The cheapest city for a long-distance couple to meet in depends on the month and on which airports each of you can use. So the method starts with the airports, not with a destination. List every city both home airports reach nonstop (no change of plane) in the month of the trip, keep a few where the two flights are close in length, then compare the two fares to each. This page sets out the steps with five pairs of cities in five regions, using Midway’s route data as of 24 October 2026. It gives no prices, because fares come from a live lookup and change from one search to the next.
The guide to cheap places to meet a long-distance partner lists third cities with a low-cost airline from both sides for five other pairs. This page is the method to run on your own pair.
Six steps from two airports to two fares
Step 1: Enter every airport you would fly from
A search on one airport per city can leave out the airports the cheaper flights leave from. Heathrow and Milan Malpensa share around 125 destinations. Entered as London (LON) and Milan (MIL), the two metro codes, they share around 220, because Midway adds Gatwick, City, Luton and Stansted on one side and Linate and Bergamo on the other. Midway accepts a metro code for some cities with several airports, such as New York (NYC), Paris (PAR) or Toronto (YTO), and counts their airports together.
The route between the two cities shows the same thing. Heathrow to Malpensa is flown by British Airways only. Across the two metro codes, easyJet flies from Gatwick and Luton, Wizz Air from Luton and Ryanair from Stansted, to Malpensa, Linate or Bergamo. Bangkok has no metro code in Midway, so Don Mueang (DMK), its low-cost airport, needs a search of its own.
Step 2: List the destinations you both reach nonstop
Enter the two codes in Midway. It returns every destination with a nonstop flight from both, on a map and in a table, and nothing that needs a connection. Over the next twelve months, the five pairs on this page range from around 25 shared destinations (Nairobi and Johannesburg) to around 220 (London and Milan).
See every city London and Milan both reach nonstop
Step 3: Pick the month
The yearly list includes routes that run for one season, so set the month before reading it. London and Milan go from around 220 shared destinations over the year to around 165 in February 2027. Toronto Pearson and Calgary share around 90 over the year, around 60 in February and around 75 in July.
Some of the February options exist only in winter. Huatulco, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, has nonstops from both cities from October to April, and Puerto Escondido from December to April. In February Huatulco is 5h35 from Toronto and 5h55 from Calgary, close to even, like Houston at 3h55 and 4h10.
The month also sets the fare you will see. With a month selected, Midway’s price lookup returns the cheapest fare in that month. With “All months”, it returns the cheapest month and names it.
Step 4: Shortlist the cities where both flights are close in length
Prices load one destination at a time, so a shortlist of three to five cities keeps the comparison short. The table sorts by each airport’s flight time, which brings up the cities that are short from both sides. The “Let’s meet midway” button also marks one result as the Midway Point, the shared destination that is fairest by distance to both airports.
Delhi and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi share around 65 destinations in February. The ones within half an hour of even are Colombo (3h40 from Delhi, 3h35 from Bangkok), Dhaka (2h20 and 2h45) and Ulaanbaatar (5h30 and 5h40, November to March only). Dhaka is shorter than the 4h15 direct flight from both sides.
Nairobi and Johannesburg share around 25 destinations, and every one of them runs in all twelve months. Lilongwe (2h15 and 2h20), Lubumbashi (2h30 and 2h35) and Nampula (2h30 and 2h35) are each shorter than the 4h10 direct flight from both sides, with Kenya Airways from Nairobi and Airlink from Johannesburg. A short leg is not always a cheap one, which is what the next step checks.
Step 5: Show the prices from each airport
On each shortlisted row, tap “Show prices”, or open the destination on the map. Midway shows the cheapest direct round-trip price from each departure airport, from Kayak’s Flight Price Insights. For a metro code, the price belongs to one member airport, and the cell names it. Before prices load, London’s column for Berlin shows London City, the fastest of the London airports to Berlin in February at 1h40. Once they load, it switches to whichever London airport has the lowest fare, and the flight time switches with it.
Kayak’s figures come from its users’ searches, so a low-traffic route can come back with “No price trends — try See flights”. The “See flights” link opens a live Kayak search for that route, and the prices Midway shows are estimates until you run it. (Midway earns a commission on flights booked through those links.)
Step 6: Add the two fares and compare with a visit
A third city costs two round trips and a room. A visit costs one round trip and no room, and Midway does not price it. A search needs two departure airports and lists only the places both reach, so your partner’s city is never on it. Check that fare with a direct search on Kayak, then compare the totals.
Melbourne and Auckland are 3h35 apart by nonstop, on four airlines. They share around 30 destinations, and the only one within half an hour of even is Incheon, at 11h35 and 11h55, from December to March. Queenstown is 3h10 from Melbourne and 1h50 from Auckland. For this pair the visit is probably the cheap trip, and the cheap places guide covers when a third city is worth the second ticket.
Five pairs through the six steps
| Home airports | Nonstop between them | Shared, all year | Shared in February 2027 | Within 30 minutes of even in February, time from each |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London (LON) and Milan (MIL) | 1h45 | ~220 | ~165 | Berlin 1h40 / 1h40, Gdańsk 2h05 / 2h05, Madrid 2h20 / 2h20 |
| Toronto Pearson (YYZ) and Calgary (YYC) | 4h15 | ~90 | ~60 | Minneapolis 2h20 / 2h50, Houston 3h55 / 4h10, Dallas 4h10 / 3h45 |
| Delhi (DEL) and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) | 4h15 | ~70 | ~65 | Dhaka 2h20 / 2h45, Colombo 3h40 / 3h35, Ulaanbaatar 5h30 / 5h40 |
| Nairobi (NBO) and Johannesburg (JNB) | 4h10 | ~25 | ~25 | Lilongwe 2h15 / 2h20, Lubumbashi 2h30 / 2h35, Port Louis 4h20 / 4h15 |
| Melbourne (MEL) and Auckland (AKL) | 3h35 | ~30 | ~30 | Incheon 11h35 / 11h55 |
Shared destinations are rounded to the nearest 5. The nonstop between the two cities is the shortest scheduled flight from the first airport over the next twelve months. February times are the shortest nonstop that month from each home airport, rounded to 5 minutes, first airport first. Midway route data as of 24 October 2026.
The map above is Delhi and Bangkok. Each dot is a destination with a nonstop flight from both airports.
Check the February 2027 list for Toronto and Calgary
Limits of the method
Midway stores schedules, not fares. The route data covers the 600 busiest airports in the world over the next twelve months, and a destination counts as shared when both airports fly to it in at least one month. That is why the month comes before the shortlist.
The Kayak price is for the flight alone. A metro’s cheapest airport can be further from the city centre, as Stansted is for London, so add the transfer before comparing. Midway also says nothing about the hotel or about the days each route runs in the week.
Running it on your own pair
Start with both metro codes and the month, then price three to five cities. List the cities your two home airports both reach nonstop. The list does not know the price of a room in each city, which is the cost a visit does not have.