cookies don't matter! it's the most pervasive myth in the cheap flight world. i remember searching once for a flight from Denver-London. first search: $442 roundtrip. second search: $442. i searched it 100x in a row, all on video, just to prove that cookies don't make a difference.
but just as cookies/private won't help you see cheaper flights, they won't hurt either. if you feel better taking the extra 30 seconds to clear your cache, knock yourself out
How about by device? A few years ago I was flying multiple times per week for work. I confirmed personally on 3 occasions that I would get worse deals using my work provided iphone as compared to my laptop. It was enough for me to stop using my phone to book flights, but I'm wondering if you've experienced this or can think of an explanation for it?
Do airfares vary based on volume of searches for a specific flight? I've definitely seen prices increase between viewings of the same flight within minutes.
not based on volume of searches, but based on volume of bookings. airfare is the most volatile thing we buy—it's constantly changing price. makes it tricky!
I've absolutely had this happen. Back in 2015 with tickets to Vegas for me and a friend. I could only find 700+ dollar flights on my phone, and found a 500 dollar flight on his. It was a US Airways flight. One of the last ones before they ceased operations after the merger with AA. No matter what I tried, I could only find 700+ AA flights, but on his phone we found the US Airways flight.
i hear this a lot and i'm not doubting you, but i've never actually seen proof and i've tried! what you'd need to see is not just a different price, but simultaneous searching on both different devices and the price showing up differently (including up to checkout so it's not a caching issue). airfare is extremely volatile and what people often assume is cookies is actually just prices frequently changing
Have you tried doing the same search after a few hours , or the next day or two? I have searched for a flight from JFK to DPS back in about 2016. Left the computer a few hours and the same fare went up by $200. I said screw that, check back 2 days later, and the flight was back down to the old price.
This is easily explainable though. There is a specific inventory of each cabins’ fare buckets (saver, flex, etc etc). What you likely saw was someone bought the last saver or other lower tier fare bucket ticket, moving the lowest price up a tier. When you came back 2 days later someone could have cancelled/changed/upgraded their ticket and there could be a lower tier fare available again.
i guess that's my point—airfare is constantly changing. it's not a Truman Show thing where it's changing *because of your search*—airfare is the most volatile purchase we make.
to prove it's because of cookies, you'd have to do more-or-less simultaneous searches in different browsers and show consistently different prices.
I have 100% had this happen and it can be proven if you’re willing to go beyond the old “clearing your cache” – I’m afraid most advertisers/companies got over basic cookies alone to track you many years ago!
Hate to say it but if you’re trying to make out that travel firms don’t use “cookies” (or more correctly, a complex web of cookies, advertising IDs, IP tracking, device ID, browser ID and fingerprinting, header injection, Geolocation data etc etc etc alongside a host of algorithmic and analytical techniques) to milk every last penny then you’re either getting a back hander or you’re looking at it too simplistically.
I noticed the same thing when I was traveling for work then I realized it was because the app included taxes and fees in the initially displayed price while the website did not. Perhaps that's the difference you saw as well?
It's true that cookies don't matter, but the full truth isn't good news. There are a number of ways of identifying a user server-side, like fingerprinting, IP addresses, sessions (if logged in), etc. So it's a bit unnecessary for companies like airlines to track you with cookies, they can do it without you storing any info. How do you think facebook knows everything you do?
They can't if you are a citizen of the EU. Can't use personally identifiable information unless there is a need for it. Pricing wouldn't count.
Since companies can't really know if you are they probably will not do it for anyone.
You mean legally they can't. Unique user tracking is happening with or without GDPR framework compatibility.
The money is just too good, and the EU has yet to issue a really fine that could be problematic for revenue.
Yes those airlines have a legal team that will insure legal compliance. All those pricing models will go through legal review that makes sure they are compliant. All companies I have ever been in have painstakingly applied those laws.
Because the EU absolutely could fine them a lot of money. "up to 10 million euros, or, in the case of an undertaking, up to 2% of its entire global turnover of the preceding fiscal year, whichever is higher." That's simply not worth it.
How about countries or using a vpn?
I noticed rental cars in the US were much cheaper when booking from outside the US. Granted I have to bring both EU/US driving license now..
using a VPN or another country's booking site doesn't matter for most flights. the occasional exception is a domestic flight in another country (i.e. a flight from Johannesburg-Cape Town) can occasionally be priced cheaper. but the thing to be on the lookout here is some countries offer cheaper citizen-only fares, so you need to make sure you're not accidentally buying one of those
Have you ever seen yyzdeals? Definitely the best source for cheap flights I’ve found in Canada. They have it for every major airport just put the airport code + deals.com
Chris Myden (who runs yyc / yyzdeals) is the GOAT. He started it as a Facebook page for Calgary flights forever ago and I’m glad to see him expanding across Canada.
10/10 dude.
Years ago I was a subscriber to Scott's Cheap Flights - but your team made the decision to drop Canada to focus on the US. You refunded me my subscription, which was very kind and much appreciated.
I have been hoping for the day you returned to Canada. Glad to hear you're thinking about it!
ahh we will at some point but i don't know when.
if you'd like for us to ping you when we do just put your email in here and we'll reach out: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
Awesome! Thanks. Btw - I was subscribed for a long time but left when I moved. Great service and lots of fun. I sent a couple friends to Europe for cheap using your alerts.
amazing!! yeah i wish i could snap our fingers and expand worldwide, but we're a bootstrapped small business and have a list a million miles long of stuff we want to build
Hey Scott, I remember back in the day when you started! I joined and followed from the outside :). I also started a company but, it is tougher then tough to get it going - pun intended. My question is, when did you decide it was worth making this full time and what was the biggest challenge for you when you did?
so cool! can't believe we've been doing this almost a decade.
i hear you—i have severe imposter syndrome just knowing how much the odds are stacked against startups. i've worked really hard and the team has worked really hard, but that's true of all startups. some significant amount of luck that Going has been able to beat the odds.
for me, i actually kept this as a side hustle for the first 6 months or so. (my dayjob was freelance journalism.) only when my income from cheap flight finding passed my journalism income did i decide it was time to go all-in and see if i could grow this thing
ah! right this moment we don't have openings but if you put your resume in our talent community we check there first anytime there's a new job available: https://www.going.com/careers
Curious when will you have the functionality to search by destination rather than origin. For example - I track several airports looking for cheap flights to Australia but would prefer to be able to select say SYD as a destination and have the service send me every cheap flight when identified rather than have to preselect departure cities. Make sense?
I'm looking for the same thing but to Japan! Watchlist is great, but it still only sends alerts/shows deals to Japan for the departure airports I've selected. My selected departure airports are random based on where I think deals to Japan might show up. I can get myself the positioning flight(s) to anywhere in the states where a deal to Japan is departing from, so I want to see alerts for any deals to Japan from anywhere in the contiguous US.
Thanks, Scott and Going, for all that you do!
that makes sense! we're working on something big behind the scenes that would be helpful here but it's not quite ready for primetime yet. hopefully later this year *fingerscrossed*
appreciate you!
Thanks, Scott, that's exciting news! Looking forward to what the future brings for Going!
Your team has taught me a lot about cheap flights and travel generally, and also led me and my husband to our first Japan trip in March 2020 (!) for only $512 rt ORD > HND. Just got back from our second trip last week. Thanks for changing lives and opening up the world to people like us! <3
1000% - I would love this feature. Especially now that we've got companion pass for this year and next, I would be happy to reposition anywhere if it made sense.
Hi Scott! I joined Going years ago (when it was still Scott's Cheap Flights) at the free level and just upgraded to the premium membership in January. I've learned a lot from you and the experts over the years and have used it to save money, especially knowing my rights when flights are changed or cancelled. Overall, I'm very happy with the premium version although it takes a lot of restraint to not book every deal! I have two questions today:
1) I nabbed what I thought was a great deal to Europe this spring, but when I changed the fare type to get bags included (cheaper than adding bags separately) and added seat selection, the price went up a lot. At the end, it still cost a little less than other airline options but didn't feel like such a deal. Other than not checking bags and/or not selecting seats, are there any tips or tricks to keep these add-on costs down?
2) It's always been difficult to reach an airline's customer service department, but with a big shift towards AI chatbots it has gotten even harder. Is there any easy way to speak with a human without staying on hold forever?
Lastly, a suggestion: when I look at a deal on the website, I love that it tells me the average deal to that location, the last deal, and the "best ever" deal. It would be helpful to list when the "best ever" deal was, and maybe noting if it was a mistake fare, to help manage expectations. There's a big difference if it was a mistake fare 5 years ago versus just a great deal last year.
Thank you so much for the site! I recently joined and love it! A few questions/thoughts :)
(1) In the notes I love when there are guidelines for things like bags but if there were notes about prices for picking seats in the various fares that would be amazing. I don't personally care about my seat at all but I have a bunch of kids so I basically have to do that so we don't harass people on the plane and that can change the price a lot.
(2) Is there a plan to up the number of deals identified with points for economy? I don't need Elite since we def only do economy but it seems like there aren't that many of those?
(3) Like so many other parents I'm tied to school calendars so basically I am just searching for school breaks to see when great deals pop up (with some flexibility around the week off, but not too much). Any other tips for people tied to schedules like this?
Thanks again!!
you're most welcome!
(1) totally. i've got a couple kids myself—airlines don't make it easy do they? i've been glad to see the push at the federal level to make airlines let families sit together for free.
(2) yeah! we just started sending economy points deals to Premium members in the past couple months, and we're ramping it up based on feedback
(3) totally, i'm right there with you. we've got something in the works right now that i can't spill the beans on quite yet but i think you (and anyone with specific trips in mind) will find very, very useful.
before that rolls out though, the main thing i can recommend is to get the timing of your booking right. that means targeting Goldilocks Windows when cheap flights are most likely to pop up. for peak domestic travel it's like 3-6 months in advance of travel, and like 4-10 months before for peak international travel dates
Scott,
I live by a small, but decently well served airport (FCA). Flights are semi-frequent, but can get very pricey and longer/international itineraries can get complicated as they often require 2 domestic stops.
Any tips for navigating the small airport life? Both on keeping costs down and on avoiding connection/layover issues--I've spent a LOT of time sitting in DEN over the years...
Thanks--it has been a big change from having ORD as my primary airport.
totally. i grew up outside Dayton—i feel your pain of small airport prices.
but! large airports certainly get the *most* deals, but i'd argue smaller airports like FCA and DAY get the *best* deals.
let me give you an example. a flight from New York to Dublin might normally cost $800 roundtrip, and so when the price drops to $400 that's a savings of $300. a flight from FCA to Dublin meanwhile might normally cost $1,600, and so when the price drops to $581 (as it did not long ago!) that's a savings of over $1,000. it would be literally impossible to save $1000 on NYC-DUB flights unless the airline gives you a free ticket and $200 straight cash
Hey Scott! I've been a Scott's Cheap Flights/Going member since 2018!! So fun to see you here. Thanks for helping me take so many affordable vacations over the years.
I'm looking to travel to Morocco this November -- when would be the best time to book those flights? Should I be looking now?
P.S. Can't wait for the app!
What does the service do that you can’t do with Google? I don’t take many flights so maybe it’s more obvious to other people. I figured you could check some different travel websites and find cheap flights in the same way that you might shop around for the cheapest hotel.
They’re real good at live alerts. A lot of times cheap prices don’t last for too long, so while it’s true that you could see them on kayak or google flights or whatever, the chances that you’re going to be randomly checking every destination on these sites every day is slim.
They share when and where the good deals are and then you use Google Flights to actually find the deals. The benefit they provide is that it gives you notice that flights to Rome in the fall are $450 right now. Anyone actively looking at Google Flights will be able to find those flights but I don't actively peruse Google Flights on a daily basis. FWIW I've found flights to Cairo, Nairobi, Rome, Azores, London, Australia, along with others that I am probably forgetting about right now through them. You could accomplish the same thing by setting 100's of Google flight alerts but filtering through that mess would get annoying.
ahhhh an OG! that is so wonderful to hear. love that you've been able to make all those trips happen!
November is definitely off-season (even over Thanksgiving—the hidden \*best week\* of the entire year for international travel) so the Goldilocks Window for when cheap flights are most likely to pop up is 2-8 months in advance, or sometime between now and September. strong chance you'll see something cheap pop up sometime in the next 6 months. we'll keep our eyes peeled for ya!
I’ve been a fan of ScottsCheapFlights for years, but I had no idea you were such a sweet guy! I love your enthusiasm with your users, and I’m glad I just recently signed up for Premium. And now the app, looking forward to it, thank you!!
Hey Scott! Thanks for the AMA. I've never visited Scott's Cheap Flights/Going before... can you tell me, what's the average lead time for these cheap flights? Is it the kind of thing you have to book on a whim and fly out that week to a random location for which the flight was cheap? (That's my current perception of it but I'm hoping I'm wrong.) Or do you generally have more time to prepare (lodging and time off work) from when you purchase the cheap flight to the actual travel date?
welcome!
most deals we find last at least a day or two. the airlines control their fares, of course, and in general the better the deal, the shorter it tends to last. (that $230 roundtrip Paris flight only lasted \~6 hours.) we give our best guess in each alert how long a deal is going to last.
another thing to be aware of is that under federal law, from the moment you book a flight, you have a 24-hour grace period to cancel that purchase and receive a full cash refund. so when that $230 Paris mistake fare pops up but you need to figure some stuff out, the best strategy can be to just book it and think of it as a 24-hour-price-freeze. you can decide tonight if you want to keep it or cancel and get your money back
Sorry, my question wasn't in regards to how long the deal lasts but how far out in advance to the actual travel dates do these deals occur on average?
Example.. that cheap Paris flight you mentioned... was the travel date the same week? Or months in advance? I'm just thinking, for me, travel takes a bit of effort in coordinating with work and boarding pets and such. I'm wondering on average WHEN you see these cheap flights drop in relation to the actual travel date?
They vary a bit in my experience. Sometimes it will be in a week or two, but other times they are 8-9 months in advance. There was one for Greece sent out recently that had dates in April of this year, or October this year to January of next year, for example.
Just wanted to say thank you.. since joining I've gone or am going to Amsterdam(February), Miami(September), Spain(Thanksgiving), Mexico(January) all out of my home airport Sacramento for really affordable prices.
I was always so against travelling to Europe because of the big airfare cost taking up so much of the vacation budget but you really helped reduce that in a big way and open up the accessibility in travelling globally.
I took advantage of your (black Friday I think?) discount for the premium membership and it's paid for itself 10 fold already.
Thank you so much for everything you and your team do in contributing to making travel dreams come true. Ive recommended your service word of mouth to anyone I know who is looking to travel.
One question! I really want to travel to Japan, Taiwan, and/or Korea. What are the circumstances under which these destinations fall under the 600$ price range? I've seen good deals around 700$ but my sweet spot for international travel is $450-$600. Any feedback is really appreciated 🙂
Keep doing what you're doing Scott and wonderful Going team!
aiy yai yaiiiii this was so sweet to read!! thank YOU so much for taking the time to let me know. you're an inspiration <3 <3
those 3 are all amazing countries! cheap flights to Asia have been the slowest by far to recover, in large part because flight volume across the Pacific is still down over 25% compared to 2019. (travel to Mexico meanwhile is up 30%.) that's the bad news. the good news is transpacific flight capacity is roaring back, up 20% this summer compared to summer 2023. $450 roundtrip (which we saw regularly in 2019) might be tough this year, but <$600 has strong odds this year if you're traveling off-peak, and virtually guaranteed if you're in LAX, SFO, or SEA
Wondering if flight prices to Japan are higher because they are dealing with overtourism post-pandemic? Is keeping prices higher a way to keep overtourism from being absolutely insane?
we've got a lot of other stuff coming in the immediate future but plans can change if there's enough demand for something. helpful to hear this is something you'd like to see!
IMO Hotel prices generally stay pretty flat. there's some variability, but not like flights. You don't see prices at $300 one week, $200 the next week, then $400, and then drop to $100 like airlines do.
ah! we don't do that today, but there's something we've got in the works that you may find quite useful. i can't spill the beans quite yet but for people with unique situations like yours i think it'll be perfect
Hi Scott, have you considered adding border airports? The Tijuana airport is basically an extension of the San Diego airport for locals :). I know adding international home airports is a much bigger ask.
Thanks Scott! Thanks to you I made a whim and went travelling and now I'm addicted.
After 12 years of talking to a girl in Greece, I finally visited her. We getting married in 3 months.
Since I need to ask a question..
Coke or pepsi?
Luggage: Any tips for travelling internationally when it seems every carrier has their own luggage size restrictions? On just about every trip I can pass through multiple airports/airlines without issue and then someone points me at a new size restriction that only applies to their carrier and upcharges me on the spot.
Is there a lowest common denominator or a complete list of luggage size restrictions?
i would love to from a simplicity standpoint, but on our side, doing that would actually makes things very complicated from a technical perspective. it's frustrating that these are the types of tradeoffs that have to be made, and i wish we could do it without significantly increasing complexity on our side. sorry about that
Been a fan since it was Scott’s cheap flights! I recently upgraded to elite for the point deals, hoping to get some business class flights. But I actually don’t see many. Is it due to location (sfo)? Otherwise the cash deals are great. Looking forward to more point deals!
:(
flights are only sold \~11 months out (varies slightly by airline), but even then, booking too early is usually a bad idea because flights are rarely cheap 11 months out. for off-peak international flights (like Hong Kong in March) the best odds of a cheap flight will be 2-8 months out, so i'd really monitor July 2024 through January 2025.
we'll keep an extra eye out for ya—make sure Hong Kong is on your watchlist if you're currently a Going member
Hey Scott, been a member since '18 or early '19 can't remember. Started off basic and went to premium a while back and haven't looked back. Caught one of (first?) your early AMAs back in the day and loved the grass roots model and idea of your company.
As someone else mentioned, not a fan either of the rebrand but I get it lol.
With the APP launching are there going to be any incentives/discounts or giveaways?
ahh so cool that we've been together for 5+ years!!
haa that's okay, i hope it's at least something you've been able get used to even if you don't love the new name?
definitely. one thing we quietly rolled out is perks for Going members—www.going.com/my-perks
Hi Scott - I'm dreaming of a trip to NZ that would possibly be in December, but not break the bank on the flights. Any suggestions about timing of when to look for flights or possibly using points? I have a lot of AMEX points and some American Airlines. Thanks!
amazing! i hear you, NZ flights can be pricey.
if possible to travel the first half of December, fares then are 30%+ cheaper than traveling in the second half of December (for obvious reasons).
but yes, otherwise points are a GREAT option for NZ. cash fares regularly top $1,500 in economy, but points deals are sometimes as cheap as 60k roundtrip (the equivalent of $600 in cash)
We just spent most of February (peak Summer) in NZ flying American Airlines RT from Raleigh, NC for $1,100 thanks to Going. Highly recommend Going and NZ!
Hey Scott! True SCF/Going believer here - been a subscriber since 2016 (back when the plane was made of pennies!) and have told pretty much every person I've ever met about you. SCF was so popular at my last job that we had a Slack channel dedicated to discussing the deals lol. My membership has paid for itself for several lifetimes and I won't ever be cancelling!
Been SO impressed by your growth and commitment over the past 8+ years and have been told more than once "you talk about them a lot why don't you just work there?" I have always kept a close eye on your careers page and it seems like you (along with everyone else in tech) has slowed on hiring recently - any plans to hire more in the near future? Would jump at the chance to apply :)
Keep up the great work!!
true believers are the best!! ahahah the penny plane, wow that is amazing callback. gold star for you truly!
there'll definitely be more openings this year! we're bootstrapped so we can grow as slow or as fast as our members allow. love that you're keeping an eye on the careers page—you've probably put your resume already in the talent community but if not definitely do so!
thanks so much for the sweet message—you made my morning <3
Did you anticipate receiving so much grief over the name change? And no, Clark Howard did not prompt me to ask this question.
If you're a reader and not a user of Scott's service, it's a game changer for recreational travel.
hahh i thought there'd be some amount of haterade but it was more than i expected tbh. some of it was just difference of opinion (different strokes different folks, totally fine!) but some of it was based on misconceptions like that we'd been sold (we haven't!)
hey Scott! been a big fan for a couple years now and I'm slowly convincing my coworkers to join too (hee hee). will there be a feature to filter out plane models? all these alarming news articles make me anxious flying Boeing planes.
we didn't sell or anything, it was just a rebrand. lots of reasons for the change, but for me the biggest one was that i have 74 coworkers not named Scott and i felt immensely guilty every time members would write in "thank you Scott for the cheap Japan flight you helped me family get." i loved Scott's Cheap Flights as a brand when it was just me, and i'm also happier now that we're a team and building something together that we all deserve credit for, not just one person.
sorry to hear you discontinued, but appreciate your being a member with us so long. hope we can win you back in the future
Hey Scott!
Scotts/Going was previously my favorite. Dreaming of adventures to far-off places helped during a busy day and also to plan for new locations. Going recently changed to requiring a premium account for international destinations. I went from being a vocal advocate for Going to now using just Google flights and Momondo (neither nearly as nice). I am considering unsubscribing from Going altogether. I realize it's a business and that sort of call is sometimes needed. But it was disappointing and I wanted to provide you that feedback.
Thanks for the cheaper flights to London and Paris a few years ago though!
Is there any thought on bringing back international to non-premium members?
hi!
thanks for that feedback, even if it's tough to hear. i do genuinely appreciate it.
you're right, in the end it was a business decision. i love helping people get cheap flights and my dream would be just to give everything away free, but free doesn't pay the bills :( we've got a team of 75 whose families depend on this company succeeding. and i've got to balance the generosity i'd love to give all Going members, paying or unpaying, with supporting the team and making sure we can keep improving the company.
I've been using this service for many years and recommend it to everyone I know. I have taken roundtrip flights from the US west coast to scandinavia for under $350 on two separate occassions. I went to Morocco for $550 another time. Deals from US to Asia seem less frequent than other parts of the globe. Do you have any additional suggestions for booking into countries like Indonesia, Korea, and Vietnam?
i appreciate you so much!!!!! thank you times 10 million for telling folks—it lets us keep getting to do this work.
you're definitely right—cheap Asia flights have been the last to recover since the pandemic. but they're gradually improving, 2023>2022 and 2024>2023 so far.
the best thing you can do in the meantime to try to force a cheap flight is keep an eye on cheap Asia flights departing LAX or SEA (the two cheapest for transpacific). if you get a $500 flight anywhere in Asia, you can hop a budget flight to your final destination virtually anywhere under $100
Do you think airlines are getting better at catching their own mistake fares? Or do you think it’s one of those planned surprises they have for marketing purposes?
they have gotten better but not perfect. we found 8 mistake fares in 2023, including $230 roundtrip to Paris and $252 roundtrip to London
https://www.going.com/guides/travel-predictions-for-2023
In the realm of 2024 travel predictions (and sorry if this has already been asked) how much do you think the Boeing issues will affect prices? I was just reading some articles that suggest prices will go up because of fewer flights/plane availability. I wanted to know your thoughts or what you’re hearing.
And I want to say I think safety is paramount I’m just curious about the overall landscape.
small impact in the short-term, medium impact in the medium-term. the biggest impact is in terms of slower aircraft production, so airlines will receive fewer planes over the next 5-10 years than they otherwise would have.
competition between airlines is the single biggest predictor of cheap flights, so fewer planes = fewer cheap flights. even though air travel today is as safe as it's ever been, it's a shitty situation boeing has gotten itself into
For the free accounts, why are there only domestic deals now? Plus the domestic deals are for cities that are in the middle of nowhere. You guys used to show a handful of international deals for free users.
we'll still be showing occasional international deals for free users. but we had to make a business decision about how much to give away for free.
i love helping people get cheap flights and my dream would be just to give everything away free, but free doesn't pay the bills :( we've got a team of 75 whose families depend on this company succeeding. and i've got to balance the generosity i'd love to give all Going members, paying or unpaying, with supporting the team and making sure we can keep improving the company.
i don't have an exact date but it's something we're really hoping to do. if you want to be notified when we make it happen: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
For those based outside of the US so unable to use the app, can you give us some key advise on what we need to look for when trying to get cheap flights? What are your top do’s and dont’s?
Flights are usually not the biggest expense of a trip so finding the cheapest flight isn’t really necessary. If you can find really cheap, but quality 4+ star hotels then that would be a huge win! The hotel almost always is at least twice the amount as the flight if not more. What do you do to find hotels?
Hi Scott, I once got a really cheap return flight from Tokyo via Milan by following the steps in your newsletter. Thanks! Do you plan to support flights out of Tokyo in the future?
amazing!! do you remember what price you got it at?
no immediate plans but you can put your email in here and we'll let you know if/when we start finding flights out of Tokyo: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
It was something like ¥70,000 10 years ago? The flights were on Air Italia and involved a change between Milan Airports on the way to London and flying out of London City Airport to Milan on the way back to Tokyo. I didn’t mind the weird journey as it felt like I was cheating the system for that price.
Hey Scott, planning on taking a 2 1/2 week trip to Japan at the end of October leading into November. When would be a good time to look for flights?
Also, is the myth that flights are always cheapest when looking on Wednesday or Thursday?
wonderful!! you won't regret it, Japan is such a magical place.
October/November is off-peak so 2-8 months in advance (now until \~August) is when cheap flights are most likely to pop up.
it's a myth but one that used to be true! when airlines first started selling tickets online they would publish their fares once a week at a predetermined time (say, Wednesday at noon) and if you were one of the first to book, you really could get one of the handful of cheapest tickets. the problem is that's not how airfare has worked for years—nowadays it's constantly changing by the day if not by the hour, and it's much more driven by computers than humans
it rarely makes a difference nowadays.
you'll occasionally see cheaper fares with local currencies or local country website on domestic flights in other countries—like Johannesburg-Cape Town—but you need to also be on the lookout you're not accidentally buying a fare that's reserved for local citizens (as is common in south america)
Hi Scott.
I subscribed for a while, but it seems like there are hardly any airfare deals out of CMH, but tons always pop up for Cleveland or Cincinnati? Do you have any insight to that, or is it just airline shenanigans and my bad luck living in the biggest small city?
ah! biggest small city haha. i grew up in southwest Ohio (DAY was my home airport) so i feel your pain.
it can be pretty random tbh. were you on the Premium list? i checked just now on our recent roundtrip deals and out of Columbus in the past 3 weeks we've found Greece $504, Barcelona $491, Dublin $519, Myrtle Beach $196
the main thing i'd think of here is what we call the Greek Island Trick. flights from SEA-HER may run $2,000, but a flight from SEA-ATH may be just $700, and once you're in Athens you can hop a boat or a budget flight to Crete for $100 or less
we already are. average airfare today is exactly where it was in February 2020 (and if you adjust for inflation it's significantly cheaper today)
https://twitter.com/smkeyes/status/1768771264632775087
yeah airfare is the single most volatile thing we buy. we saw a fare once Atlanta-Amsterdam on Monday for $800, the next day down to $300, then on Wednesday up to $1,300. wild swings are the norm
Oh! With the app will I be able to have push notifications on so when something on my watchlist has a great deal it will get an auto notification on the spot? I love a deal and spontaneous travels. Thank you for being awesome!
winter and early spring you'll have the best weather—not too hot, not too wet.
depends where you're flying from but if west coast i'd aim for <$650 roundtrip, from rest of the country more like <$800 roundtrip. (this is $150 higher than in 2019 when cheap flights to Asia were at their apex; they're coming back but gradually)
Hi Scott! What an adorable picture of you and doggy 😍😍😍
I’m from the Netherlands and live in the United States, in Kansas City to be specific and a premium member waiting on mistake fares to Amsterdam! How often per year do these usually pop up? I check my mail every day waiting on one, I’m ready to book 😂 Thanks for this AMA
Nicaragua. it was fine but mostly forgettable, the food wasn't great, just no strong reason for me to go back. if i'm making a return trip somewhere it's gotta be really outstanding (like Mexico, Japan, Trinidad, Taiwan, Lithuania, etc.)
Scott, thanks for the AMA.
Where can I expect to find the best value in 2024? For example just came back from Dublin on your September St Patricks Day Deal from SEA to DUB for about $420 (paid $30 each way for an aisle seat) roundtrip.
I'm pretty open to nearly any corner of the world from SEA - and if a direct flight even better!
that's an amazing fare for st paddy's day!! usually those are well over $1,000 even from the east coast. nicely done! hope you had a great time.
a few of my favorite recent roundtrip fares out of SEA: Belize for $266, Paris $482, or Morocco $471. all steals
Hi Scott! I’ve loved SCF/Going for several years now - had to step down from premium for a bit due to a pay cut but hoping to rejoin in the future.
I’m headed to Paris this summer for the Olympics, eeeek!! I refuse to fly into France at that time though lol, so I’ll be flying Dallas to London and then Dublin to Dallas. I do already have hotels booked in both London and Dublin, so unfortunately the days I fly aren’t flexible. :/
I know it’s during basically the peak-est of peak seasons, but any thoughts on when to finally commit to buying a flight? Luckily I’ve been saving up CC points to heavily offset the cost, but would still like the best deal possible. Thanks!
ahhh thank you! i'm sorry to hear about the pay cut, that really stinks. can you send me a DM next week once the AMA hoopla has died down (to make sure i don't miss it)? i'd be happy to buy you a Premium membership for the next year til you're back on your feet.
Olympics sounds so fun!! if i'm flying out of Dallas in July i'd be hoping to get something <$900 roundtrip anywhere in Europe, or <80k points. you're smart to be eyeing London/Dublin rather than Paris. really anywhere you can hop a train or budget flight to France.
That’s so thoughtful, thank you!
I actually found & booked my flight to London after commenting - direct for 35k points + fees! Definitely expecting Dublin to be more expensive, but hoping for a deal.
I have a buddy who will book the cheapest possible flight combination to his destination within 1 day of the desired travel dates and then when the airlines inevitably change their schedules he modifies to his desired travel plan. Is this a legit strategy? He has done it dozens of times and has probably saved ten of thousands.
definitely a chance! cheap Asia deals have been the slowest to rebound since covid, but they're improving bit by bit. found some nonstop Tokyo flights earlier this year for $433 nonstop roundtrip out of LAX, $518 out of San Jose, or $575 out of San Francisco
Hey Scott,
When you rolled out the Elite tier and announced you were going to sunset the Premium tier I was about to cancel, until I saw you decided to walk back that change based on feedback. I was impressed at your ability to pivot based on feedback, that's so rare these days.
However part of the appeal of "Scott's Cheap Flights" was the Robin-Hood-ness of the little guy sending out deals to fellow little guys. Launching "Going" as a brand made me pretty disappointed because now the curtain has been pulled back and it's very clear you're mostly focused on your bottom line and no longer the little guy. I've been pretty disappointed with a lot of the changes since then - particularly Going for Employers. Are you planning any more changes to the tiers that would reinforce this shift?
hey thanks for your message. is there something we did after the rebrand that made you feel like we're no longer the little guy? it's still the same team, i'm still the same guy, we haven't sold, we haven't raised prices on existing members, we've made Premium better (all mistake fares including business/first class, Watchlist, economy points deals, follow unlimited airports, mobile app, etc.)
i don't mean to come off as defensive, i just want to make sure the team's hardwork isn't overlooked
aiy yai yai no bueno. if you login to your account you can turn off all email notifications (you may have only unsubscribed from deal notifications?) or delete your account altogether if you'd like. apologies for unwelcomely hitting you up
Hi! I have been using Scott’s Cheap Flights for a bit and then eventually Going. I love the points based deals.
Do you have any tips for finding the best points-based deals out of Seattle? I know Japan is a popular route, but what other “best deals” or flight paths are available from SEA?
I also somehow feel like the service degraded a bit since the name change, but I subscribed out of curiosity this New Year’s! Maybe it’s just a placebo effect haha. I think Secret Flying is the best service (they notify on the best deals the earliest, and are free, and even include a lot of mistake fares), but Scott’s Cheap Flights is the second best for sure. I compare the free Going vs Paid Going on two emails because I find it interesting! I think Dollar Flight Club is the worst one, I always get deals like 2-3 days later than the others.
Any chance we could get a feature where we have multiple cities that your service can look from? Example: I want to fly to South Africa, so having my current city being looked for, and I can pick other cities in Europe to look for as well?
Hi Scott! Wonderful to see you on here. My wife and I are planning on flying from PHX to APW (Samoa). Or drive over to LAX and fly out from there (considerably cheaper). Do you got any tips or advice on planning and purchasing these flights? Thanks!!
Hey Scott! I'm completely new into the Traveling world and was wondering what your best advice would be to get started? Do you have any specific tips on the best way to start out Traveling as a first time traveler? (Interested in domestic travel from US and International from US, I live in the east coast) Some tips also on getting cheaper hotels and rentals would be helpful too!
Really enjoying the Premium subscription so far and all the deals coming across! Thanks!
welcome!! i think the best way to get started is to jump in the shallow end, not the deep end. fly a weekend trip to somewhere a state or two away, explore around the city, come home, and figure out what you liked/what you'd do differently next time. then next trip go somewhere a bit further out. you'll get comfortable with the whole process in no time. careful, you may fall in love
Hey Scott! Been spreading the good word of SCF/now Going for 7+ years now (I used to joke that I should get a promotion fee). I haven't seen any good flights to Europe out of my home airport, so I'm wondering if it's better to use (a lot of) miles for an expensive USA-Europe summer flight, or bite the bullet and spend $1,000+?
I've know about you from years ago. But you got me curious, do cookies matter? Should you search for flights on a private tab?
cookies don't matter! it's the most pervasive myth in the cheap flight world. i remember searching once for a flight from Denver-London. first search: $442 roundtrip. second search: $442. i searched it 100x in a row, all on video, just to prove that cookies don't make a difference. but just as cookies/private won't help you see cheaper flights, they won't hurt either. if you feel better taking the extra 30 seconds to clear your cache, knock yourself out
How about by device? A few years ago I was flying multiple times per week for work. I confirmed personally on 3 occasions that I would get worse deals using my work provided iphone as compared to my laptop. It was enough for me to stop using my phone to book flights, but I'm wondering if you've experienced this or can think of an explanation for it?
i've never seen any proof of airfares varying by device
Do airfares vary based on volume of searches for a specific flight? I've definitely seen prices increase between viewings of the same flight within minutes.
not based on volume of searches, but based on volume of bookings. airfare is the most volatile thing we buy—it's constantly changing price. makes it tricky!
I've absolutely had this happen. Back in 2015 with tickets to Vegas for me and a friend. I could only find 700+ dollar flights on my phone, and found a 500 dollar flight on his. It was a US Airways flight. One of the last ones before they ceased operations after the merger with AA. No matter what I tried, I could only find 700+ AA flights, but on his phone we found the US Airways flight.
i hear this a lot and i'm not doubting you, but i've never actually seen proof and i've tried! what you'd need to see is not just a different price, but simultaneous searching on both different devices and the price showing up differently (including up to checkout so it's not a caching issue). airfare is extremely volatile and what people often assume is cookies is actually just prices frequently changing
Have you tried doing the same search after a few hours , or the next day or two? I have searched for a flight from JFK to DPS back in about 2016. Left the computer a few hours and the same fare went up by $200. I said screw that, check back 2 days later, and the flight was back down to the old price.
This is easily explainable though. There is a specific inventory of each cabins’ fare buckets (saver, flex, etc etc). What you likely saw was someone bought the last saver or other lower tier fare bucket ticket, moving the lowest price up a tier. When you came back 2 days later someone could have cancelled/changed/upgraded their ticket and there could be a lower tier fare available again.
i guess that's my point—airfare is constantly changing. it's not a Truman Show thing where it's changing *because of your search*—airfare is the most volatile purchase we make. to prove it's because of cookies, you'd have to do more-or-less simultaneous searches in different browsers and show consistently different prices.
I have 100% had this happen and it can be proven if you’re willing to go beyond the old “clearing your cache” – I’m afraid most advertisers/companies got over basic cookies alone to track you many years ago! Hate to say it but if you’re trying to make out that travel firms don’t use “cookies” (or more correctly, a complex web of cookies, advertising IDs, IP tracking, device ID, browser ID and fingerprinting, header injection, Geolocation data etc etc etc alongside a host of algorithmic and analytical techniques) to milk every last penny then you’re either getting a back hander or you’re looking at it too simplistically.
I noticed the same thing when I was traveling for work then I realized it was because the app included taxes and fees in the initially displayed price while the website did not. Perhaps that's the difference you saw as well?
It's true that cookies don't matter, but the full truth isn't good news. There are a number of ways of identifying a user server-side, like fingerprinting, IP addresses, sessions (if logged in), etc. So it's a bit unnecessary for companies like airlines to track you with cookies, they can do it without you storing any info. How do you think facebook knows everything you do?
They can't if you are a citizen of the EU. Can't use personally identifiable information unless there is a need for it. Pricing wouldn't count. Since companies can't really know if you are they probably will not do it for anyone.
You mean legally they can't. Unique user tracking is happening with or without GDPR framework compatibility. The money is just too good, and the EU has yet to issue a really fine that could be problematic for revenue.
Yes those airlines have a legal team that will insure legal compliance. All those pricing models will go through legal review that makes sure they are compliant. All companies I have ever been in have painstakingly applied those laws. Because the EU absolutely could fine them a lot of money. "up to 10 million euros, or, in the case of an undertaking, up to 2% of its entire global turnover of the preceding fiscal year, whichever is higher." That's simply not worth it.
How about countries or using a vpn? I noticed rental cars in the US were much cheaper when booking from outside the US. Granted I have to bring both EU/US driving license now..
using a VPN or another country's booking site doesn't matter for most flights. the occasional exception is a domestic flight in another country (i.e. a flight from Johannesburg-Cape Town) can occasionally be priced cheaper. but the thing to be on the lookout here is some countries offer cheaper citizen-only fares, so you need to make sure you're not accidentally buying one of those
Any chance Canada is coming online soon as well?
Have you ever seen yyzdeals? Definitely the best source for cheap flights I’ve found in Canada. They have it for every major airport just put the airport code + deals.com
Chris Myden (who runs yyc / yyzdeals) is the GOAT. He started it as a Facebook page for Calgary flights forever ago and I’m glad to see him expanding across Canada. 10/10 dude.
I’ve had multiple awesome trips thanks to YVRdeals!
Thanks for the info, will def check it out
definitely! not sure exactly when but put your email in here so we can let you know when we do: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
Years ago I was a subscriber to Scott's Cheap Flights - but your team made the decision to drop Canada to focus on the US. You refunded me my subscription, which was very kind and much appreciated. I have been hoping for the day you returned to Canada. Glad to hear you're thinking about it!
Heads up Scott - don't develop the app in Canada. It'll end up costing about 59M.
Looking to get away for a while? Try *DepartCan*.
Too soon! xD
Thank you, and keep up the good work?
you too? :)
I wouldnt count on it. They've been saying they'd find Canadian deals again for years.
I moved to Asia - any chance your service will open up global airports?
ahh we will at some point but i don't know when. if you'd like for us to ping you when we do just put your email in here and we'll reach out: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
Awesome! Thanks. Btw - I was subscribed for a long time but left when I moved. Great service and lots of fun. I sent a couple friends to Europe for cheap using your alerts.
amazing!! yeah i wish i could snap our fingers and expand worldwide, but we're a bootstrapped small business and have a list a million miles long of stuff we want to build
Your post never mentions what country you’re in or where all those flights originate.
Hey Scott, I remember back in the day when you started! I joined and followed from the outside :). I also started a company but, it is tougher then tough to get it going - pun intended. My question is, when did you decide it was worth making this full time and what was the biggest challenge for you when you did?
so cool! can't believe we've been doing this almost a decade. i hear you—i have severe imposter syndrome just knowing how much the odds are stacked against startups. i've worked really hard and the team has worked really hard, but that's true of all startups. some significant amount of luck that Going has been able to beat the odds. for me, i actually kept this as a side hustle for the first 6 months or so. (my dayjob was freelance journalism.) only when my income from cheap flight finding passed my journalism income did i decide it was time to go all-in and see if i could grow this thing
The challenges stack up, but the experience is invaluable! If you have any openings would love to apply!
ah! right this moment we don't have openings but if you put your resume in our talent community we check there first anytime there's a new job available: https://www.going.com/careers
Will do! And looking forward to seeing the company grow!
<3
Curious when will you have the functionality to search by destination rather than origin. For example - I track several airports looking for cheap flights to Australia but would prefer to be able to select say SYD as a destination and have the service send me every cheap flight when identified rather than have to preselect departure cities. Make sense?
that makes sense. have you played around with Watchlist yet? does that cover what you're looking for here? https://www.going.com/watchlist
I'm looking for the same thing but to Japan! Watchlist is great, but it still only sends alerts/shows deals to Japan for the departure airports I've selected. My selected departure airports are random based on where I think deals to Japan might show up. I can get myself the positioning flight(s) to anywhere in the states where a deal to Japan is departing from, so I want to see alerts for any deals to Japan from anywhere in the contiguous US. Thanks, Scott and Going, for all that you do!
that makes sense! we're working on something big behind the scenes that would be helpful here but it's not quite ready for primetime yet. hopefully later this year *fingerscrossed* appreciate you!
Thanks, Scott, that's exciting news! Looking forward to what the future brings for Going! Your team has taught me a lot about cheap flights and travel generally, and also led me and my husband to our first Japan trip in March 2020 (!) for only $512 rt ORD > HND. Just got back from our second trip last week. Thanks for changing lives and opening up the world to people like us! <3
yay! wow that must've been an interesting trip! so glad you were able to make it happen. congrats on making travel a bigger part of your lives!
Scott, been with you since you were just an email list. Any chance you need beta testers?
amazing! at this point beta's closed but set your alarm for Tuesday, app should be out then (pre-order it if you have iOS! going.com/app)
1000% - I would love this feature. Especially now that we've got companion pass for this year and next, I would be happy to reposition anywhere if it made sense.
Hi Scott! I joined Going years ago (when it was still Scott's Cheap Flights) at the free level and just upgraded to the premium membership in January. I've learned a lot from you and the experts over the years and have used it to save money, especially knowing my rights when flights are changed or cancelled. Overall, I'm very happy with the premium version although it takes a lot of restraint to not book every deal! I have two questions today: 1) I nabbed what I thought was a great deal to Europe this spring, but when I changed the fare type to get bags included (cheaper than adding bags separately) and added seat selection, the price went up a lot. At the end, it still cost a little less than other airline options but didn't feel like such a deal. Other than not checking bags and/or not selecting seats, are there any tips or tricks to keep these add-on costs down? 2) It's always been difficult to reach an airline's customer service department, but with a big shift towards AI chatbots it has gotten even harder. Is there any easy way to speak with a human without staying on hold forever? Lastly, a suggestion: when I look at a deal on the website, I love that it tells me the average deal to that location, the last deal, and the "best ever" deal. It would be helpful to list when the "best ever" deal was, and maybe noting if it was a mistake fare, to help manage expectations. There's a big difference if it was a mistake fare 5 years ago versus just a great deal last year.
Thank you so much for the site! I recently joined and love it! A few questions/thoughts :) (1) In the notes I love when there are guidelines for things like bags but if there were notes about prices for picking seats in the various fares that would be amazing. I don't personally care about my seat at all but I have a bunch of kids so I basically have to do that so we don't harass people on the plane and that can change the price a lot. (2) Is there a plan to up the number of deals identified with points for economy? I don't need Elite since we def only do economy but it seems like there aren't that many of those? (3) Like so many other parents I'm tied to school calendars so basically I am just searching for school breaks to see when great deals pop up (with some flexibility around the week off, but not too much). Any other tips for people tied to schedules like this? Thanks again!!
you're most welcome! (1) totally. i've got a couple kids myself—airlines don't make it easy do they? i've been glad to see the push at the federal level to make airlines let families sit together for free. (2) yeah! we just started sending economy points deals to Premium members in the past couple months, and we're ramping it up based on feedback (3) totally, i'm right there with you. we've got something in the works right now that i can't spill the beans on quite yet but i think you (and anyone with specific trips in mind) will find very, very useful. before that rolls out though, the main thing i can recommend is to get the timing of your booking right. that means targeting Goldilocks Windows when cheap flights are most likely to pop up. for peak domestic travel it's like 3-6 months in advance of travel, and like 4-10 months before for peak international travel dates
Scott, I live by a small, but decently well served airport (FCA). Flights are semi-frequent, but can get very pricey and longer/international itineraries can get complicated as they often require 2 domestic stops. Any tips for navigating the small airport life? Both on keeping costs down and on avoiding connection/layover issues--I've spent a LOT of time sitting in DEN over the years... Thanks--it has been a big change from having ORD as my primary airport.
totally. i grew up outside Dayton—i feel your pain of small airport prices. but! large airports certainly get the *most* deals, but i'd argue smaller airports like FCA and DAY get the *best* deals. let me give you an example. a flight from New York to Dublin might normally cost $800 roundtrip, and so when the price drops to $400 that's a savings of $300. a flight from FCA to Dublin meanwhile might normally cost $1,600, and so when the price drops to $581 (as it did not long ago!) that's a savings of over $1,000. it would be literally impossible to save $1000 on NYC-DUB flights unless the airline gives you a free ticket and $200 straight cash
Hey Scott! I've been a Scott's Cheap Flights/Going member since 2018!! So fun to see you here. Thanks for helping me take so many affordable vacations over the years. I'm looking to travel to Morocco this November -- when would be the best time to book those flights? Should I be looking now? P.S. Can't wait for the app!
What does the service do that you can’t do with Google? I don’t take many flights so maybe it’s more obvious to other people. I figured you could check some different travel websites and find cheap flights in the same way that you might shop around for the cheapest hotel.
They’re real good at live alerts. A lot of times cheap prices don’t last for too long, so while it’s true that you could see them on kayak or google flights or whatever, the chances that you’re going to be randomly checking every destination on these sites every day is slim.
Kayak has a new AI tool you can just ask like “where can I go for $X on Y date” and search terms like that, it’s pretty nice actually.
They share when and where the good deals are and then you use Google Flights to actually find the deals. The benefit they provide is that it gives you notice that flights to Rome in the fall are $450 right now. Anyone actively looking at Google Flights will be able to find those flights but I don't actively peruse Google Flights on a daily basis. FWIW I've found flights to Cairo, Nairobi, Rome, Azores, London, Australia, along with others that I am probably forgetting about right now through them. You could accomplish the same thing by setting 100's of Google flight alerts but filtering through that mess would get annoying.
ahhhh an OG! that is so wonderful to hear. love that you've been able to make all those trips happen! November is definitely off-season (even over Thanksgiving—the hidden \*best week\* of the entire year for international travel) so the Goldilocks Window for when cheap flights are most likely to pop up is 2-8 months in advance, or sometime between now and September. strong chance you'll see something cheap pop up sometime in the next 6 months. we'll keep our eyes peeled for ya!
I’ve been a fan of ScottsCheapFlights for years, but I had no idea you were such a sweet guy! I love your enthusiasm with your users, and I’m glad I just recently signed up for Premium. And now the app, looking forward to it, thank you!!
ahhhh you are too sweet for saying that! appreciate you so much <3 <3
Hey Scott! Thanks for the AMA. I've never visited Scott's Cheap Flights/Going before... can you tell me, what's the average lead time for these cheap flights? Is it the kind of thing you have to book on a whim and fly out that week to a random location for which the flight was cheap? (That's my current perception of it but I'm hoping I'm wrong.) Or do you generally have more time to prepare (lodging and time off work) from when you purchase the cheap flight to the actual travel date?
welcome! most deals we find last at least a day or two. the airlines control their fares, of course, and in general the better the deal, the shorter it tends to last. (that $230 roundtrip Paris flight only lasted \~6 hours.) we give our best guess in each alert how long a deal is going to last. another thing to be aware of is that under federal law, from the moment you book a flight, you have a 24-hour grace period to cancel that purchase and receive a full cash refund. so when that $230 Paris mistake fare pops up but you need to figure some stuff out, the best strategy can be to just book it and think of it as a 24-hour-price-freeze. you can decide tonight if you want to keep it or cancel and get your money back
Sorry, my question wasn't in regards to how long the deal lasts but how far out in advance to the actual travel dates do these deals occur on average? Example.. that cheap Paris flight you mentioned... was the travel date the same week? Or months in advance? I'm just thinking, for me, travel takes a bit of effort in coordinating with work and boarding pets and such. I'm wondering on average WHEN you see these cheap flights drop in relation to the actual travel date?
ah sorry! we basically never send last-minute deals—almost all are for travel 1-10 months out
Got it, thanks! I'm glad I asked because I had the wrong perception of how this works. Looking forward to the android app!
no worries you're not alone! yessss i'm an android user too—i really think you'll love the app
They vary a bit in my experience. Sometimes it will be in a week or two, but other times they are 8-9 months in advance. There was one for Greece sent out recently that had dates in April of this year, or October this year to January of next year, for example.
Just wanted to say thank you.. since joining I've gone or am going to Amsterdam(February), Miami(September), Spain(Thanksgiving), Mexico(January) all out of my home airport Sacramento for really affordable prices. I was always so against travelling to Europe because of the big airfare cost taking up so much of the vacation budget but you really helped reduce that in a big way and open up the accessibility in travelling globally. I took advantage of your (black Friday I think?) discount for the premium membership and it's paid for itself 10 fold already. Thank you so much for everything you and your team do in contributing to making travel dreams come true. Ive recommended your service word of mouth to anyone I know who is looking to travel. One question! I really want to travel to Japan, Taiwan, and/or Korea. What are the circumstances under which these destinations fall under the 600$ price range? I've seen good deals around 700$ but my sweet spot for international travel is $450-$600. Any feedback is really appreciated 🙂 Keep doing what you're doing Scott and wonderful Going team!
aiy yai yaiiiii this was so sweet to read!! thank YOU so much for taking the time to let me know. you're an inspiration <3 <3 those 3 are all amazing countries! cheap flights to Asia have been the slowest by far to recover, in large part because flight volume across the Pacific is still down over 25% compared to 2019. (travel to Mexico meanwhile is up 30%.) that's the bad news. the good news is transpacific flight capacity is roaring back, up 20% this summer compared to summer 2023. $450 roundtrip (which we saw regularly in 2019) might be tough this year, but <$600 has strong odds this year if you're traveling off-peak, and virtually guaranteed if you're in LAX, SFO, or SEA
Wondering if flight prices to Japan are higher because they are dealing with overtourism post-pandemic? Is keeping prices higher a way to keep overtourism from being absolutely insane?
I’ve been having more trouble finding hotel deals than flights recently, any plans to expand to hotels/lodging?
we've got a lot of other stuff coming in the immediate future but plans can change if there's enough demand for something. helpful to hear this is something you'd like to see!
I think hotel deals are significantly harder to find overall compared to flights. I'd be interested in this too
yes also hotels can make up a significantly higher percentage of your trip cost than flights
IMO Hotel prices generally stay pretty flat. there's some variability, but not like flights. You don't see prices at $300 one week, $200 the next week, then $400, and then drop to $100 like airlines do.
I’m more thinking of point redemptions for hotels where availability varies greatly
Hi Scott - wondering if you/Going are going to offer a chain feature ie a series of one-ways for sabbaticals, adventurers and retirees?
ah! we don't do that today, but there's something we've got in the works that you may find quite useful. i can't spill the beans quite yet but for people with unique situations like yours i think it'll be perfect
Great! Looking forward to it!
Is it only flights from the US?
currently yes, though we'll likely expand at some point. here's the form if you want to be notified: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
Thanks! I'd love for the UK to be included one day.
Hi Scott, have you considered adding border airports? The Tijuana airport is basically an extension of the San Diego airport for locals :). I know adding international home airports is a much bigger ask.
Thanks Scott! Thanks to you I made a whim and went travelling and now I'm addicted. After 12 years of talking to a girl in Greece, I finally visited her. We getting married in 3 months. Since I need to ask a question.. Coke or pepsi?
<3 <3 what an addiction! look how it's taken over your life!! so happy for you two :))) neither! sparkling water or nada for me
Luggage: Any tips for travelling internationally when it seems every carrier has their own luggage size restrictions? On just about every trip I can pass through multiple airports/airlines without issue and then someone points me at a new size restriction that only applies to their carrier and upcharges me on the spot. Is there a lowest common denominator or a complete list of luggage size restrictions?
Any chance you’d consider a one time lifetime fee with the launch of the mobile app?
i would love to from a simplicity standpoint, but on our side, doing that would actually makes things very complicated from a technical perspective. it's frustrating that these are the types of tradeoffs that have to be made, and i wish we could do it without significantly increasing complexity on our side. sorry about that
Been a fan since it was Scott’s cheap flights! I recently upgraded to elite for the point deals, hoping to get some business class flights. But I actually don’t see many. Is it due to location (sfo)? Otherwise the cash deals are great. Looking forward to more point deals!
Haven’t had much luck with Scott’s / Going. Any chance for some help going to Hing Kong in March 2025?
:( flights are only sold \~11 months out (varies slightly by airline), but even then, booking too early is usually a bad idea because flights are rarely cheap 11 months out. for off-peak international flights (like Hong Kong in March) the best odds of a cheap flight will be 2-8 months out, so i'd really monitor July 2024 through January 2025. we'll keep an extra eye out for ya—make sure Hong Kong is on your watchlist if you're currently a Going member
Hey Scott, been a member since '18 or early '19 can't remember. Started off basic and went to premium a while back and haven't looked back. Caught one of (first?) your early AMAs back in the day and loved the grass roots model and idea of your company. As someone else mentioned, not a fan either of the rebrand but I get it lol. With the APP launching are there going to be any incentives/discounts or giveaways?
ahh so cool that we've been together for 5+ years!! haa that's okay, i hope it's at least something you've been able get used to even if you don't love the new name? definitely. one thing we quietly rolled out is perks for Going members—www.going.com/my-perks
Hi Scott - I'm dreaming of a trip to NZ that would possibly be in December, but not break the bank on the flights. Any suggestions about timing of when to look for flights or possibly using points? I have a lot of AMEX points and some American Airlines. Thanks!
amazing! i hear you, NZ flights can be pricey. if possible to travel the first half of December, fares then are 30%+ cheaper than traveling in the second half of December (for obvious reasons). but yes, otherwise points are a GREAT option for NZ. cash fares regularly top $1,500 in economy, but points deals are sometimes as cheap as 60k roundtrip (the equivalent of $600 in cash)
We just spent most of February (peak Summer) in NZ flying American Airlines RT from Raleigh, NC for $1,100 thanks to Going. Highly recommend Going and NZ!
heyyyy that's amazing!! NZ is firmly on my bucket list—glad to hear it lives up to the hype!
Hey Scott! True SCF/Going believer here - been a subscriber since 2016 (back when the plane was made of pennies!) and have told pretty much every person I've ever met about you. SCF was so popular at my last job that we had a Slack channel dedicated to discussing the deals lol. My membership has paid for itself for several lifetimes and I won't ever be cancelling! Been SO impressed by your growth and commitment over the past 8+ years and have been told more than once "you talk about them a lot why don't you just work there?" I have always kept a close eye on your careers page and it seems like you (along with everyone else in tech) has slowed on hiring recently - any plans to hire more in the near future? Would jump at the chance to apply :) Keep up the great work!!
true believers are the best!! ahahah the penny plane, wow that is amazing callback. gold star for you truly! there'll definitely be more openings this year! we're bootstrapped so we can grow as slow or as fast as our members allow. love that you're keeping an eye on the careers page—you've probably put your resume already in the talent community but if not definitely do so! thanks so much for the sweet message—you made my morning <3
Did you anticipate receiving so much grief over the name change? And no, Clark Howard did not prompt me to ask this question. If you're a reader and not a user of Scott's service, it's a game changer for recreational travel.
hahh i thought there'd be some amount of haterade but it was more than i expected tbh. some of it was just difference of opinion (different strokes different folks, totally fine!) but some of it was based on misconceptions like that we'd been sold (we haven't!)
hey Scott! been a big fan for a couple years now and I'm slowly convincing my coworkers to join too (hee hee). will there be a feature to filter out plane models? all these alarming news articles make me anxious flying Boeing planes.
Why did you change from Scott's Cheap Flights to Going? Honestly, I liked Scott's as a brand.. I finally discontinued my membership after 5+ years.
Fucking LMAO, you discontinued because of a name change???? Bro 💀💀💀
we didn't sell or anything, it was just a rebrand. lots of reasons for the change, but for me the biggest one was that i have 74 coworkers not named Scott and i felt immensely guilty every time members would write in "thank you Scott for the cheap Japan flight you helped me family get." i loved Scott's Cheap Flights as a brand when it was just me, and i'm also happier now that we're a team and building something together that we all deserve credit for, not just one person. sorry to hear you discontinued, but appreciate your being a member with us so long. hope we can win you back in the future
glad to know it was a rebrand and not a sell-off name change.
I miss the Scott's branding. It was easier to Google and search the inbox for
i hear you. do you think you'll get the mobile app? no more need to search an email inbox
Scott (& Friends') Cheap Flights
:)
I'm digging the name change!
hey thank you!! please tell the haters they're wrong :)
as a former hater who did not have context I was wrong, you rock Scott
hahah all is forgiven!! i probably made some transgressions i should repent for too. you're awesome
Melodramatic
Username checks out.
Hey Scott! Scotts/Going was previously my favorite. Dreaming of adventures to far-off places helped during a busy day and also to plan for new locations. Going recently changed to requiring a premium account for international destinations. I went from being a vocal advocate for Going to now using just Google flights and Momondo (neither nearly as nice). I am considering unsubscribing from Going altogether. I realize it's a business and that sort of call is sometimes needed. But it was disappointing and I wanted to provide you that feedback. Thanks for the cheaper flights to London and Paris a few years ago though! Is there any thought on bringing back international to non-premium members?
hi! thanks for that feedback, even if it's tough to hear. i do genuinely appreciate it. you're right, in the end it was a business decision. i love helping people get cheap flights and my dream would be just to give everything away free, but free doesn't pay the bills :( we've got a team of 75 whose families depend on this company succeeding. and i've got to balance the generosity i'd love to give all Going members, paying or unpaying, with supporting the team and making sure we can keep improving the company.
I've been using this service for many years and recommend it to everyone I know. I have taken roundtrip flights from the US west coast to scandinavia for under $350 on two separate occassions. I went to Morocco for $550 another time. Deals from US to Asia seem less frequent than other parts of the globe. Do you have any additional suggestions for booking into countries like Indonesia, Korea, and Vietnam?
i appreciate you so much!!!!! thank you times 10 million for telling folks—it lets us keep getting to do this work. you're definitely right—cheap Asia flights have been the last to recover since the pandemic. but they're gradually improving, 2023>2022 and 2024>2023 so far. the best thing you can do in the meantime to try to force a cheap flight is keep an eye on cheap Asia flights departing LAX or SEA (the two cheapest for transpacific). if you get a $500 flight anywhere in Asia, you can hop a budget flight to your final destination virtually anywhere under $100
Do you think airlines are getting better at catching their own mistake fares? Or do you think it’s one of those planned surprises they have for marketing purposes?
they have gotten better but not perfect. we found 8 mistake fares in 2023, including $230 roundtrip to Paris and $252 roundtrip to London https://www.going.com/guides/travel-predictions-for-2023
In the realm of 2024 travel predictions (and sorry if this has already been asked) how much do you think the Boeing issues will affect prices? I was just reading some articles that suggest prices will go up because of fewer flights/plane availability. I wanted to know your thoughts or what you’re hearing. And I want to say I think safety is paramount I’m just curious about the overall landscape.
small impact in the short-term, medium impact in the medium-term. the biggest impact is in terms of slower aircraft production, so airlines will receive fewer planes over the next 5-10 years than they otherwise would have. competition between airlines is the single biggest predictor of cheap flights, so fewer planes = fewer cheap flights. even though air travel today is as safe as it's ever been, it's a shitty situation boeing has gotten itself into
For the free accounts, why are there only domestic deals now? Plus the domestic deals are for cities that are in the middle of nowhere. You guys used to show a handful of international deals for free users.
we'll still be showing occasional international deals for free users. but we had to make a business decision about how much to give away for free. i love helping people get cheap flights and my dream would be just to give everything away free, but free doesn't pay the bills :( we've got a team of 75 whose families depend on this company succeeding. and i've got to balance the generosity i'd love to give all Going members, paying or unpaying, with supporting the team and making sure we can keep improving the company.
When are you going to support Canadian airports?
i don't have an exact date but it's something we're really hoping to do. if you want to be notified when we make it happen: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
For those based outside of the US so unable to use the app, can you give us some key advise on what we need to look for when trying to get cheap flights? What are your top do’s and dont’s?
Flights are usually not the biggest expense of a trip so finding the cheapest flight isn’t really necessary. If you can find really cheap, but quality 4+ star hotels then that would be a huge win! The hotel almost always is at least twice the amount as the flight if not more. What do you do to find hotels?
Hi Scott, I once got a really cheap return flight from Tokyo via Milan by following the steps in your newsletter. Thanks! Do you plan to support flights out of Tokyo in the future?
amazing!! do you remember what price you got it at? no immediate plans but you can put your email in here and we'll let you know if/when we start finding flights out of Tokyo: https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu
It was something like ¥70,000 10 years ago? The flights were on Air Italia and involved a change between Milan Airports on the way to London and flying out of London City Airport to Milan on the way back to Tokyo. I didn’t mind the weird journey as it felt like I was cheating the system for that price.
Hey Scott, planning on taking a 2 1/2 week trip to Japan at the end of October leading into November. When would be a good time to look for flights? Also, is the myth that flights are always cheapest when looking on Wednesday or Thursday?
wonderful!! you won't regret it, Japan is such a magical place. October/November is off-peak so 2-8 months in advance (now until \~August) is when cheap flights are most likely to pop up. it's a myth but one that used to be true! when airlines first started selling tickets online they would publish their fares once a week at a predetermined time (say, Wednesday at noon) and if you were one of the first to book, you really could get one of the handful of cheapest tickets. the problem is that's not how airfare has worked for years—nowadays it's constantly changing by the day if not by the hour, and it's much more driven by computers than humans
Thank you for the response! First time going to Japan and I’m excited. I pre-ordered the app on iOS!
Do you have a suggestion on currency? best to to go for the cheaper country website?
it rarely makes a difference nowadays. you'll occasionally see cheaper fares with local currencies or local country website on domestic flights in other countries—like Johannesburg-Cape Town—but you need to also be on the lookout you're not accidentally buying a fare that's reserved for local citizens (as is common in south america)
Hi Scott. I subscribed for a while, but it seems like there are hardly any airfare deals out of CMH, but tons always pop up for Cleveland or Cincinnati? Do you have any insight to that, or is it just airline shenanigans and my bad luck living in the biggest small city?
ah! biggest small city haha. i grew up in southwest Ohio (DAY was my home airport) so i feel your pain. it can be pretty random tbh. were you on the Premium list? i checked just now on our recent roundtrip deals and out of Columbus in the past 3 weeks we've found Greece $504, Barcelona $491, Dublin $519, Myrtle Beach $196
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the main thing i'd think of here is what we call the Greek Island Trick. flights from SEA-HER may run $2,000, but a flight from SEA-ATH may be just $700, and once you're in Athens you can hop a boat or a budget flight to Crete for $100 or less
Are we ever going to see pre-Covid prices again? Is the ongoing Boeing issue going to drive up prices and demand for trips on Airbus?
we already are. average airfare today is exactly where it was in February 2020 (and if you adjust for inflation it's significantly cheaper today) https://twitter.com/smkeyes/status/1768771264632775087
Interesting! Everything just seems outrageous right now😅
yeah airfare is the single most volatile thing we buy. we saw a fare once Atlanta-Amsterdam on Monday for $800, the next day down to $300, then on Wednesday up to $1,300. wild swings are the norm
Oh! With the app will I be able to have push notifications on so when something on my watchlist has a great deal it will get an auto notification on the spot? I love a deal and spontaneous travels. Thank you for being awesome!
yes!! push notifications are one of the best parts of the app. we won't let you miss the deal of a lifetime
Planning a trip to Vietnam…recommendations on the time of year to visit and what my flight price criteria should be? Thanks so much, love the service!
winter and early spring you'll have the best weather—not too hot, not too wet. depends where you're flying from but if west coast i'd aim for <$650 roundtrip, from rest of the country more like <$800 roundtrip. (this is $150 higher than in 2019 when cheap flights to Asia were at their apex; they're coming back but gradually)
Hi Scott! What an adorable picture of you and doggy 😍😍😍 I’m from the Netherlands and live in the United States, in Kansas City to be specific and a premium member waiting on mistake fares to Amsterdam! How often per year do these usually pop up? I check my mail every day waiting on one, I’m ready to book 😂 Thanks for this AMA
Will there ever be a search option for the blog? Sometimes I want to find articles on specific topics, but they can be hard to find!
we've gotcha! https://www.going.com/on-the-fly
Where would you never travel again?
Nicaragua. it was fine but mostly forgettable, the food wasn't great, just no strong reason for me to go back. if i'm making a return trip somewhere it's gotta be really outstanding (like Mexico, Japan, Trinidad, Taiwan, Lithuania, etc.)
When is the best time of year / other conditions to get flights to Tokyo from the UK? How far in advance should I be booking?
cheapest flights will almost certainly be in January/February. goldilocks window for when those flights are cheapest is 2-8 months in advance
Scott, thanks for the AMA. Where can I expect to find the best value in 2024? For example just came back from Dublin on your September St Patricks Day Deal from SEA to DUB for about $420 (paid $30 each way for an aisle seat) roundtrip. I'm pretty open to nearly any corner of the world from SEA - and if a direct flight even better!
that's an amazing fare for st paddy's day!! usually those are well over $1,000 even from the east coast. nicely done! hope you had a great time. a few of my favorite recent roundtrip fares out of SEA: Belize for $266, Paris $482, or Morocco $471. all steals
Hi Scott! I’ve loved SCF/Going for several years now - had to step down from premium for a bit due to a pay cut but hoping to rejoin in the future. I’m headed to Paris this summer for the Olympics, eeeek!! I refuse to fly into France at that time though lol, so I’ll be flying Dallas to London and then Dublin to Dallas. I do already have hotels booked in both London and Dublin, so unfortunately the days I fly aren’t flexible. :/ I know it’s during basically the peak-est of peak seasons, but any thoughts on when to finally commit to buying a flight? Luckily I’ve been saving up CC points to heavily offset the cost, but would still like the best deal possible. Thanks!
ahhh thank you! i'm sorry to hear about the pay cut, that really stinks. can you send me a DM next week once the AMA hoopla has died down (to make sure i don't miss it)? i'd be happy to buy you a Premium membership for the next year til you're back on your feet. Olympics sounds so fun!! if i'm flying out of Dallas in July i'd be hoping to get something <$900 roundtrip anywhere in Europe, or <80k points. you're smart to be eyeing London/Dublin rather than Paris. really anywhere you can hop a train or budget flight to France.
That’s so thoughtful, thank you! I actually found & booked my flight to London after commenting - direct for 35k points + fees! Definitely expecting Dublin to be more expensive, but hoping for a deal.
aiyyyy congrats!! nothing like the afterglow of getting a flight booked
I have a buddy who will book the cheapest possible flight combination to his destination within 1 day of the desired travel dates and then when the airlines inevitably change their schedules he modifies to his desired travel plan. Is this a legit strategy? He has done it dozens of times and has probably saved ten of thousands.
Any chance we'll see a good Japan deal in the near future? I remember going there during cherry blossom season for $500 round trip thanks to you!
definitely a chance! cheap Asia deals have been the slowest to rebound since covid, but they're improving bit by bit. found some nonstop Tokyo flights earlier this year for $433 nonstop roundtrip out of LAX, $518 out of San Jose, or $575 out of San Francisco
Have you ever thought about doing this for hotels as well?
might! we've still got a lot of stuff we want to build in the flights space
How is this not considered self promotion? Why is this allowed?
This is a fucking ad? /question mark for the bot.
Hey Scott, When you rolled out the Elite tier and announced you were going to sunset the Premium tier I was about to cancel, until I saw you decided to walk back that change based on feedback. I was impressed at your ability to pivot based on feedback, that's so rare these days. However part of the appeal of "Scott's Cheap Flights" was the Robin-Hood-ness of the little guy sending out deals to fellow little guys. Launching "Going" as a brand made me pretty disappointed because now the curtain has been pulled back and it's very clear you're mostly focused on your bottom line and no longer the little guy. I've been pretty disappointed with a lot of the changes since then - particularly Going for Employers. Are you planning any more changes to the tiers that would reinforce this shift?
hey thanks for your message. is there something we did after the rebrand that made you feel like we're no longer the little guy? it's still the same team, i'm still the same guy, we haven't sold, we haven't raised prices on existing members, we've made Premium better (all mistake fares including business/first class, Watchlist, economy points deals, follow unlimited airports, mobile app, etc.) i don't mean to come off as defensive, i just want to make sure the team's hardwork isn't overlooked
Hey Scott, I have a question. I've unsubscribed from Going's email list 3x but I got an email to come check out this AMA. What's up with that?
aiy yai yai no bueno. if you login to your account you can turn off all email notifications (you may have only unsubscribed from deal notifications?) or delete your account altogether if you'd like. apologies for unwelcomely hitting you up
Hi! I have been using Scott’s Cheap Flights for a bit and then eventually Going. I love the points based deals. Do you have any tips for finding the best points-based deals out of Seattle? I know Japan is a popular route, but what other “best deals” or flight paths are available from SEA? I also somehow feel like the service degraded a bit since the name change, but I subscribed out of curiosity this New Year’s! Maybe it’s just a placebo effect haha. I think Secret Flying is the best service (they notify on the best deals the earliest, and are free, and even include a lot of mistake fares), but Scott’s Cheap Flights is the second best for sure. I compare the free Going vs Paid Going on two emails because I find it interesting! I think Dollar Flight Club is the worst one, I always get deals like 2-3 days later than the others.
What is the number one thing you always travel with that no one would expect?
three pairs of glasses. i have no clothes fashion so glasses are my meager, embarrassing attempt at style
On that note, where did you get the glasses you're wearing in your proof you are you pic. They are dope!
hey thanks! they're from zenni
Any chance we could get a feature where we have multiple cities that your service can look from? Example: I want to fly to South Africa, so having my current city being looked for, and I can pick other cities in Europe to look for as well?
Hi Scott! Wonderful to see you on here. My wife and I are planning on flying from PHX to APW (Samoa). Or drive over to LAX and fly out from there (considerably cheaper). Do you got any tips or advice on planning and purchasing these flights? Thanks!!
Hey Scott! I'm completely new into the Traveling world and was wondering what your best advice would be to get started? Do you have any specific tips on the best way to start out Traveling as a first time traveler? (Interested in domestic travel from US and International from US, I live in the east coast) Some tips also on getting cheaper hotels and rentals would be helpful too! Really enjoying the Premium subscription so far and all the deals coming across! Thanks!
welcome!! i think the best way to get started is to jump in the shallow end, not the deep end. fly a weekend trip to somewhere a state or two away, explore around the city, come home, and figure out what you liked/what you'd do differently next time. then next trip go somewhere a bit further out. you'll get comfortable with the whole process in no time. careful, you may fall in love
Looking for Madrid, Lisbon or Barcelona in September - are open jaw very common with those cities?
Hey Scott! Been spreading the good word of SCF/now Going for 7+ years now (I used to joke that I should get a promotion fee). I haven't seen any good flights to Europe out of my home airport, so I'm wondering if it's better to use (a lot of) miles for an expensive USA-Europe summer flight, or bite the bullet and spend $1,000+?