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In 2013, our founder Scott booked a $130 roundtrip ticket to Milan. Everyone asked how he found it, so he began sourcing deals for his friends. What started as a small underground email list quickly grew. In 2015, Scott's Cheap Flights was born.
Over the years, we continued sourcing deals for our over two million members. In the past year and a half, we've both rebranded (now Going, but you already knew that) and launched an app that helps you get real-time flight deal alerts. All the while, we continued to send out too-good-to-resist flight deals-millions, to be exact-allowing you to travel the world for less.
Now, we're celebrating our ninth birthday (officially this Friday), and one of our favorite ways to celebrate is by looking back at some of our best deals over the years. Deals like:
- Mistake fare from LA/San Francisco to Southeast Asia for $560-$673 roundtrip in business class on Hong Kong Airlines in 2018 (yes, the airline honored this deal)
- Boston to Iceland for $100 roundtrip in 2022
- Tons of Continental US cities to the Hawaiian Islands for $130 roundtrip in 2022
- Nonstop Newark to Paris for $298 roundtrip this year
- Nonstop LA to Tokyo for $595 roundtrip this year
- Mistake fare from Dallas, Houston, DC, Boston, Raleigh, Portland, LA, and Seattle to Taiwan for 15k points one-way this year
Sending out the deals is only half the battle. Just as importantly, members have to scoop them up. And to that, we say these are our top tips for snagging a top-notch flight deal-consider it a birthday present, from us to you.
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Cheers to nine years-and hydration!
What better way to celebrate Going's nine years of giving you the best travel deals than with a delicious glass of your favorite LMNT flavor! Whether it's mixing the drink mix in your favorite beverage or trying the new canned drinks, LMNT has the best flavors that help you hydrate while you celebrate.
LMNT is an electrolyte drink mix that gives you everything your body needs and nothing it doesn't! Their perfect science-backed ratio of 1000mg sodium, 200mg potassium, and 60mg magnesium mixes in with any drink to give you the electrolytes you need to get properly hydrated with your busy schedule. Plus, it comes in individual packs so you can travel with them easily!
Learn how Going readers can get a special offer of a Free Sample Pack with any purchase!
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Be flexible
The more flexible you can be, the better your chances of getting a cheap flight. That means being flexible with timing or where you're going-both if you want the best of the best deals.
Booking in reverse is the method that we like to use. Most people pick where they want to go, select their travel dates, and then see what prices are available. Typically this results in high prices.
Instead, if getting a cheap plane ticket is your priority, flip that approach: See what prices are available to various places around the world, decide which of the cheap destinations appeals to you, and then select the dates you like that have cheap fares available.
Yeah, it requires that you not be rigid about getting to Italy on August 23, but it does open you up to places that you may never have considered.
If you can't be flexible on timing, be flexible with where you're going or how you get there. Want to visit the Greek Islands in October, but prices are high? It's probably a lot cheaper to book a flight to Athens (or even London) and then a cheap regional flight onward from there.
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Mind the Goldilocks Window
August 23 isn't just our birthday; by pure coincidence it's also designated as National Cheap Flights Day because some folks (wrongly) believe flights are cheaper on this day.
Unfortunately, that's just not true. There's no special magic that makes flights cheaper on August 23 than they are on other days, and anyone who tells you otherwise-or who says that the cheapest day to book a flight is on Tuesday or that it's exactly 56 days from your trip-is flat out wrong.
Cheap flights pop up all the time. You cannot predict the minute or day when a price will drop, but you can make sure you're looking during the time when a good deal is most likely to pop up.
That window-which we call the Goldilocks Window-is 1-3 months before a domestic trip and 2-8 months before an international trip. If you're looking to travel during peak season like Christmas or summer, add a few months more, especially if you can't be flexible on dates or location.
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This limited-time credit card offer could be worth $1,000 toward travel
This could be the best travel offer of 2024-but it could be gone soon.
Earn 75,000 points and an additional $250 toward travel when you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.
That's worth $1,000 toward travel, which is hard to pass up.
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Act fast
Airfare is extremely volatile, and prices can change day by day (even hour by hour). Generally, the better the deal, the sooner it's gone, especially with mistake fares (when airlines accidentally price a flight incorrectly).
If you're not sure you can get time off work-or aren't even 100% sure that you'd like to go-just book it. Thanks to a handy regulation called the 24-hour rule, airlines must allow you to cancel free within 24 hours of booking for flights to or from the US (with some caveats outlined in our guide below). Turns out your boss won't let you off work or you actually don't want to go? No problem! Just cancel your ticket for a full refund within 24 hours of booking.
Another handy way to use this trick: If you're going back and forth between different trip dates, don't waste time deciding-you could miss out on the deal. Instead, you could book multiple dates for the same trip and cancel the ones you don't want. (Just don't forget to cancel the flights you don't want to take!)
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The savings can keep coming after you click 'Purchase'
If you've booked a flight with free changes (typically any fare besides basic economy), keep an eye on the price even after you've booked. If it drops, you can cancel your original fare and book the cheaper one; you'll get the difference back in credit you can use on a future flight.
You can also use a schedule change to your advantage. If an airline significantly changes (or cancels) your flight, you can ask to be accommodated on another flight or get your money back if you no longer want to go. It sounds annoying to deal with the schedule change, but it can get you a better flight for free.
Let's say you've booked a one-stop flight from Chicago to Rome with a two-hour stop in London. The airline switches you to a later flight that now includes an eight-hour stop in London and a 2am arrival in Rome.
Now say there's another flight-nonstop Chicago to Rome-that you didn't originally book because it cost a lot more. You can call the airline and say that the new schedule won't work for you, and you'd like to be put on the nonstop. If there's room, they'll do it, and you won't have to pay anything additional for the more expensive flight.
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We're celebrating our 9th birthday with our favorite sale of the year. Get 40% off Premium or Elite.
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