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CheapOair is an online travel agency (OTA) where you can book flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and vacation packages.
Based on the name, you might assume that this site always offers the cheapest fares, but will CheapOair really save you money on your next trip?
In this post, we’ll walk you through the site to show you how to search for flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages. Plus, we’ll do some price comparisons to see if CheapOair is the cheapest after all.
A lot is happening on the CheapOair home page, but there’s no need to get overwhelmed. First, let’s take a look at how to search for a great deal on a flight.
The CheapOair low fare calendar is a great tool to use if you have flexible travel plans. To find this tool, click on the date in your search. Note that this feature isn’t available for all flights.
The low fare calendar will allow you to see the prices for your trip over 2 months in a calendar format. Click on any date in the calendar to bring up the flights available to book on that day.
CheapOair’s price match promise is similar to other OTAs. If you find a lower price for an identical itinerary on select English-language OTAs (for example Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, or Travelocity) within 24 hours of booking, CheapOair will refund you the difference or cancel your ticket for a full refund.
This price match promise only applies to fares available to the general public and excludes opaque bookings (those in which the final details aren’t available until after the booking is complete) and error fares.
You’ll be able to see if your flight is eligible for the price match promise on the trip summary page, right before you enter your payment information.
CheapOair DOES charge booking fees of $0 to $35 for flights. You’ll be able to see the fee listed in the price details of your flight.
CheapOair offers a trip insurance policy that covers the following:
Whether or not you choose to purchase additional travel insurance is up to you. However, if you have the right credit card in your wallet, you might already be covered.
There are lots of major credit cards that offer travel accident insurance, trip cancellation insurance, and trip delay insurance. Here are some of our favorites:
Hot Tip: Having the right credit card in your wallet can provide you with travel insurance at no additional cost. 
CheapOair’s Travel Assist Classic package is available to purchase along with your flight. It comes with the following:
The $50 travel coupon has a value of $10 per person for up to 5 people traveling on the same reservation booked through CheapOair. It must be used within 60 days and won’t be refunded if your booking is canceled.
The personal concierge service is a benefit you may already have. Many credit cards offer a concierge service as part of their benefits package, including:
Hot Tip: Many major credit cards offer a benefit similar to emergency medical assistance. See our recommendations for the best credit cards that offer travel accident insurance.
When you’re entering your payment information, you might notice an option to make monthly payments. This is a fancy way of selling you a loan.
CheapOair offers this to U.S. residents except for residents of Iowa and West Virginia. These loans are available in 3-, 6-, or 12-month increments and come with an APR that can be anywhere from 10% to 30%.
Let’s take a look at some price comparisons to see if CheapOair can save you money on your next flight.
Example #1: A round-trip flight on American Airlines from Columbus, Ohio (CMH) to Miami, Florida (MIA).
Website
Cost of Ticket, Including All Taxes and Fees
American Airlines
$187.59
CheapOair
$207.60
Expedia
$187.59
Hotwire
$187.59
Kayak
$187.59
Orbitz
$189.08
CheapOair is the most expensive by far because of its $20 booking fee for this flight.
Example #2: For this example, let’s look at one of CheapOair’s advertised deals that claims will save you 40% — a round-trip flight from Dallas, Texas (DFW) to Denver, Colorado (DEN).
Website
Cost of Ticket, Including All Taxes and Fees
American Airlines
$96.60
CheapOair
$101.60
Expedia
$96.60
Hotwire
$96.60
Kayak
$96.60
Orbitz
$96.60
Again CheapOair is actually the most expensive because of the booking fees it charges.
Example #3: CheapOair advertises lower rates to its members. So, let’s look at a recommended member deal (a round-trip from Columbus, Ohio (CMH) to Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina (RDU)) which claims to be at a 74% discount.
Website
Cost of Ticket, Including All Taxes and Fees
CheapOair
$56.60
Expedia
$38.60
Frontier Airlines
$28.62
Hotwire
$38.60
Kayak
$28.62
Orbitz
$38.69
Unfortunately, CheapOair is the most expensive again — almost double the price of booking directly with an airline.
Bottom Line: CheapOair charges hefty booking fees which can often make it more expensive than other websites.
Despite the name, CheapOair can also be used to book hotels.
Hot Tip: The price you see in the hotel search results list is per night and does NOT include taxes and fees. CheapOair charges up to $42 per night per room in fees.
The Travel Protection Plan offered by CheapOair when booking a hotel reservation covers trip cancellation and interruption benefits up to $100,000, plus trip delay and baggage delay protection.
This extra insurance may be unnecessary if you pay for your reservation with a great travel rewards credit card.
One of the most popular credit cards for travelers is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. This card comes with trip cancellation, trip delay, and baggage delay insurance. plus car rental insurance and travel accident insurance.
A fantastic travel card with a great welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.
Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent travel insurance coverage including primary car rental insurance. With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Hot Tip: If you change or cancel a hotel reservation booked through CheapOair, you’re subject to a $25 fee per room per night. This is in addition to any cancellation fees charged by the hotel. Any service fee that you paid at the time of booking is non-refundable.
Let’s take a look to see if CheapOair hotels fare better than CheapOair flights in terms of saving you money.
Example #1: A week-long stay at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel London Heathrow Airport in a standard king room.
Website
Price for Hotel Room Including Taxes and Fees
Booking.com
$1,336.00
CheapOair
$1,250.02
Hilton
$1,274.00
Hotels.com
$892.86
As you can see, prices here are all over the map. While CheapOair would actually save a little compared with booking directly through the hotel, Hotels.com is the clear winner here.
Hot Tip: If you’re booking a chain hotel like a Marriott, Hyatt, or Hilton through CheapOair, you won’t earn any hotel loyalty points and your elite hotel status may not be recognized. If you’re loyal to 1 hotel chain and those things are important to you, it’s best to book directly with the hotel.

Example #2: A week-long stay at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion Barbados in a luxury oceanfront king room.
Website
Price for Hotel Room Including Taxes and Fees
Booking.com
$3,971.80
CheapOair
$3,849.37
Fairmont
$3,900.05
Hotels.com
$3,971.80
In this example, CheapOair would save you about $50!
Bottom Line: CheapOair is more competitive on hotel prices than airline prices. You can save money booking through CheapOair sometimes, but it’s not always a slam dunk.
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Searching for a rental car on CheapOair is just as easy as searching for a hotel or flight.
You may notice some car rental search results that don’t display a car rental agency. Instead, you’ll see a “cheap deals” logo.
This is CheapOair’s version of an opaque booking — one in which the rental agency (car, hotel, or airline) is unknown to you until the booking is complete.
CheapOair’s Cheap Deals on rental cars will come from one of its preferred partner agencies including:
These types of rentals can save you money, but not always. If you’re particular about where you rent from, skip these cheap deals. However, if you don’t care where you rent from, and the price is good, these bookings can be worth it.
Hot Tip: Check out our picks for the best car rental companies, from those offering the cheapest rates to those with the best loyalty programs for regular renters.
Before you complete your rental car booking on CheapOair, you’ll have to choose whether or not to purchase car rental insurance.
This insurance is primary, meaning you don’t have to submit a claim with any other insurance you may have first. It has a $0 deductible and comes with loss and damage coverage up to $35,000.
Before you decide to add this extra insurance, think about what credit card you’re using. Many major credit cards come with car rental insurance built into their benefits.
Here are just some of the options available:
Chase Credit Cards That Come With Car Rental Insurance:
American Express Credit Cards That Come With Car Rental Insurance:
Barclays Credit Cards That Come With Car Rental Insurance:
Hot Tip: Choosing whether or not to purchase additional car rental insurance can be confusing. To help sort it all out, we created a guide to the best credit cards for car rental insurance.
Now, let’s get to the important part — can renting a car through CheapOair save you money?
Example #1: A weeklong rental of a full-sized car (a Chevy Malibu or similar).
Website
Cost of the Rental Car Including Taxes and Fees
Car Rental Agency’s website
$239.92
CheapOair
$276.94
Expedia
$252.84
Kayak
$218.02 (opaque booking)
Unfortunately, CheapOair came out as the most expensive in this example, primarily because of the booking fees it charges.
Example #2: The cheapest available option for a weekend rental (regardless of car type).
Website
Cost of the Rental Car Including Taxes and Fees
Booking.com
$40.38
CheapOair
$84.75 (opaque booking)
Expedia
$70.23
Kayak
$70.23
Priceline
$68.25
Again, in this example, CheapOair is the most expensive — more than double the price of the lowest option.
Bottom Line: CheapOair charges booking fees on rental cars, and therefore, is often more expensive than other websites.
When you need to book a flight and hotel, booking a vacation package through an online travel agency like CheapOair will usually save you some money.
Let’s find out if CheapOair can save you money on your next vacation.
Example #1: A package including a 7-night stay at the Riu Palace Aruba All Inclusive resort plus 2 round-trip tickets from Nashville, Tennessee (BNA) to Aruba (AUA).
As you can see, booking this vacation package on CheapOair will save you over $800!
Hot Tip: When searching for a vacation package, pay attention to the flight portion of the package. We found that most of the options were terrible and included long, overnight layovers. When searching for the flight portion of your package, sort your results by Shorter / Direct Flight to see the best flights.
Example #2: A weeklong stay at El Mangroove, Autograph Collection Costa Rica plus 2 round-trip flights from San Jose, California (SJC) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR)
The good news here is that booking your hotel and flight separately on CheapOair would save you money. The bad news is that the package deal is actually the most expensive option!
The hotel portion of this example was less expensive on the Marriott website, while the flight portion was the least expensive on the CheapOair website. This is a good reason why you should always price out a vacation package before you make a purchase.
When you go to book a cruise on CheapOair, the first thing you’ll notice is that you’ll be taken to Avoya Travel.
Avoya Travel is not a typical online travel agency. Through its site, you can search for a cruise vacation, but you’re required to call to make a booking.
You’ll be able to see some basic pricing information online but to get any final pricing you need to make a phone call or submit your name, email, and phone number to join and unlock member pricing.
Hot Tip: If you’ve booked your cruise, don’t forget to pack smart with our ultimate cruise packing list (it’s printable!). 
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CheapOair has its own credit cards — but are they a good deal?
Here is a quick look at what the CheapOair credit cards offer:
CheapOair rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each. While this card can earn lots of points, the bad news is that those points aren’t worth much and can only be redeemed for flights and hotels on CheapOair.
Hot Tip: There are actually 3 versions of this card — a private label card that can only be used at CheapOair, a Visa version, and a Visa Signature version. There is only 1 link to apply, so it’s unclear which card you’ll get.
If you’re looking for an easy way to earn some valuable points for your everyday purchases, you’re most likely better off with a card that earns transferable points.
Here are a few options that offer great welcome bonus offers plus great rewards categories:
If you’d prefer a credit card with no annual fee that also earns points, consider one of these cards:
Like many other online travel agencies, CheapOair offers its own loyalty program.
When you first join CheapOair Rewards, you’ll get 500 bonus points to start with. Then you can earn additional points by booking travel through CheapOair.
You can redeem your CheapOair Rewards points towards flights or hotels. 1 CheapOair rewards point = 0.5 cents.
For every 1,000 points, you can get a $5 gift card to use towards a flight. Or for every 200 points, you can get a $1 discount on a hotel.
Any available CheapOair Rewards you have will be visible in the Price Details section before you enter your payment method. Make sure you’re logged into your account to see your rewards.
Bottom Line: CheapOair offers its own loyalty program. You can earn points by booking flights, hotels, and rental cars, then redeem your points for discounts on flights or hotels. CheapOair Rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each.
One of the nice things about CheapOair is that it offers numerous promo codes right on its website. You’ll see these on the home page, on search pages, and even when you’re ready to check out.
Be sure to read the fine print so you aren’t disappointed. Often the discount code will be based on 2 travelers.
In the example below, this code offers $20 off booking fees, but it’s actually a maximum of $10 each for 2 people. So, you won’t be able to get a $20 discount if you’re just booking 1 ticket.
In addition to the CheapOair website, there are other places to look for coupons and promo codes.
Here are a few websites to check before you make a booking with CheapOair:
Hot Tip: You’ll be able to enter any promo code you have in the Price Details section (usually to the right side of your screen) before you complete your reservation.
CheapOair offers a free mobile app that can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play.
The app can be used to book flights, hotels, and rental cars. Plus you can track and manage your trips. In addition to credit cards, you can pay with Apple Pay and Android Pay when booking through the app.
You’ll earn 2 CheapOair rewards points per $1 on any reservation booked through the mobile app.
CheapOair is an online travel agency that offers flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages.
Unfortunately, this site rarely lives up to its name. While there were some instances that CheapOair had lower prices, most of the time, its prices were among the highest. One of the reasons for this is that it charges booking fees.
While it does provide some benefits in the form of a loyalty program, its higher prices will generally negate any savings you may get.
Whether or not you’ll be able to get a refund from CheapOair depends on the specific terms of your reservation. Most flights are non-refundable, however, if you cancel the same day you booked, you won’t be charged for your flight.
Hotel reservations can vary from 100% non-refundable to free cancellation within 24 hours. After that, a hotel reservation is subject to a $25 per room fee when canceled at least 4 days prior to check-in.
You can sometimes change a flight you booked on CheapOair by calling its customer service line at 866-636-9088 or 212-478-0335. However, you will be responsible for any difference in fare plus change fees that can be $100 or more per ticket. Some flights can’t be changed at all.
There are 3 versions of the CheapOair credit card — a private label card, a Visa card, and a Visa Signature card. Either of the Visa versions can be used anywhere Visa is accepted. The private-label version (there will be no Visa logo on the card) can only be used at CheapOair.
CheapOair rewards points are worth 0.5 cents per point. Keep this in mind if you’re considering applying for its credit card. The rewards categories are decent, but the low points value makes the earning potential minimal.
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Katie has been in the points and miles game since 2015 and started her own blog in 2016. She’s been freelance writing since then and her work has been featured in publications like Travel + Leisure, Forbes Advisor, and Fortune Recommends.
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