Flight Budget Calculator
What flights really cost with bags, seats and transfers, and whether a cheaper fare is cheaper.
A low fare and a low total are different things. Checked bags, seat selection, a meal, priority boarding and the transfer from the airport all sit outside the headline price, and a budget airline fare plus extras can exceed a full-service fare that includes them.
Enter both options with their extras and this calculator compares the real cost per traveller, per direction and per hour of travel.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Option A: fare per person, Option A: extras per person, Option A: total journey hours, Option B: fare per person, Option B: extras per person, Option B: total journey hours, Travellers, Transfers and airport costs for the party, Flight legs
- What you get
- Option A total, Option B total, Difference between the options, Option A per traveller, Option B per traveller, Option A cost per hour of travel, Option B cost per hour of travel
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Flight Budget Calculator
- 1 Enter Option A: fare per person
- 2 Enter Option A: extras per person - Checked bag, seat selection, meal, priority boarding.
- 3 Enter Option A: total journey hours (hours) - Door to door, including the airport and the transfer at the other end.
- 4 Enter Option B: fare per person
- 5 Enter Option B: extras per person
- 6 Enter Option B: total journey hours (hours)
- 7 Enter Travellers (people)
- 8 Enter Transfers and airport costs for the party - Parking, taxi, train to the airport, baggage trolley.
- 9 Enter Flight legs - Two legs for a return trip.
- 10 Press Calculate. You get Option A total, Option B total, Difference between the options, Option A per traveller, Option B per traveller, Option A cost per hour of travel, Option B cost per hour of travel, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 11 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A budget fare with bags against a full-service fare
Three travellers comparing $195 each with $240 each on a longer, more expensive route.
You enter
- Option A: fare per person
- $120.00
- Option A: extras per person
- $75.00
- Option A: total journey hours
- 9 hours
- Option B: fare per person
- $240.00
- Option B: extras per person
- $0.00
- Option B: total journey hours
- 6 hours
- Travellers
- 3 people
- Transfers and airport costs for the party
- $70.00
- Flight legs
- 2
You get
- Option A total
- $655.00
- Option B total
- $790.00
- Difference between the options
- $135.00
- Option A per traveller
- $218.33
- Option B per traveller
- $263.33
- Option A cost per hour of travel
- $72.78
- Option B cost per hour of travel
- $131.67
Option A costs $195 per person once the bags are added and option B costs $240, so the difference is $45, which is 18.75% of the dearer fare. With three travellers and $70 of transfers, option A totals $655 and option B $790, or $218.33 against $263.33 per traveller. Option A spends nine hours of the journey against six, so its cost per hour is $72.78 against $131.67: the cheap fare buys three extra hours and saves $45 a person. The extras are 62.5% on top of the headline fare.
A bare fare where the extras cost more than the seat
One traveller comparing a $45 fare with $85 of extras against a $190 fare that includes everything.
You enter
- Option A: fare per person
- $45.00
- Option A: extras per person
- $85.00
- Option A: total journey hours
- 9 hours
- Option B: fare per person
- $190.00
- Option B: extras per person
- $0.00
- Option B: total journey hours
- 7 hours
- Travellers
- 1 people
- Transfers and airport costs for the party
- $60.00
- Flight legs
- 2
You get
- Option A total
- $190.00
- Option B total
- $250.00
- Difference between the options
- $60.00
- Option A per traveller
- $190.00
- Option B per traveller
- $250.00
- Option A cost per hour of travel
- $21.11
- Option B cost per hour of travel
- $35.71
Option A costs $130 once the bags and the seat are added and option B costs $190, so the difference is $60, which is 31.6% of the dearer fare. With $60 of transfers for the single traveller, option A totals $190 and option B $250, which is $95 for each of the two legs on option A. Option A takes nine hours against seven, so its cost per hour is $21.11 against $35.71. Here the extras of $85 are 188.9% of the $45 fare, and even with two extra hours of travel the budget option is cheaper per person and per hour.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the fare per person or for the whole party?
The fare and the extras fields are both per person, because that is how airlines price them. The calculator adds them together and multiplies by the number of travellers, then adds the transfers once for the party. Three travellers on a $120 fare with $75 of extras each is $585 of fares and extras before the transfer.
The transfers field is the exception: it is one amount for everyone, because a taxi or a train to the airport carries the whole party. Airport parking, a taxi and a baggage trolley all belong there, and so does the cost of getting home at the other end.
Which extras should go in the extras field?
Anything the airline charges on top of the seat fare: a checked bag, a cabin bag on a fare that does not include one, seat selection, a meal, priority boarding, a blanket, or a fee to change a name. Add them per person as you expect to pay them, not as the website shows them at the moment of booking.
This is where a budget fare loses its advantage. A $120 fare with $75 of extras is $195 per person, and the extras share line reports that the extras are 62.5% on top of the headline price. Comparing fares without the extras is comparing the wrong numbers.
What counts in the journey hours?
Door to door time, not flight time. Getting to the airport, the recommended check-in margin, the flight, passport control, baggage reclaim and the transfer at the other end all count. A flight of two hours is easily an eight hour journey once the rest is included.
Cost per hour divides the total by those hours, which is the figure that values the time a cheaper option costs. A $50 saving that adds two hours each way is $12.50 an hour, which is worth thinking about before it is worth taking.
What does the difference as a share mean?
It compares the two per-person costs and reports the gap as a percentage of the more expensive one. A $195 option against a $240 option is a difference of $45, which is 18.8% of the dearer fare. The transfers are excluded from that line because both options share them, so the share reflects only what differs between the two flights.
The per-traveller totals do include the transfers, which is why the difference between those two figures is smaller than the raw fare gap. Reading both lines together gives you the size of the decision in money and in proportion.