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One of my favorite ways to find flight deals is by using the Thrifty Traveler Premium flight alerts. I have been a subscriber for two years now, and they consistently send out the best flight deals. And, unlike other similar services, it even includes smaller airports, such as my local airport in Dothan, Alabama!
Hang around as I tell you all about the Thrifty Traveler Premium service, but fair warning, you WILL want to book a lot of flights. The great news is that finding great flight deals is actually Step #1 in my How To Plan A Trip To Europe blog post!
What is a Thrifty Traveler Premium?
Thrifty Traveler Premium is a flight alert service that sends you real-time flight deals! Their team scours the web for the best flight deals 24/7 and sends them to you via instant email notifications. And, for those unicorn deals, they even send out a courtesy text to help you snag the deals before someone else does!
Free Thrifty Traveler Flight Deal Alerts
First, I do want to mention that you can sign up for a FREE version of Thrifty Traveler, but it only includes one or two economy deals per week. The magic is in the premium version, and it is well worth the investment. I have personally paid for this out of my own pocket for the last two years, and I 100% recommend it.
Thrifty Traveler Premium
When you set up your new Thrifty Traveler Premium account, you can set your preferred airport or airports. My favorite thing about Thrifty Traveler over other similar services is that they cover small airports, too.
Even my small regional airport in Dothan, Alabama, is on the list! In fact, they share flight deals departing from over 200 USA and Canadian cities, which really sets them apart.
How Does Thrifty Traveler’s Service Work?
Thrifty Traveler Premium includes economy, business, and first-class flights both domestically and internationally. They send these out almost daily via email alerts. These flight deal alerts include cash fares, award (points) flights, and mistake/error fares. Often, the mistake fares are so good that they send them out via test as well. You always have to cross your fingers as these may get canceled after booking, but sometimes they don’t!
TIP: My two favorite credit cards for people who are just starting to earn points and miles are the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Capital One Venture X.
These aren’t last-minute flight deals, either. They post deals up to a year in advance, allowing you to look for specific dates and destinations. Additionally, these aren’t low-cost carriers; the deals are from the best airlines in the United States and around the world!
Setting Up Your Thrifty Traveler Premium Alerts
When you set up your Thrifty Traveler Premium account you can customize your settings for your exact needs.
First, you go into your Airport Settings, where you can choose your home airport and any specific airports from which you want flight deal alerts. I have 15 airports included in my domestic alerts. For international flight deal alerts, I have Atlanta set as my nearest hub. Likewise, you can include as many or as few departure airports as you’d like!
Then, you can go into your Deal Filters and adjust those settings as desired. You can opt-in for either/both domestic or international flight deals. Additionally, you can select whether or not you want to receive emails about points deals. You can even choose whether you want business class flight deal alerts sent to you or would rather just stick with the economy flights.
Some of the flights will not be direct out of each airport. However, Thrifty Traveler Premium does a great job of denoting which flights are nonstop (*).
If you find it hard to keep up with the emails, you can always log into your Thrifty Traveler Premium account and view all recent deals! We have been in Europe for the last three weeks, and instead of digging back through my emails, I am just browsing the Flight Deals section of my account. From there, you can even filter the deals by airport, price, destination, month, etc. It’s very easy to use!
How Much Does Thrifty Traveler Cost?
A one-year subscription to Thrifty Traveler Premium currently costs $99, and new subscribers can lock in that price for future renewals.
They offer a 100-day refund. So, if you aren’t satisfied with their service, you can request a refund!
What Else Does My Membership Include?
In addition to the flight alerts, Thrifty Traveler Premium members also have access to a private Facebook group. It has over 25k members and a lot of great discussions around travel and flight deals!
Sign Up For Thrifty Traveler Premium
If you would like to sign up for the Thrifty Traveler Premium service, just click here! I am very happy with this service, and I think you will be too. It’s hard not to jump on all of the flight deals!
Once you book your flights, use Booking.com to find deals on accommodations, and your trip is basically planned!
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