 |
| 6 | JetBlue | 165 |
→ Related reading:
- Best US Airlines: The Definitive 2026 Ranking for Every Type of Traveler
- American Airlines First Class: Benefits, Seats, And Is It Worth It?
- American Airlines Business Class Review: The Right Choice?
- Delta Premium Select Review: Is It Worth the Upgrade?
- Delta Comfort Plus Review: Is It Worth the Upgrade?
- United Premium Plus Review + Full Guide (2026)
- United First Class: What You Actually Get for Your Money
- United Premium Plus Review + Full Guide (2026)
- Alaska Airlines First Class Review + Guide (Updated 2026)
Top airlines for international flight deals
United, American, and Delta hold the top three spots by sheer volume, same as you'd expect from the three biggest US carriers. Look further down the list, though, and the more interesting story is happening: Air Canada's Vancouver hub produced some of the best transpacific deals we sent all year, and JetBlue is climbing fast, driven by its continued European expansion and aggressive fare sales to the Caribbean.
| Rank | Airport | Number of deals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Airlines | 1850 |
| 2 | American Airlines | 1820 |
| 3 | Delta Air Lines | 1717 |
| 4 | Air Canada | 533 |
| 5 | British Airways | 533 |
| 6 | JetBlue | 495 |
| 7 | Lufthansa | 407 |
| 8 | Iberia | 290 |
| 9 | Air France | 286 |
| 10 | Icelandair | 267 |
→ Related reading:
- Air Canada Premium Economy Review + Full Guide (2026)
- Air Canada Business Class Review: Worth the Upgrade?
- The Complete Guide to British Airways First Class
- British Airways Premium Economy: Honest Traveler Review
- British Airways Business Class: The Honest Club World Review
- Lufthansa Premium Economy The Upgrade You Didn’t Expect
- What to Know About Flying Lufthansa First Class
- Our Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Review: Honest Experience
- What It's Like to Fly Iberia Business Class
- Air France Business Class Review: What I Wish I Knew Before Flying
- Air France Premium Economy: Is It Really Worth It?
- Icelandair Saga Class: Business Class Review and Upgrades (2026)
Members’ Choice: Top airports for flight deals
The rest of this year’s winners are built entirely on Going deal data. This category is the one exception. We asked Going members to weigh in on their favorite US airports for flight deals. From July 21 to August 2, 2026, we polled members in the Going app, asking them to pick their favorite airport to fly out of for international deals from among this year's top 10. Here’s what travelers have to say on the matter.
| Rank | Airport | Percentage of votes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chicago (ORD) | 17.93% |
| 2 | Los Angeles (LAX) | 17.51% |
| 3 | New York City (JFK) | 12.26% |
| 4 | Washington, DC (IAD) | 10.44% |
| 5 | Orlando (MCO) | 8.58% |
| 6 | Austin (AUS) | 8.54% |
| 7 | Raleigh-Durham (RDU) | 7.70% |
| 8 | Boston (BOS) | 6.34% |
| 9 | Newark (EWR) | 6.17% |
| 10 | Miami (MIA) | 4.52% |
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. Top Airlines is based on the number of Going deals sent for full-service US airlines (domestic ranking) and full-service US and international airlines (international ranking). Budget airlines like Breeze and Avelo were excluded to allow for a direct comparison among legacy and full-service airlines. Top Airports for Points & Miles Deals is based on the number of points and miles deals sent from each airport.
The Members' Choice category is based on a poll of Going members conducted in the Going app from July 21 to August 2, 2026, in which members voted for their favorite airport to fly out of for deals among the top 10 airports for international flight deals. The poll received 2,365 responses.
Resources for booking cheap flights
Last updated August 17, 2026
