Kiwi.com Review: Protected-Self Transfer Flights and More

Have you tried using Kiwi.com for booking flights? In this kiwi.com review, we will share why it has become one of our favorite search engines for flights.

Kiwi.com has changed the way people book their trips online. This travel company offers a powerful search engine, good customer service and great features & tools. In this post, we’ll explore what sets Kiwi apart from other online booking sites and why it’s becoming a popular choice for travelers worldwide.

Read on to discover how Kiwi can help plan your perfect trip!

---

Did you miss a connecting flight? File a compensation claim online.

---

1. How Does Kiwi Work?

What is kiwi.com? How does kiwi.com work?

Kiwi.com is an online travel agency that offers affordable and customizable travel options. Kiwi’s booking tool finds the best flight deals available for you. Kiwi searches through all airlines, both budget and traditional airlines, and then combine them to create the most cost-effective route. This distinguishes Kiwi from others, as they offer a one-of-a-kind virtual interlining system, allowing them to combine different airlines and identify cheaper travel routes.

Although you can plan a journey with multiple stops yourself, it will be more time-consuming. Kiwi flight booking tool makes the process easier.

Unlike most airlines, Kiwi does not prioritize codeshare routes while creating flight options. Kiwi will search for the cheapest options for you, even if it means booking you on two separate flights. Keep in mind that in this case, during your layover, you may need to check in again and re-check your luggage. Kiwi may also offer a flight in which a change of airport is necessary, or offer you a flight out a secondary airport.

Keep in mind that kiwi.com cheap travel deals may not be the most convenient option, but it’s great for budget-conscious travelers with more time than money.

2. Protected Self-Transfer Flights

This is the main reason why we love kiwi.com so much.

And this is how Kiwi is known to general public – as a service which offers to book protected self-transfer flights. Because as you might already know, not always self-transfer flights are safe.

While by default, self-transfer flights booked with Kiwi aren’t protected by the either the airline or Kiwi itself, there’s a possibility to book a special flight insurance for flight protection. This special insurance is called Kiwi Guarantee. It provides protection against changes or cancellations caused by the carrier. This service is available for all types of transportation, including flights, buses, and trains. 

Kiwi Guarantee, Kiwi’s self-transfer flight insurance, used to be a free service, but now it’s not free anymore. Its cost varies depending on the price and route of your booking.

Kiwi.com Guarantee assures you that you will not miss your connecting flights if you purchase it. Kiwi Guarantee provides coverage in the following situations:

• If your trip or part of it is canceled.
• If your trip or part of it is rescheduled with a delay of more than 24 hours.
• If your trip is rescheduled or delayed, causing you to miss your connecting flights.
• If your baggage is delayed or if there are lengthy queues at the airport, resulting in a missed connecting flight.

2.1 Notify Kiwi Immediately

It is important that you notify Kiwi immediately when you become aware of a flight delay, cancellation or schedule change. Depending on how close it is to your departure, Kiwi will provide either an alternative itinerary or a refund for your disrupted travel plans. Please make sure to promptly respond to any alternative itinerary offers made by Kiwi.

Keep in mind that Kiwi’s insurance policy does not provide coverage for force majeure events or other extraordinary situations.

2.2 Don’t Make Any Flight Changes!

Don’t make any flight changes without kiwi.com‘s approval!

If you make changes to your trip or contact details with the airline without informing Kiwi and getting their approval, Kiwi Guarantee will not apply to you. This includes situations like adding checked baggage to a non-checked baggage trip or changing to an itinerary with a short layover that doesn’t allow enough time for transfer.

2.3 Kiwi Will Help You If You Miss a Flight

If you miss connecting flight due to delay, Kiwi will assist you and book you on a new flight – because it wasn’t your fault the flight was delayed, and you missed your connection.

2.4 How to Purchase Kiwi’s Guarantee?

How to purchase Kiwi’s Guarantee?

As you can see in the image above, you can purchase Kiwi Guarantee after choosing the ticket fare, and before selecting the seats for your flight.

There’s one more reason why it’s so cool to book self-transfer flights with Kiwi — you book all the flight legs with one click, even if those flights are operated by different airlines, including budget airlines. Kiwi finds the flights for you. All you have to do is to click “Book”. 

3. The Ultimate Guide to Booking Flights on Kiwi.com

How to book flights with Kiwi travel site?

3.1 How to Book Self-Transfer Flights With Kiwi?

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to book self-transfer flights with Kiwi:

1. Go to Kiwi.comand enter your desired departure and arrival cities, as well as your travel dates and the number of passengers. Choose if you want a return flight, or a one way flight.
2. Choose your preferred flight options from the search results.
3. Review the flight details, including dates, times, airlines, and layover duration, in the itinerary.
4. If you’re happy with the flight options and the price, click “Continue” to proceed to the checkout screen.
5. Enter your contact information and passenger details, including their names and passport information.
6. If you want to add additional services, such as checked baggage or travel insurance, select them at this time.
7. Purchase Kiwi Guarantee, Kiwi’s special flight insurance (optional). Read more about this flight insurance below.
8. Review your booking details, including the total price, and click “Pay now” to complete your reservation.
9. Enter your payment information and confirm your booking.
10. After you’ve completed your booking, you’ll receive a confirmation email with your itinerary and booking details.

There are a few things you should keep in mind when booking a self-transfer flight with Kiwi.

If you have a long connection time, you may manage a short trip to the city. Keep in mind that you may need a visa for your self-transfer flights. Even if you do not plan to leave the airport. 

If you see that there are options including a country where you are required a visa, you can use a filter to exclude this country (“Exclude countries”).

As these are self transfers, Kiwi may offer you an itinerary in which airport change is required. If you don’t want to travel between different airports, in the filter section on the left, deselect “Self-transfer to different station/airport”.

If you don’t want overnight stopovers, deselect “Allow overnight stopovers” in the filters. 

Don’t forget that you may have no checked baggage allowance on self-transfer flights, especially if you are flying with low-cost airlines. It’s important to check baggage allowances as they vary among airlines. Packing light or using a carry-on bag may help you avoid additional fees.

When using Kiwi.com, you can select stopover duration, and add multiple departure and arrival airports. Additionally, you can utilize the “Radius” feature (pictured below) to broaden your search and discover cheaper flights in your vicinity. This is especially useful when you can access a nearby city through affordable public transportation and that city offers more reasonably priced flights.

Use the price alert feature if you want to get notified when the price of a flight drops. You can receive these notifications via your e-mail or push notifications on your mobile device.

3.2 How to Book Multi-City Flights With Kiwi?

You can book multi-city flights with Kiwi, too.

1. Go to the Kiwi.com homepage and select the “Multi-city” option.
2. Enter your desired cities, travel dates, and number of passengers. You can add up to 8 flights.
3. Kiwi will offer you various travel itineraries. You can use filters to customize search results.
4. You can sort the results by cheapest, fastest or best.
5. Choose the itinerary that suits your needs the most.
6. Once you have found the one you like, review it and choose any additional services you may require, such as checked baggage or travel insurance.
7. Pay for your booking and receive a confirmation email with your itinerary and booking details.

When booking multi-city flights, pay attention to airports. If you travel both with traditional and budget airlines, you might fly into one airport, but depart to your next destination from another. Pay attention to this to avoid confusion and stress later.

It’s important to check baggage allowances as they vary among airlines. Packing light or using a carry-on bag may help you avoid additional fees.

If your itinerary involves stops in different countries, make sure to check whether you will need a visa for your multi-city flight.

3.3 How to Book Connecting Flights With Kiwi?

Can you book connecting flights with Kiwi.com?

Even though it is known for making self transfer connections over airlines which don’t have an agreement, you can use Kiwi to book regular, airline-protected connecting flights, too. There are often good deals on such flights, too.

How to book connecting flights using Kiwi.com ? Follow the same steps as you would when booking a self-transfer flight. When you press the search button, Kiwi will show you all the options, both self transfer and connecting flights. 

How to tell if it’s a connecting flight or a self transfer? 

If you see a “Travel Hack” button with a star, it’s a self-transfer flight. Or if you notice that one or multiple low-cost airlines are involved, then it’s a self-transfer flight, too. If it’s a flight without the “Travel Hack” button, or if there are no low-cost airlines in the itinerary, it might be a connecting flight.

Kiwi will indicate if a flight is a self-transfer type when you select it.

If you sort by fastest, in most situations, connecting flights will be at the top of the list, because usually connecting flights take less time than self-transfer flights. 

Also you may deselect budget airlines such as Ryanair and Wizz Air in order to see more flights with traditional airlines. 

3.4 Using the Kiwi Nomad Feature

Kiwi Nomad is one of our favorite features of Kiwi.

Kiwi Nomad is a convenient feature that was launched in summer 2018, especially useful for those traveling to multiple destinations or don’t mind having a few stopovers. 

The “Nomad” feature that allows you create multi-city itineraries at a fraction of the cost of traditional, full-service airline tickets.

The itineraries offered are self-transfer flights, but Kiwi protection ensures their safety (as self-transfer flights can be somewhat unsafe). To use Nomad, simply select your origin and the places you want to visit, including how long you want to stay in each place. You can book a return flight or a one-way ticket with Nomad.

How to Use Kiwi’s Nomad Feature?

1. Go to Kiwi Nomad;
2. First, you choose from where you want to fly;
3. Then, you choose when you want to travel. There you have two options — it can be an exact date or a period of time;
4. Then, you set the duration of your trip;
5. And then, you choose places you want to visit.

Learn more how to book flights with Kiwi Nomad by reading our Kiwi Nomad review.

Other features we like in Kiwi:

1. “Depart between” option: You can select a timeframe when you would like to depart, not one particular date. Another option is to select whole month, and Kiwi will show you a list of the cheapest and best options.
2. Search flights out of multiple airports at once: You can add multiple departure and arrival airports when searching for the best/cheapest flights.
3. “Radius search”: This function allows you to explore cheaper destinations that are nearby your origin airport, and can help you save money on flights;
4. Kiwi’s “Anywhere” search feature: When you don’t have a specific destination in mind, this is a great feature for finding cheap flight deals for your next vacation.

4. Pros and Cons of Using Kiwi

Like any other service, using kiwi.com has its advantages and disadvantages.

What are the benefits of choosing to book flights with kiwi.com? 

• Easy to book multiple flights with a single click;
• You can search for various itinerary types — one way trip, roundtrip, multi-city trip, open-jaw trip;
• Customizable itineraries. Kiwi’s Nomad feature lets travelers create multi-stop itineraries, offering more options for exploring different destinations;
• Price alerts that can be received via email or push notification;
• Multiple useful features that makes searching for flights easier;
• User-friendly website and mobile app. The website and mobile app are easy to navigate and make booking and managing flights a breeze;
• Good customer service ;
• Different filters available — you can exclude certain airlines and countries, choose certain days of the week, select stopover duration, etc.;
• Kiwi checks you in — you don’t have to do this yourself. 

What are the disadvantages of kiwi.com? 

• Slower loading times (perhaps it is because Kiwi works with more data than other flight searches);
• Risk of missed connections. Due to the virtual interlining feature, travelers may have a shorter layover time between flights, which can increase the risk of missed connections. You can avoid this by purchasing Kiwi’s insurance, Kiwi Guarantee.

5. Tips for Getting the Best Flight Deals on Kiwi

As a frequent travelers who very often use Kiwi, we have picked up some tips and tricks for getting the best flight deals. Here are our top tips:

1. Use the “Anywhere” search feature. If you’re flexible with your travel plans and don’t have a specific destination in mind, “Anywhere” search feature can help you find the cheapest flights available from your departure airport.
2. Be flexible with your travel dates. The more flexible you are with your travel dates, the better your chances of finding cheap flights. Use Kiwi’s “Price Alert” feature to monitor fares for your desired travel dates and adjust your itinerary accordingly.
3. Consider alternative (or secondary) airports. Sometimes flying into a nearby airport can be significantly cheaper. Use Kiwi’s “radius” search feature to find cheaper flights from nearby airports.
4. Book in advance. Booking your flight in advance can often lead to lower fares. Use the “Price Calendar” feature to compare prices for different travel dates.
5. Check out the multi-stop itineraries. Kiwi’s “nomad” feature allows you to book multiple destinations in one trip, often at a fraction of the cost of individual flights.
6. Be open to layovers. Consider taking flights with layovers as they are often less expensive than nonstop flights. If you are okay with spending more time traveling, this can be a good way to save money.

Do you have more questions about kiwi.com? Have you ever used kiwi.com? What is your experience with this flight search engine? What is your favorite Kiwi feature?

Featured photo by Monstera from Pexels