22 Best Ways to Get Cheap Flight Alerts

Plane tickets are more expensive than ever these days. There seems to be an insatiable desire to travel around the world that’s driving up prices like crazy, and the best price you see when you search flights today is probably shockingly different than in past years.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find cheap flights, though. Rather than searching the internet far and wide all day, some of the best tools to lean on are sites that alert you automatically when they find an awesome flight price.

Getting notified when there’s a deal to be seized is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to ensure you get the cheapest plane ticket possible.

There are a surprising number of sites and apps to set these alerts up, whether specific to certain destinations and travel dates or more general for all the cheapest flight options from your nearest airports.

Take advantage of more than one of these for the best success – look at some of our favorites below.

Best Cheap Flight Alerts by Category

Best Ways to Get Cheap Flight Alerts

1. Dollar Flight Club

Dollar Flight Club is one of the oldest discount holiday websites and might also be one of the most popular ones around, with over a million subscribers that use the service daily. This is another site that is constantly searching for cheap airfare on routes around the country and sending you a price alert every time one corresponds to you.

The fares they locate are usually between 60 and 90 percent below usual, and they claim that members save an average of $500 thanks to this. Premium members get access to more exclusive deals like mistake fares and domestic deals. Booking one flight after signing up could get you a ten-times return on investment.

Whether you go with a free or paid membership, you could definitely save money thanks to these flight deal alerts. Read our full Dollar Flight Club Review for more info about the platform.

See Related: Best Websites for Cheap Flights and Hotels

2. Going (Formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights)

Going (Formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) is one of the original travel deal websites and one of the best to visit if you want the best flight deal alerts. It’s one of our top choices at ViaTravelers and a favorite around America.

The concept is very simple – sign up for a free account and enter your home airport and any others you’d like to receive deals from. Then, watch the deals roll in! Going.com will email you when a great deal becomes available. If you like what you see, you’ll book flights directly with the airline, as Going is just the messenger.

Going searches for both round-trip and one-way tickets, and results will contain anything their experts consider a great deal – you won’t need to set up preferences for specific flights or dates.

Upgrading to a premium plan gets you access to more deal types, such as domestic flights, mistake fares, and more. Read our full Going (Formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) Review for more information.

See Related: Cheapest Places to Fly Around the World

2. Thrifty Traveler

Thrifty Traveler is another of the best websites for cheap travel deals, including flights, the best accommodation discounts, and even great credit card offers. Along with their alert services, they have an awesome blog with a wide range of other travel hacks and tips.

Like Going, you’ll enter your home airport to start receiving great deals for free. The upgraded version offers additional perks like business-class and points and miles deals. This site proudly avoids budget airlines, stating that most of their deals are found on Delta, United, and American Airlines.

We’ve reviewed Thrifty Traveler Premium, too, and find that it’s a great value. With savings of around $250 compared to normal flight prices, there’s no reason not to let these deals roll in.

See Related: Miles App Review

4. Kayak

Kayak has long been one of the most user-friendly platforms for frequent fliers. This flight search engine aggregates prices from almost any airline and a range of online travel agencies, ensuring that whoever offers the lowest prices is visible to you.

Besides being a great site to perform searches, Kayak also has a free flight price tracker function. Travelers love how flexible the monitor is – if you don’t know where or when you want to travel but want to receive price alerts any time there’s a great deal, activate the Top 25 Cities alerts if you have a destination in mind but aren’t set on dates, set up a price alert with flexible dates.

However, you can also make it much more specific. Perform a search with your preferred travel dates (including any specifications you might have; for example, add nearby airports or specify that you only want to fly nonstop).

On the search results page, click the button to track prices – you’ll get notified every time prices change so you can book at their lowest.

See Related: How to Book a Flight Without a Credit Card

5. Airfarewatchdog

Airfarewatchdog is made to tell you when prices drop on a route: its slogan is “When fares are low, we’ll let you know.” This site offers free alerts for price changes, making it another budget-conscious traveler favorite.

Flights can be searched for “to the city” and “from the city,” as well as lists like “top fares of the day” that can help you to track down the very best deals. Your dashboard helps you easily manage your tracked flights so that you can start planning for the next one after a successful trip.

Download the app if you want access to the deals and alerts on your mobile, or sign up for their newsletter, and they will send you the best deals. Read our full Airfarewatchdog review to see all the details.

See Related: Epic Tips for Stress-Free Travel

6. Google Flights

Google Flights is one of the best options for free, no-fuss results. This function of Google works very nicely with profiles you probably already have, such as a Gmail account.

It couldn’t be simpler to set up a price alert on a route you like – perform your search and then click the Track Prices button for your specific travel dates or “Any Dates.” You’ll get emails every time the price changes significantly, as well as other travel tips that can be very useful.

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7. Momondo

Momondo is another long-time favorite for searching not only flights on any airline to any destination but also for all of the hotels and rental cars available there. Travelers love its user-friendliness, similar to Kayak’s – probably because Kayak owns it and works on the same technology!

Once you perform a search, whether one-way or round-trip, you can easily flip the Price Alert switch on both the app and the website.

Making a (free) account is the easiest way to manage your tracked flight prices, allowing you to shut off notifications you no longer need. However, don’t do that until you are certain – you never know when you’ll be pleasantly surprised with a last-minute flight alert!

See Related: Cheap Places to Travel Around the World

8. Skyscanner

Travelers love Skyscanner for its simplicity and range of functions in searching for flights. Before clicking the button to launch your search, you can see red and green dates on the calendar – indicating the most and least expensive dates for your trip.

Getting price alerts from Skyscanner is simple – click “Get Price Alerts” after doing your search. You can create a free account with your email or use Facebook, Apple, or Google credentials, further simplifying the process. You won’t be charged anything to receive email updates when the price changes on your route.

See Related: Best Skyscanner Alternatives to Book Travel

9. Expedia

Expedia was founded in 1996, making it one of the true original online travel sites, and it’s one of the biggest for travel deals and vacation packages. Cheap flights are available in their hundreds, and Expedia goes the extra mile to secure even further discounts if you book directly through their site.

Its price alerts function rolled out in 2006, making it a pioneer in this specialty. Set your departure airports, arrival destinations, dates, and other parameters, and Expedia will constantly check to see if prices change, informing you instantly.

While you can often find a great flight price when booking directly with Expedia, you can almost always find that same deal on that flight directly with the airline – this is the safer option if things go wrong. However, a truly great flight deal is hard to pass up, so if you must book with Expedia, know how it works and what to expect.

See Related: Guide To Ryanair Flights

10. Matt’s Flights

Matt’s Flights is another lesser-known site for email alerts that will bring the best travel deals and cheap flights to your inbox. There’s a free version that will bring in decent savings and a paid version that brings even more, and the service provided can be quite personalized.

Matt’s Flights Premium is the paid version that unlocks access to the cheapest flights and mistake fares. It also gets you access to Matt – if there’s a trip you’re trying to make happen, you can email him about it so he’s on the lookout for those flights. That’s some great value for your money.

See Related: GetYourGuide vs. Viator: What is Better?

11. Mighty Travels

With a massive base of over 655,000 satisfied subscribers, Mighty Travels is revolutionizing how travelers access airfare offers. It stands out in the competitive landscape by providing unbeatable deals not found elsewhere.

The platform harnesses the power of advanced AI technology and human expertise to facilitate up to 90% savings on airfare tickets and hotel rates—including the elusive Business Class/First Class error fares and worldwide hotel mistake rates.

On joining, subscribers gain immediate access to an AI-powered personal travel assistant with thousands of detailed travel itineraries and destination guides. The platform is designed to send real-time email alerts whenever a fantastic airfare offer arises, ensuring no subscriber ever misses out on a great deal.

Starting the journey is as simple as entering an email. Privacy is a top priority, with an easy unsubscribe option available anytime. This platform truly makes dream vacations financially achievable. Read our full Mighty Travels review for more information about the platform.

12. Jack’s Flight Club

Jack’s Flight Club is another site with real humans working round the clock to find the cheapest flights and share them with its members. However, they’re based in the UK, and while American airports are certainly included in their deals, this is a great choice for those living or traveling in Europe.

Upgrading to a Premium Membership for a small fee gets you the fastest access to the best deals. You’ll also get access to the mobile app, making it easier to see the latest newsletter and all past ones, which contain great travel tips.

See Related: Delta Airlines Review

13. Cheapflights

Cheapflights is another great resource for finding exactly what the name suggests: the best in cheap flights, discount tickets, and affordable travel. The Cheapflights network comprises hundreds of partners that submit their best deals straight to the database as they happen.

However, you’ll notice that searching for flights on Cheapflights will send you straight to Kayak – which you could have done yourself. The real value in Cheapflights is signing up for its free newsletters containing deals and tips, which you can never get enough of. Combine it with Kayak price alerts and a deal finder service subscription.

See Related: Best Family Travel Hacks

14. Kiwi.com

Kiwi.com is a flight comparison website and travel agency that allows users to see options from more than 680 different travel providers side-by-side. All cheap flight deals, including last-minute trips, can be found and booked through Kiwi.com.

You need to set up price alerts to have Kiwi tell you when prices change on one of your searches – make a free account and click the button to activate this feature. If you download the Kiwi app, you can get push notifications to act faster on the deal.

See Related: Is it Possible to Buy Bulk Airline Tickets?

15. Skiplagged

Have you noticed the ridiculousness of some flight pricing logic? For example, I searched for flights from Las Vegas to Honolulu and found the direct flight was outrageously expensive.

Then, I searched Vegas to Maui instead and found that I’d pay about half the price if I took that same flight to Honolulu and connected to Maui.

So, why not just book that last route and skip the connection? That’s called skiplagging or hidden city ticketing, and it is possible. Although it is frowned upon, or in some cases prohibited, by airlines, it’s hard to stop people from doing such a thing – and saving money.

Skiplagged is a site that gets rid of the work of searching endless destinations in an attempt to get you to your real one. It’s great for that and adds even more value with its price alerts feature – activate the option on your search to watch a fare and wait for a notification that there’s a new price.

See Related: Top Sites Like Skiplagged

16. Cheapair.com

CheapAir is a lesser-known flight search engine that’s very user-friendly and has some very unique features. Travelers love how the results are organized by the airline, with prices across the top of the screen, and how different travel classes are displayed side-by-side.

You can easily toggle price alerts by signing up for free and saving your search. Other cool functions include getting up to $100 back if prices drop after you book and integrating payment plans that allow you to pay over time. Plus, customer service for this travel agency is known to be great.

See Related: Best Credit Cards for Travel Perks Ranked!

17. Travelocity

Travelocity is a great online travel website with deals on car rentals, hotel stays, and, of course, flights. Travelocity is a huge, trusted brand under the Expedia label – the same brand that owns Hotels.com.

Thanks to its size, Travelocity has the best buying power and resources to secure the cheapest deals. You can even find vacation packages on Travelocity that cover cheap flight deals, including your hotel stay. Sign up with your email, and Travelocity will put you on their mailing list for cheap flights, travel, and accommodation packages – for free!

See Related: Best Travel Credit Card Deals

18. Hopper

Hopper is relatively new but highly effective at finding low-priced flights, unlike some older travel site giants. The app has many cool features that help you have the most seamless and least costly vacation possible.

Hopper will tell you if it thinks you should book a particular flight immediately – based on historical data, it can make remarkably accurate predictions about future prices. If it thinks you should wait, though, be sure to “Watch the Trip” and get notified as soon as there’s a price change.

Each time you book through the app, you’ll also earn some Carrot Cash – discounts for your next trip! Read our full Hopper review for more information on the platform.

See Related: Best Airports for Layover Around the World

19. Cheap Flight Alerts

Cheap Flight Alerts does a very simple task: find the best flight deals and send them straight to your inbox. There’s no need to spend hours browsing the site – and in fact, users only have to fill in their most basic information to access flight details.

Basic Cheap Flight Alerts access is free, but Premium access gives you access to better flight deals and bigger discounts. According to their website, you can save as much as $400 on each flight; weekend flight deals in the US can be up to 80% off.

See Related: Travel Hacking 101

20. Fare Compare

FareCompare is another search engine that heavily advertises what its name suggests – comparing prices offered by different travel agencies. Once again, don’t run from a great deal, but know that booking directly with the airline can often yield the same price.

The site uses Kayak’s technology (and even opens a new tab with a Kayak search, for some reason), which gives you a nice idea of the cheapest carriers. You can also check a box to receive price alerts on the route – which you can never have enough of. Visit their Best Deals page to see the latest awesome prices that have been found.

See Related: Best Gadgets for Long Flights

21. DealRay.com

DealRay is another deal finder that requires very little input from you and takes care of all the searching. A benefit of this one is receiving deal alerts via text message – one of the quickest and most effective ways to get the message and act fast.

However, DealRay is a paid service with no free option besides an initial one-month trial. The monthly fee is relatively low, though, and the prices they’ve found can seriously make it worth it. You can cancel anytime, meaning you can subscribe to find the best flight deals for a specific trip and then stop paying the fee once it’s done its job.

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22. Next Vacay

Last but not least is another fare-finding service dreamed up by two people who found unbelievably cheap flight tickets and wanted to share their expertise – don’t you love these stories? Next Vacay is another paid service, but also one of the cheapest ones, with a yearly fee lower than most of its competitors.

Simply tell them your departure airport and wait for the deals. Next Vacay mainly works its magic on international trips but does scan the skies for domestic deals as well, especially for seasonal spots. You can try Next Vacay for free for a month to see if you’re actually a fan of the way it works.

See Related: Best Ways to Earn Delta SkyMiles

FAQ

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