This week's budget trip math: Madeira is the $530 fare that prices a week at $780 (2026)

Fare screens collected on November 10, 2026 put five nights in Cancún at $642, bed and food included, the cheapest week on this page. The ticket behind it is $392 roundtrip on Aeromexico.

That $392 is the one fare here priced above its own route floor. KAYAK's range for Miami–Cancún runs $341–$539, which puts this screen 15% above the bottom of it. The cheapest of the five weeks still starts with the weakest fare on the page.

Madeira holds the other end. Miami–Funchal screens at $530 on TAP, 39% below the route's $876 floor and the deepest discount here by 19 points. Five nights on the island come to $780.

Antigua is where the ticket stops predicting the week. Its $565 fare is $35 above Madeira's, and its week costs $530 more, because a budget bed on Antigua runs $92 a night against $25 in Funchal.

Every fare below is one adult, roundtrip economy from the U.S. airport named, with no checked bag. KAYAK's screens reflect searches run in the days before collection, so read them as price-check thresholds rather than quotes.

Three fare bands

The bands sort airfare only. Typical ranges are KAYAK's own range for that city pair.

Fare band	Route	Current roundtrip	Typical range	Why price it
Value corridor	Miami–Funchal	$530, one stop	$876–$1,222	39% below the floor, past every other screen here.
Value corridor	Miami–Brasília	$561, two stops	$697–$1,055	20% below the floor; the nonstop is $607.
Value corridor	Miami–Antigua	$565, two stops	$682–$979	17% below the floor; the nonstop is $729.
Value corridor	Denver–Seattle	$165, nonstop	$194–$352	15% below the floor, in 3h 08m.
Middle ground	New York JFK–Palermo	$662, two stops	$822–$1,116	19% below the floor, 11h 58m at best.
Middle ground	Miami–Zagreb	$724, one stop	$832–$1,257	13% below the floor, with no nonstop.
Premium window	New York JFK–Tbilisi	$803, one stop	$808–$1,182	$5 under the floor, 15h 20m at best.
Premium window	Miami–Istanbul	$823, two stops	$880–$1,339	6% below the floor; the nonstop is $899.

All eight sit at or below their route's floor. Tbilisi clears it by $5, the thinnest margin on the page.

Three of these routes sell a nonstop this week. Brasília's is $607, $46 over its connecting fare; Antigua's is $729, $164 over; Istanbul's is $899, $76 over.

Funchal, Palermo and Tbilisi have no nonstop from the U.S. at all. TAP's fastest one-way on Miami–Funchal runs 14 hours 57 minutes through Lisbon.

Two fares are paid for in hours. Palermo's $662 takes at least 11 hours 58 minutes one way, changing in Zurich. On JFK–Tbilisi the fastest one way is 15 hours 20 minutes through Rome, while the $803 fare itself routes through Warsaw.

The itinerary behind each screen: Funchal November 29–December 13, Brasília February 16–24, Antigua December 6–12, Seattle December 9–16, Palermo December 1–11, Zagreb February 24–March 3, Tbilisi April 23–30, Istanbul January 19–25.

Ten international fare targets

Going's October 15, 2026 ranking scores each destination 30% on average deal price, 35% on how deep the discount runs, and 35% on how often deals appeared.

Read the average as your alert threshold for the year, and the sample deals as the level to wait for.

Rank	Destination	Average Going deal	Sample deal range	Use
1	San José, Costa Rica	$333	Fort Lauderdale $185, Newark $191, Denver $222	Sub-$200 is the historical signal.
2	Guatemala City	$268	Houston $159, New York City $188, Las Vegas $248	The lowest average on the list.
3	Calgary	$241	Denver $129, Nashville $142, San Francisco $144	Low-$100s fares still appear.
4	Montego Bay	$344	Tampa $240, Detroit $268, New York City $278	Mid-$200s is the target.
5	Liberia, Costa Rica	$343	Fort Lauderdale $196, New York City $210, Los Angeles $282	Under $300 is worth comparing with lodging.
6	Vancouver	$255	Chicago $124, Phoenix $131, Atlanta $155	Low-$100s is the benchmark.
7	Bogotá	$302	Miami $238, Chicago $281, Austin $285	Around $250 is the deal line.
8	Punta Cana	$336	Miami $220, Chicago $240, New York City $247	Price transfers and resort fees with it.
9	Auckland	$793	Los Angeles $453, Miami $526, Boston $550	Sub-$600 is the value signal.
10	Tokyo	$732	Seattle $353, Pittsburgh $531, Denver $589	Under $600 is the comparison point.

The same page splits the list by travel month, which is the faster cut once you have dates.

November's cheapest international roundtrips are Calgary at $269, Grand Cayman at $340 and Oranjestad in Aruba at $349, with Christiansted in the U.S. Virgin Islands at $309 as an honorable mention.

December's are Calgary at $266, Grand Cayman at $341 and Liberia at $349. January's are Calgary at $262, Grand Cayman at $335 and Liberia at $354, with Aguadilla in Puerto Rico at $307 and Christiansted at $328.

February's are Vancouver at $278, Grand Cayman at $336 and Liberia at $355, with Christiansted at $318.

Going's month tables run on Calgary, Vancouver, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Liberia and a few Mexican and Puerto Rican gateways. Madeira, Brasília, Tbilisi and Antigua appear in none of them, so a route page is the only place those fares show up.

Five trip screens

Each row is one traveler: the route fare plus five nights of budget lodging and five days of budget food at that destination.

Rows are ordered by the visible subtotal, which leaves out checked bags, local transit, activities, airport transfers and taxes.

Destination	Route and fare	Five nights on the ground	Visible subtotal
Cancún	MIA–CUN $392	Lodging $170 plus food $80, Cancún budget tier	$642
Brasília	MIA–BSB $561	Lodging $75 plus food $120, Brasília budget tier	$756
Madeira (Funchal)	MIA–FNC $530	Lodging $125 plus food $125, Funchal budget tier	$780
Tbilisi	JFK–TBS $803	Lodging $20 plus food $30, Tbilisi budget tier	$853
Antigua	MIA–ANU $565	Lodging $460 plus food $285, Antigua budget tier	$1,310

The spread runs from $642 to $1,310, and it follows the ticket order only at the top.

Cancún's $392 fare is the cheapest on the page, $173 under Antigua's, and its week lands $668 under Antigua's.

Antigua's ground costs do that. Budget Your Trip prices its bed at $92 a night and its food at $57 a day, so five nights come to $745 against $250 in Cancún.

Madeira and Brasília sit the other way round. Madeira's ticket is $31 cheaper and its bed and food cost $55 more over five nights, which puts its week $24 above Brasília's.

Tbilisi carries the second-dearest ticket here at $803 and the fourth-cheapest week at $853. Budget Your Trip's Tbilisi page prints budget lodging at $4 a night and food at $6 a day, so five nights cost $50.

Those figures sit far below the same page's own average. Tbilisi's average traveler spends $36 a day, which prices five nights at $180 and the week at $983 — still fourth, $327 clear of Antigua.

Mid-range reorders the top of the table. Tbilisi's five nights at $27 a day come to $938, the cheapest of the five and $109 under Cancún's $1,047. Brasília's mid-range week is $1,026 and Madeira's $1,120.

Antigua's mid-range week is $2,375, which is the widest gap between tiers on the table.

All five ground-cost pages were last updated October 30, 2026.

Booking timing that fits these routes

Going's October 15, 2026 guide puts the international booking window at two to eight months ahead and the domestic one at one to three months. Peak-season international trips want four to ten months.
January and February are the year's cheapest months to fly, with September and October the strongest runners-up and July and December the priciest.
Travel Tuesday falls on December 1 in 2026, three weeks out. Going counts it among the airline-sale dates worth watching, and also reports that sales take 10–30% off off-peak dates on competitive routes. A good fare found before then is still worth booking.
Fares jump because of how airlines sell seats. Going explains that a cabin is split into 10 to 26 booking classes, the cheapest bucket sells first, and dynamic pricing recalculates against competitors and demand several times a day.
Fly Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday where plans allow. The day you buy barely moves the price, and Going cites Expedia's 2026 air-travel data showing a Tuesday domestic departure about 14% cheaper than a Sunday one.
Lead times differ by route. KAYAK's screens put the savings point at 24 weeks for Miami–Brasília, 47% below a last-minute fare; 10 weeks for Miami–Antigua, 45%; 4 weeks for Denver–Seattle, 40%; 24 weeks for JFK–Palermo, 16%; 12 weeks for Miami–Zagreb, 48%; 21 weeks for JFK–Tbilisi, 27%; 8 weeks for Miami–Istanbul, 28%; and 17 weeks for Miami–Cancún, 25%. Miami–Funchal prints no lead-time figure.
Each route has its own cheapest month. February is cheapest for Miami–Funchal at $698, JFK–Palermo at $547, JFK–Tbilisi at $610, Miami–Istanbul at $760 and Denver–Seattle at $177, 35% below its average. March is cheapest for Miami–Brasília at $673 and Miami–Antigua at $681, April for Miami–Cancún at $342, and October for Miami–Zagreb.
Do not wait for a last-minute drop. Going calls it the Bargain Bin Trap: prices usually climb in the final three weeks before departure. Decide your pull-the-trigger number before you start searching.
Set alerts in Going, Google Flights, KAYAK or Skyscanner and use the ten-target table above as the threshold. If you book directly with an airline at least seven days before departure, the U.S. Department of Transportation requires either a 24-hour fare hold or a penalty-free cancellation within 24 hours. The airline chooses which, and the rule leaves online travel agencies outside it. Read the rule.

Route of the week: Madeira

KAYAK's November 10 screen found $530 roundtrip from Miami on TAP Air Portugal, one stop through Lisbon, for a November 29–December 13 itinerary.

Against a typical range of $876–$1,222, $530 sits 39% below the route's usual floor. The next-deepest cut on the page is Brasília at 20%.

No airline flies Miami–Funchal nonstop. TAP's fastest one-way runs 14 hours 57 minutes through Lisbon, and the cheapest itineraries change there.

Budget Your Trip describes Funchal as the capital of Madeira, on the island's south coast between Santa Cruz and Câmara de Lobos.

Budget lodging there runs $25 a person a night in double occupancy, and budget food $25 a day. Five nights of both come to $250, which puts the visible subtotal at $780.

Mid-range takes the same five nights to $590 and the week to $1,120. Funchal's average traveler spends $129 a day, which prices the week at $1,175.

KAYAK puts the route's cheapest month at February, averaging $698 roundtrip. This week's $530 is $168 under that average and $346 under the route's floor.

The date is the catch. November 29 is 19 days from collection, and Going's guide says fares usually climb over the final three weeks before departure. KAYAK prints no lead-time figure for this route, so the choice is this itinerary now or a February trip near the $698 average.

Book direct if you want the 24-hour protection, because the rule covers airline-direct tickets and leaves travel agencies outside it.