There are the Expedias and Orbitz's of the world. Then there are smaller, boutique online travel sites and agencies. And then there are sites like Momondo.
In the last decade, Momondo has bubbled up to become a favorite among travelers hunting for the best deal. Many swear by their Momondo searches to book the cheapest flight possible.
But is that true? Well, not exactly. But to give you a complete answer, we need to dive into what Momondo actually is, how it's different than the likes of Expedia, some of the positives – and yes, some negatives.
What is Momondo?
First, it's worth understanding what Momondo is, a bit of its history and how it fits into the travel industry.
Momondo Travel Features:
Most of us think of Momondo as a travel search engine, and that's true. It's beloved among all those other travel sites for its price calendar display, which quickly displays the best deals for your flight search.
But this isn't an ordinary online travel agency (OTA). It's a particular type of search engine known in the travel world as a “metasearch” engine. In layman's terms? It's an OTA of OTAs or a search engine of search engines.
Momondo doesn't sell any travel. Instead, Momondo finds offers from OTAs such as Expedia and Priceline, and also directly from airlines, hotels, etc., then aggregate them and pass them on to would-be-travelers. So when you book a flight, you're not actually booking with Momondo but with another third-party travel provider.
Sounds familiar, right? There's a whole host of these guys out there: Kayak, Skyscanner, Trivago, and yes, Google. Kayak is the most familiar in the travel industry as they were the pioneers in this space back in 2004 and are based in the U.S.. Momondo started a couple of years later in 2006 – but in the faraway land of Denmark where they grew and eventually evolved to become a household name in Europe.
Some of us may wonder why these metasearch sites are necessary when there are big OTAs such as Priceline and Expedia. BUT!
(1) There are some airlines that don't sell through OTAs, Southwest Airlines being the biggest
(2) some airlines will choose to offer the cheapest fares directly from their own websites and,
(3) there are some OTAs that will find a way to sell a fare that undercuts airline websites and all other OTAs. It is the grey space between all of these scenarios where Momondo lives – and why they capture our attention.
The concept was valuable enough that the big boys have invested in these metasearch engines. Priceline first bought Kayak who, in turn, bought Momondo. Google bought a lesser-known company known as ITA which subsequently powered its indispensable Google Flights. So while all of these entities are separately branded services, they each bring a valuable link to the chain of flight search platforms and travel distribution.
This is where we start getting into the question, “why does Momondo seem to always find the cheapest options?” To answer this question, we first need to understand how they make money.
How Does Momondo Make Money?
Momondo Offers Cheaper Fights and Travel Prices by Taking Less Commission
Whether you use an in-person travel agency or an online travel agency website, they all make their money the same way: They take a cut of the sale. These commissions are OTAs bread and butter.
Momondo, per their own site, only requires 25% of the commission pie, which they claim to be amongst the best commission rates in the industry. In other words, OTAs get to keep 75% of their commission and Momondo only gets 25%. Not bad, right? And this is a reason why they can offer lower rates.
Given that Momondo offers one of the best commission rates in the industry, just about every OTA out there wants to sign-up as an affiliate. This is why you see such a lovely array of OTA names such as TravelMerry, Fareboom, and DoHop. And wouldn't you know it: These less-recognized OTAs offer the lowest fares?!
While commissions are one source of revenue for travel agencies, “mark-ups” are another. Airlines put together special “unpublished” fare deals for travel agencies, but typically set conditions that must be met in order to receive those fares such as: (1) sell to a specific demographic like students, for example, and most importantly (2) do not undercut what is sold on the airline's website so they can fulfill their best fare guarantees for their website.
Some OTAs satisfy these conditions by “marking-up” the discounted fare to equal what would be published on the airline's site and earn some extra profit. Other OTAs bundle the airfare into packages along with hotel, car, or cruise services where the consumer can't see what the actual fare paid is. Student OTAs like Student Universe require students to register an account along with verifiable student status in order to have access to discounted fares. And, of course, some OTAs disregard those conditions and pass on the discounted fares to the public … or maybe they have special permission to do this – it's hard to say. Airlines typically enforce their best fare guarantees. But with Momondo's smaller OTAs, it's like the wild west.
The savings can even vary by airline. SkyTeam airlines such as Air France and Delta typically only offer small savings with Momondo, but Star Alliance carriers such as Air Canada and United typically offer the greatest savings using Momondo.
Is Momondo a Reliable Website?
So are these miraculous deal providers safe?
They are, by-and-large, safe. They sell legitimate tickets and are subject to regulations required by IATA – the United Nations of the travel world that governs the entire industry. Momondo also clearly has some checks in place to ensure they are passing on tickets from viable agencies.
But it's not that simple. What we at Thrifty Traveler would caution about, however, is the customer service support that may be required before or during your trip. Given that these agencies are not as large, established, or financed as the likes Priceline or Expedia, their customer service is likely less staffed by comparison – if it's staffed at all.
If your plans change or you need to change or cancel your trip, you go through whichever agency you booked with. That's fine when everything goes off without a hitch. But after COVID-19 upended millions of travelers' plans over the last year, this has proven to be a headache.
Read more: Coronavirus provides a harsh lesson: Book flights direct (not with an OTA)
That said, many people book with the lesser-known OTAs and have no issues.
Still, we here at Thrifty Traveler want you to have the travel experience for the best price, and we simply encourage you to consider your priorities from price to comfort. We wouldn't encourage deal-finding through the likes of Momondo and its affiliates if it weren't safe. We hope that this article provided some valuable background to help make better travel decisions!
How to Find Cheap Flight Deals with Momondo
When using Momondo's flight booking services, we still think it's best to begin your search for cheap flights on Google Flights. Once you're on the search engine, find the best route and dates according to Google Flights, then move over to Momondo to check the prices on those dates and see if there’s a lower price there.
On the Momondo website, you will first choose your destination and preferred travel dates. After around 30 seconds or so, you’ll be shown an overview of the fastest and cheapest flights.
You'll know you've hit the jackpot when Momondo finds the exact same flight that you found on Google but at a lower price. Be sure to check on the details to make sure that the flight is right for you.
If you don't trust the cheapest online travel agency that is displayed to you or would like to see what your other options are, you can always check what other options are available and compare the different airlines and OTAs.
What is the Best Flight Search Engine?
Using the Momondo flight search engine for travel booking services is just one of hundreds of options available if you're on the hunt for the cheapest prices available online. And it has a vast reach that can dig up deals you may not otherwise find.
That's because Momondo is a meta-search engine, filtering through a large list of OTAs to bring you flight prices from whichever one is offering the best deal. Read up on our guide to online travel agencies (OTAs) to check up on other individual OTAs.
Still, we think Google Flights is the best search engine by far. But there's no question Momondo and other similar cheap flight services can help you find even cheaper fares.
Bottom Line
Momondo has earned a reputation for helping travelers find the cheapest fares. In our experience, that reputation is well-deserved … somewhat.
There's no denying that Momondo can help you find a good deal. Still, we think Google Flights should be your starting point for each and every flight.
From there, Momondo is worth a look to see if you can save even more. But when you do, keep some of the risks and potential pitfalls in mind.
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