Flights from different airports to the same destination
What to keep the same, what to add up, and the three numbers that decide a group flight.
Flight search tools are usually built around one traveller leaving from one place. A group has several, and every comparison you make by hand multiplies: five people and ten possible destinations are fifty prices to find, write down and add up. This guide is about doing that comparison properly, with or without a tool.
Keep four things the same
A price only means something next to another price that was found the same way. For every traveller, keep these identical:
- The dates. One departure day and one return day for everyone, unless you have agreed otherwise.
- The kind of trip. Round trip against round trip. A one-way fare next to a return one looks like a bargain and is not.
- The baggage. Many low-cost fares include only a small bag. Decide once whether the group travels with cabin bags or checked ones, and compare fares on that basis.
- The airport choice. Large cities have several airports. Search the city as a whole, or check each airport, so that a cheaper one nearby is not missed.
Add up three numbers for each destination
| Number | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Group total | The cost of the trip for everyone together. It is what you compare places on. |
| Highest single price | The most any one person pays. If it is too high for them, the trip does not happen. |
| Longest journey | The slowest trip in the group, with its stopovers. One person on a ten-hour itinerary can spoil a weekend. |
Check what the price hides
- Arrival times. Landing within a few hours of each other keeps the first day shared. Someone arriving the next morning is a different trip.
- Connections. A connection on one ticket is protected if the first flight is late. Two separate tickets are not. Cheap itineraries are often the second kind.
- Extras. Seats, bags and the transfer from the airport to the city are paid on top of the fare and can reverse a ranking.
A worked example
Three people fly from Berlin, Lisbon and Dublin to Barcelona on the same dates. The prices are invented for the example.
| From | Price | Stops |
|---|---|---|
| Berlin | 94 € | Direct both ways |
| Lisbon | 71 € | Direct both ways |
| Dublin | 88 € | Direct both ways |
| Group total | 253 € | Highest single: 94 € |
Everyone is on a direct flight, nobody pays much more than anybody else, and the total is the lowest of the places the group looked at. That is what a good answer looks like: not the cheapest flight for one person, but a place that works for all of them at once.
Booking
- Everyone books their own flight, so everyone pays their own fare. Nobody has to front the money.
- Book on the same day once you have decided. Fares move, so a price seen yesterday may not be there tomorrow.
- Send each other the confirmation, so the group can see that all the flights are real.
Doing it with KupuKupu
KupuKupu is built for exactly this comparison. Each person adds the city they fly from, and it searches round-trip flights from every city, keeps the destinations that everyone can reach, and shows each person’s own price, the group total and the journey time. A filter keeps only direct flights.
It is free and needs no card. It does not sell tickets: prices come from Kiwi.com and Ryanair, and each person books their own flight there.
More guides
- Apps and websites to find a common destination from different departure cities The tools that search from several departure cities, side by side, and how to choose.
- How to pick a destination when everyone flies from a different city Why the first city someone suggests is usually the wrong one, and a method that is fair to everyone.
- Where should a long-distance couple meet? The midpoint on the map is a trap. Look for the city you can both fly to, and take turns.