The Airlines with the Most Cheap Flight Deals from Each State

In the last 12 months, we’ve sent thousands of deals to members departing from nearly 200 US airports. We found those deals available on 97 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 in the last year, 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.

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. 

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, Delta, or United. 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 JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, and Southwest. 

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 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 American, and almost as many 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. 

Lesson #3: Don’t ignore the international carriers and smaller US airlines.

Of all the deals we sent, 61% 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. Nearly 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. 

For the second year in a row, across the board, we found the most deals on airlines that are part of Star Alliance (which includes United and Air Canada). In fact, 33% of all the deals we’ve found in the last 12 months have been on a Star Alliance carrier. 

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.

One of the worst things you can do when looking for cheap flights is to only search for flights on one airline. 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, and you could miss an incredible deal on a perfectly safe, reputable, comfortable airline you didn’t think to check. 

For the best chance of snagging a great deal, use a search site like Google Flights to search multiple airlines. Or join Going and let us do the searching for you. 

Breakdown by State

Alabama

Number of deals we found: 3,030

Number of airports we search: 3

Airline with the most deals: American

Alaska

Number of deals we found: 445

Number of airports: 5

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from Alaska

Arizona

Number of deals we found: 2,401

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Arizona

Arkansas

Number of deals: 2,002

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American  

>> See cheap flights from Arkansas

California

Number of deals: 15,957

Number of airports: 18

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from California

Colorado

Number of deals: 4,317

Number of airports: 8

Airline with the most deals: American 

>> See cheap flights from Colorado

Connecticut

Number of deals: 1,305

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American 

>> See cheap flights from Connecticut

*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: 19,575

Number of airports: 17

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Florida

Georgia

Number of deals: 3,834

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Georgia

Hawaii

Number of deals: 1,211

Number of airports: 5

Airline with the most deals: United

>> See cheap flights from Hawaii

Idaho

Number of deals: 1,102

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from Idaho

Illinois

Number of deals: 6,550

Number of airports: 6

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Illinois

Indiana

Number of deals: 4,048

Number of airports: 4

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Indiana

Iowa

Number of deals: 2,226

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American  

>> See cheap flights from Iowa

Kansas

Number of deals: 1,092

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Kansas

Kentucky

Number of deals: 3,650

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Kentucky

Louisiana

Number of deals: 2,255

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Louisiana

Maine

Number of deals: 1,396

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Maine

Maryland

Number of deals: 1,647

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Maryland

Massachusetts

Number of deals: 3,588

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Massachusetts

Michigan

Number of deals: 3,146

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Michigan

Minnesota

Number of deals: 2,745

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from Minnesota

Mississippi

Number of deals: 1,841

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Mississippi

Missouri

Number of deals: 3,410

Number of airports: 6

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Missouri

Montana

Number of deals: 459

Number of airports: 5

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from Montana

Nebraska

Number of deals: 1,699

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: United

>> See cheap flights from Nebraska

Nevada

Number of deals: 2,383

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Nevada

New Hampshire

Number of deals: 948

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from New Hampshire

New Jersey

Number of deals: 2,508

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: United

>> See cheap flights from New Jersey

New Mexico 

Number of deals: 1,208

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from New Mexico

New York

Number of deals: 13,231

Number of airports: 9

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from New York

North Carolina

Number of deals: 8,098

Number of airports: 7

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from North Carolina

North Dakota

Number of deals: 1,723

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from North Dakota

Ohio

Number of deals: 4,561

Number of airports: 34

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Ohio

Oklahoma

Number of deals: 1,782

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Oklahoma

Oregon

Number of deals: 2,928

Number of airports: 4

Airline with the most deals: United

>> See cheap flights from Oregon

Pennsylvania

Number of deals: 5,985

Number of airports: 6

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Number of deals: 1,459

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Rhode Island

South Carolina

Number of deals: 5,155

Number of airports: 5

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from South Carolina

South Dakota

Number of deals: 1,747

Number of airports: 2

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from South Dakota

Tennessee 

Number of deals: 5,409

Number of airports: 5

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Tennessee

Texas

Number of deals: 10,609

Number of airports: 15

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Texas

Utah

Number of deals: 836

Number of airports: 3

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from Utah

Vermont

Number of deals: 1,462

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Vermont

Virginia

Number of deals: 9,692

Number of airports: 7

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Virginia

Washington

Number of deals: 3,037

Number of airports: 6

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Washington

West Virginia

Number of deals: 1,183

Number of airports: 1

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from West Virginia

Wisconsin

Number of deals: 4,516

Number of airports: 4

Airline with the most deals: American

>> See cheap flights from Wisconsin

Wyoming

Number of deals: 564

Number of airports: 4

Airline with the most deals: Delta

>> See cheap flights from Wyoming

Methodology

The Flight Experts at Going 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. 

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. 

Want to know the cheapest places to go from each state? We've got you covered there too.