I spent 6 hours trying to get cheaper flights with a VPN – and I'm underwhelmed

Flights are expensive. We'd all love to save a bit of money when booking trips abroad, but is there a way to do this?

Using one of the best VPNs is a solution that's commonly thrown around, and tons of websites and influencers claiming that changing your location while browsing flights can help avoid price variations.

As summer is right around the corner, I wanted to put this theory to the test. Is using a VPN to get cheaper flights a money-saving hack or simply an urban myth? I spent all day finding out if it worked, and which countries were the best for getting a bargain.

The test setup

I could've spent all week diving deeper and deeper into this test, but I had to limit it somehow. I compared three flights, on three different dates, on two different flight comparison sites – Skyscanner and Kayak.

Details of the three flights were:

• London Heathrow, UK, to New York JFK, US (3-7 November 2025)
• Madrid–Barajas, Spain, to Athens International, Greece (4-8 August 2025)
• LAX, US, to San Francisco International, US (5-9 May 2025)

All flights were return journeys for one adult, flying direct, in economy.

First, I searched for each flight without a VPN, and then with a VPN. For these tests, I used ExpressVPN.

I connected to servers in 10 different countries: South Africa, Ghana, Germany, Romania, Brazil, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, the UK, and US.

This resulted in 11 searches for each flight, and I repeated this on each comparison site, meaning 22 searches per flight. Each search was done in a new incognito window to ensure no cookies were stored.

I compared the prices (all in USD) for these flights to see if connecting to a VPN made a difference. Let's take a look at the results.

The results

London Heathrow, UK to New York JFK, U.S.

For this flight, connecting to a VPN did not save me any money compared to my non-VPN UK base, and all but one of the prices shown were more expensive.

The difference in price between Kayak and Skyscanner fluctuated somewhat and there was a noticeable difference in the VPN prices I saw.

The cheapest price was $529, seen on Skyscanner when located in the UK. The most expensive price was $566, seen on Kayak when connected to a Brazilian VPN server.

This flight saw the biggest fluctuation in price out of the three I searched for.

Biggest difference in price: $36 (US to UK – Skyscanner)

Biggest US saving: $36 (US to UK – Skyscanner)

Madrid-Barajas, Spain to Athens International, Greece

I did see a small saving on this flight compared to my UK base location. Connecting to a Romanian server saw Kayak's price drop from $308 to $301 – a saving of $7.

Again, I saw some slight differences in price between Kayak and Skyscanner, as well as between VPN locations.

The cheapest price was $298, seen on Skyscanner when located in Vietnam. The most expensive price was $321, seen on Kayak when connected to a Brazilian server.

Biggest difference in price: $21 (Brazil to Vietnam – Skyscanner)

Biggest US saving: $15 (US to Vietnam – Skyscanner)

LAX, US, to San Francisco International, US

This flight saw the smallest and least significant differences in prices overall. But I did see a $9 saving compared to my UK base location, my largest personal saving of the test.

Connecting to a German server saw my price on Skyscanner drop from $158 to $149.

With this flight, the variation between provider prices and VPN prices differed the least.

The cheapest price was $148, seen on Kayak when located in Romania. The most expensive price was $158. This was seen on Skyscanner when located in the UK, Ghana, Brazil, Japan, and Australia.

Biggest difference in price: $9 (various)

Biggest US saving: $6 (US to Romania – Kayak & U.S. to Germany – Skyscanner)

The big picture

So, does using a VPN really make flights cheaper? For me, based in the UK, my findings clearly show a VPN won't save me money on flights – at least not a significant amount.

The odd dollar was saved here and there, but the biggest saving I found was only $9. Almost every non-UK VPN server I connected to actually made the price of flights rise.

The biggest difference I saw overall was $36, which isn't a small amount of money. But it's not the hundreds of dollars people might expect to save when using a VPN to purchase flights.

You might see a little more of a saving if you live in the US. But, as mentioned, it won't be loads.

It's worth noting that these prices don't include any extra taxes or hidden charges that might vary from country to country.

If you're already interested in protecting your data online, then there's no harm in trying out some different VPN locations when booking flights.

However if you're after a VPN for the sole purpose of unlocking cheaper flights, don't waste money on a premium plan – one of the best free VPNs will do the job. PrivadoVPN Free is a good choice, since it offers a wide range of locations on the free plan.

There are numerous flight comparison sites available, as well as booking directly through an airline. So, this is just a small snapshot, and you could undertake a larger test if you – for some reason – desired to do so. But, I don't think you'll see a huge difference, and my results are very underwhelming.

Does it matter what VPN you use?

No. I used ExpressVPN for this test but the provider doesn't matter. All leading VPN providers will allow you to mask your IP address and change location. You're also very unlikely to be blocked from accessing a site.

You might encounter CAPTCHA tests, I experienced this every now and again, but there should be no issues once passed.

You'll also see the same results whether you're using a paid service or a free one.

The range of servers does vary between providers, so the only difference you'll see is the number of locations available to you.

Proton VPN has over 12,000 servers, including a focus on African and Asian locations. Private Internet Access (PIA) is the only leading provider to have a server in every U.S. state. But all major providers will cover more than enough countries worldwide, so unless you're looking for somewhere very specific, any will do.

How much do flight prices actually change?

If a VPN can't help you, is there any other way of securing cheaper flights?

Well, we'd always recommend using incognito mode to compare flights. Skyscanner says it never uses cookies to inflate the prices you see, but we can't say this is the same for every site.

The date of your flights, demand, and distance travelled are three of the biggest factors in determining pricing.

Booking as far in advance as you can is always recommended, but multiple searches shouldn't affect prices. Skycanner says "flight prices are affected by sales numbers rather than search volumes."

It says "when demand is high, prices are high," and airlines set up "price buckets" to accommodate for this. As one bucket fills up, airlines open the next, more expensive bucket for purchase.

It's worth shopping around and comparing prices on different comparison sites. I didn't see a huge difference between Skyscanner and Kayak, but they are just two sites and more are out there.

Booking directly through the airline is also an option and you might see a variation in price when doing so.

But in short, a VPN is not going to save you a significant amount of money when booking flights.

VPNs are still useful

Just because a VPN isn't useful for booking flights, it doesn't mean you should leave it at home. A VPN is an ideal holiday companion and we'd recommend downloading one of the best travel VPNs.

Free and public Wi-Fi

You may want to connect to free and public Wi-Fi while you're away from home and using a VPN is the best way to do that. Most Wi-Fi is perfectly safe but its lack of security can leave it vulnerable to being compromised by hackers.

If you connect to a compromised network, hackers can intercept your data, see your browsing history, or even infect your device with malware.

A VPN encrypts your internet traffic and masks your IP address. Even if a Wi-Fi networked is hacked, criminals can't see anything and your data will be protected.

Stream your favorite shows

Missing your favorite shows is one of the worst things about being away from home – but you can change this with a VPN.

Many of the best VPNs for travel appear in our best streaming VPNs list. These will allow you to stream shows just like you would at home.

Simply connect to a server in your home country and head to the streaming site of your choice. All the best streaming VPNs shouldn't have any trouble unblocking Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or BBC iPlayer.

Even if you do encounter some difficulties, a change of server is often a quick fix and many providers offer 24/7 customer support.

eSIM bundles

If you know you'll be using the internet a lot when you're away and don't want to constantly rely on public Wi-Fi, then you may be considering purchasing an eSIM.

eSIMs give you a mobile data allowance and help avoid unwanted, often very expensive, roaming charges.

Some VPN providers offer eSIM plans and these are often included with your VPN subscription.

NordVPN has the Saily eSIM and ExpressVPN has holiday.com. Both eSIMs can be purchased separately and cover a wide range of locations, with various data allowances available.

ExpressVPN currently includes a 5 GB eSIM for free with its 2-year, $4.99 per month, plan. At the time of writing, Saily isn't currently included in any NordVPN plans but has been in the past – so keep an eye out.