For a couple in two cities, the cheapest trip is usually the visit: one person buys one return ticket and sleeps at the other’s place. Meeting in a third city means two tickets and a room, so it only costs less when both flights are short and sold by airlines that compete on price. Midway’s route data records the airlines on every nonstop leg, and its price lookup shows the lowest direct round trip from each airport. This page uses both on five pairs of cities in five regions and leaves the fares to the live search, because they change between one search and the next.
Two tickets against one
When one of you visits, the trip costs one return fare and the bed is free. A third city costs two return fares plus a hotel. The guide to meeting a long-distance partner by direct flight covers why couples choose a third city anyway: both of you travel, and nobody hosts. This page is about keeping that trip cheap.
So the test for a third city is whether the two fares added together leave room for the hotel. That is most likely when both legs are short and a low-cost airline (one that sells the seat and charges for bags and extras separately) flies them from both home airports.
Airlines on each leg, then prices
A destination with a low-cost airline on both legs is the first filter. A destination with several airlines from the same airport is the second, because a route with a single airline has nobody to undercut it. Midway’s route data records the airlines on each nonstop, but the app does not show them yet, so the pairs below list them. For your own pair, the “See flights” link on each result opens a Kayak search with the direct-flight filter on, which shows the airlines on that route.
Then turn the prices on. Midway shows the cheapest direct round-trip price per departure airport, from Kayak’s Flight Price Insights. Prices load when you open a destination on the map or tap “Show prices” on a table row. With a month selected you get the cheapest price in that month, and with “All months” you get the cheapest month. The data comes from Kayak’s users’ searches, so a low-traffic route can come back without a price, and a live Kayak search is one click away. (Midway earns a commission on flights booked through those links.)
Compare the shared destinations and fares for Barcelona and Budapest
Five pairs in five regions
Each pair below has a nonstop between the two home cities, so the visit is always the option to beat.
| Home airports | Nonstop between them | Shared nonstop destinations | Low-cost airline from both sides, flight time from each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona (BCN) and Budapest (BUD) | 2h40, Ryanair and Wizz Air | ~125 | Milan Bergamo 1h45 / 1h40, Venice 1h55 / 1h20 |
| Boston (BOS) and Austin (AUS) | 4h25, JetBlue, Delta and Southwest | ~75 | Chicago Midway 2h35 / 2h25, Atlanta 2h45 / 2h15 |
| Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and Manila (MNL) | 4h00, four airlines | ~50 | Da Nang 2h35 / 2h35, Kota Kinabalu 2h35 / 2h05 |
| Dubai (DXB) and Mumbai (BOM) | 3h15, five airlines | ~70 | Malé 4h15 / 2h50, Muscat 1h10 / 2h35 |
| São Paulo (GRU) and Buenos Aires (EZE) | 2h50, seven airlines | ~35 | Santiago 4h10 / 2h15, Lima 5h00 / 4h45 |
Shared destinations are rounded to the nearest 5. Flight times are the shortest scheduled nonstop from each home airport over the next twelve months, rounded to 5 minutes, first airport first. Airlines are the ones Midway’s data lists on each route over the same period. Midway route data as of 24 October 2026.
Barcelona and Budapest
Barcelona and Budapest have around 125 destinations in common, and the direct route between them is flown only by Ryanair and Wizz Air, so the visit is already on low-cost airlines. A third city in northern Italy is shorter than the direct flight from both sides. Milan Bergamo is 1h45 from Barcelona and 1h40 from Budapest, on Ryanair from both. Milan Malpensa is 1h45 from each, with Ryanair and Wizz Air from both and easyJet and Vueling from Barcelona.
Venice (1h55 and 1h20) has Ryanair and Wizz Air from both sides, and Geneva (1h35 and 1h50) has easyJet from both. All of them run in every month of the data. Zurich is 1h40 from each as well, but from Budapest only Swiss flies it.
Boston and Austin
Boston and Austin have around 75 destinations in common. Southwest flies from both airports to Chicago Midway (2h35 and 2h25) and Milwaukee (2h30 and 2h35), both listed from October 2026 to August 2027. Atlanta is 2h45 from Boston and 2h15 from Austin, with Frontier from both, JetBlue and Delta from Boston, and Delta and Southwest from Austin.
Nashville is 2h50 and 2h15, with Southwest and Delta from both. Charleston is 2h30 and 2h35, but only from March to August, on JetBlue or Delta from Boston and Southwest from Austin. The direct flight between the two cities is 4h25 on three airlines, so the visit has competition too.
Kuala Lumpur and Manila
Kuala Lumpur and Manila have around 50 destinations in common, and AirAsia flies from both, as AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur and Philippines AirAsia from Manila. Da Nang is 2h35 from each, with AirAsia, Batik Air and Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur, and Cebu Pacific, Philippines AirAsia and Philippine Airlines from Manila. Kota Kinabalu is 2h35 and 2h05, on AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur and Philippines AirAsia from Manila.
Bandar Seri Begawan, in Brunei, is 2h20 from both, with AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur, Cebu Pacific from Manila and Royal Brunei from both. Ho Chi Minh City has VietJet from both sides, at 2h00 and 2h55. Bangkok Don Mueang, the city’s low-cost airport, has AirAsia and Thai AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur and Cebu Pacific and Philippines AirAsia from Manila, but the times are uneven at 2h20 and 3h40.
Dubai and Mumbai
Dubai and Mumbai have around 70 destinations in common, and five airlines fly between the two cities: IndiGo, Air India, Emirates, flydubai and SpiceJet. The shared destinations with even flight times have few low-cost options. The Seychelles is 4h25 from Dubai on Emirates and 4h30 from Mumbai on IndiGo, and Almaty is 4h10 and 4h30, with Air Astana from both and flydubai from Dubai. Malé, in the Maldives, has flydubai and Emirates from Dubai and IndiGo from Mumbai, at 4h15 and 2h50.
With five airlines on the direct route, the visit is probably the cheap option for this pair. Midway also treats Sharjah (SHJ), Air Arabia’s base, as a separate airport from Dubai. Midway keeps only the destinations every entered airport reaches, so run a second search with SHJ and BOM rather than adding Sharjah to the first. From Sharjah, Air Arabia flies to Almaty in 4h10 and to Malé, Kathmandu and Colombo.
São Paulo and Buenos Aires
São Paulo Guarulhos and Buenos Aires Ezeiza have around 35 destinations in common. Seven airlines fly the direct route from São Paulo, with Gol and LATAM in both directions. Santiago has the two Chilean low-cost airlines, Sky and JetSMART, from both airports, plus LATAM, at 4h10 from São Paulo and 2h15 from Buenos Aires. Lima is 5h00 and 4h45, on Sky and LATAM from São Paulo and JetSMART and LATAM from Buenos Aires.
Florianópolis is 1h15 and 2h00, with Gol and LATAM from both and JetSMART from Buenos Aires, but only from October to March. Entering SAO and BUE instead of the single airports adds Congonhas, Viracopos and Aeroparque, the Buenos Aires airport for domestic and regional flights, to the search.
See every city São Paulo and Buenos Aires both reach nonstop
Limits of the fare data
Midway stores schedules, not fares. The route data covers the 600 busiest airports in the world over the next twelve months, and an airline appears on a route if it flies it in at least one of those months. A low-cost airline listed on a leg may run only a few flights a week, so check the days before counting on it.
The Kayak price is for the flight. A low-cost fare usually leaves out the checked bag, so compare like with like before booking. Midway also says nothing about the hotel, which is the cost the visit does not have.
The month and the two fares
Pick the month first, then open prices on the two or three cities with a low-cost airline on both legs. List the cities your two home airports both reach nonstop. If the two fares and a room come to more than one visit, the visit is still the cheap trip.