Dollar Flight Club Review: Is it Worth It?

Finding cheap flights is one of the trickiest parts of travel hacking, but luckily, many services out there help find rock-bottom ticket prices. One of these is Dollar Flight Club. Joining Dollar Flight Club can lead you to dirt-cheap plane tickets, but does it make financial sense to become a member? Let’s find out in this detailed Dollar Flight Club review.

Traveling the world is usually at the top of everyone’s bucket list. But between the high-flying fare, the scheduling conflicts, and the sheer amount of planning, it starts to look more and more like a pipedream. Enter Dollar Flight Club, a subscription service that alerts you to hand-picked personalized flight plans. 

The name says it all. Dollar Flight Club procures budget-friendly flight options customized to your preferences. Akin to a dollar store, it offers many dirt-cheap flight deals.

Think about it: Wouldn’t it be great if someone else did all the logistical labor for you? That way, you’d only have to book the flight and plan the fun parts of your vacation.

This post will provide a comprehensive Dollar Flight Club review. If you are more visual, please check out our tutorial and review of using Dollar Flight Club via the free trial on our YouTube Channel.

What is Dollar Flight Club?

Dollar Flight Club is a subscription-based travel service that notifies its members of the best deals from their chosen departure airports. Additionally, it extends deals from partner brands pertinent to your traveling needs.

The DFC is run by a remote team of travel enthusiasts who scan flight databases for the cheapest deals according to your preferences. Essentially, they handle all the preliminaries, including shortlisting airlines and travel dates.

Most importantly, they cross-check available airfares and identify the best flight deals. Not only that, they also flag up mistake fares, which happen when airlines post super-reduced prices in error. 

DFC then sends deals to subscribers via email or mobile app alerts. After this, you only have to snip up the offer before it disappears.

The tech-based company was the brainchild of travel aficionado Jesse Neugarten. Neugarten began his endeavor following a near-death experience that evoked the need to live every day to the fullest and help others do the same.

Dollar Flight Club Subscriptions

DFC offers three membership plans: free, Premium, and Premium Plus+. Each package has its virtues, which we’ll evaluate for a comprehensive Dollar Flight Club review.

The company is driven by the principle that everyone should have the chance to connect with different cultures. As such, depending on your subscription package, they offer perks on cheap travel bags and hotel fares.

They also consider the cost of vacationing in different cities to find the cheapest travel destinations. Whether you pay or not, you can access their useful travel guides.

Dollar Flight Club Review: Is It Worth the Price?

As a relatively new endeavor, Dollar Flight Club keeps prices low to attract clients. It also offers multiple promo codes and discount offers.

You can enjoy some benefits of Dollar Flight Club free of charge. On signing up, you’re given a basic free membership. After that, you can choose to upgrade your Dollar Flight Club account.

Premium is the next step up. Usually, there’s an upgrade fee of $69. However, limited-time sales often slash this upgrade fee by up to 70% for the first year.

So you’ll enjoy 12 months of benefits, including multiple great flight deals, mistake fares, and discounts from Dollar Flight Club partners for only $20. You can sometimes find free trials of Dollar Flight Club Premium membership. You’ll likely be offered the $1 “2-week trial.”

This gives you 14 days of Premium membership for a dollar. If you haven’t canceled, the full-price annual membership kicks in automatically at the end of the two-week trial period. 

The top-tier subscription is Premium Plus+, which costs $99 annually. It’s a little steep, but it’s quite the steal if you’re a frequent first-class flyer.

Too good to be true? Keep reading to find out how to save money with all three subscriptions.

See Related: Pros and Cons of Being a Travel Agent: Is It Stressful?

How Does Dollar Flight Club Work?

Dollar Flight Club is a fairly straightforward service, with a talented team buttressing its daily operations.

What You Have to Do

As a subscriber, your job is simple. Sign up with your email address or Google account, fill out some details about your traveling preferences, choose your subscription package, and wait for the cheap airfares to come flying in.

One of the most important details to disclose is your departure airport. This ensures you receive relevant cheap deals. Don’t set a departure airport; you won’t receive any flight deals.

Other details, such as favorite destinations and travel dates, further tailor your flight options. These customization options are package-specific: The more you pay, the more departure airports and dream destinations you can pick. 

Once the DFC database has your information, you’ll receive flight alerts. If you have the DFC app (available only for United States users), you’ll get notifications just as you might for Facebook or Instagram. Otherwise, you’ll get email alerts.

You should check these notifications regularly so you don’t miss out. If you miss an alert, go to your DFC dashboard to view all active deals. Keep in mind that DFC is not a flight booking service. It merely alerts you to deals that might interest you.

After that, you must book the flight through Google Flights or Skyscanner. The added work definitely isn’t the best look, and it may be that they integrate flight booking services at some point.

You can find the step-by-step procedure to book a flight further in this article.

Behind the Scenes

Dollar Flight Club is transparent with its operational procedures. What might appear as some cryptic, automated mechanism is actually a dedicated team of flight finders. They algorithmically scour through huge databases to identify good deals.

This means you can contact customer service reps for help related to flight bookings. They promise a quick response time, which is useful when you’re booking last-minute flights.

See Related: Hopper Review: Is It Legit?

How to Sign Up for Dollar Flight Club

Signing up is easy as you can use any email address – just be sure it’s one you check regularly. If you have a Google account, you can use your Gmail credentials.

The account you use to sign up will be the account on which you receive flight alerts, so sign up using an active account. The DFC phone app makes things even easier. The app sends instant notifications that are straightforward to navigate.

You’ll be prompted to complete a few details when you sign up.

• In the free plan, you have to specify one departure region. You can also specify up to five dream destinations and three favorite airlines.
• You can specify up to four departure airports if you’re a Premium or Premium Plus+ member. Top tip: Select the biggest airport(s) near you to get as many deals as possible. You can add airports later.

Remember: You can change your preferences whenever you want. Go to Settings and click on Flight Alerts to edit your choices.

See Related: Is Expedia Trustworthy? Here’s What You Should Know

How to Book Cheap Flights With Dollar Flight Club

This is the fun part. Now that you’ve signed up with DFC, you’ll have flight deals already waiting for you. Here’s how to book cheap flights after getting the deal alert on Dollar Flight Club:

• Open the email alert. This gives basic details and tells you whether the deal is time-sensitive. Most deals are!

Scroll to the bottom of the email, where you’ll see the booking buttons. For more information, click the link saying “View more deal details online.” This will take you to your Dollar Flight Club dashboard.

• Once on your DFC dashboard, you’ll find information about your deal, including departure airport, fare, and destination.

• Other travel dates will also be suggested:

• Again, you’ll find buttons to book on Google Flights or Skyscanner. Dollar Flight Club recommends you look at both to compare prices. I’ve generally found that Google Flights gives a more streamlined experience.
• Clicking the Google button gives something like this:

You can stay on your selected dates or look for flights available on different dates. To check prices on different dates on Google Flights, click the date grid icon. Here, the cheapest flights are always in green.

• To check for other dates on Skyscanner, click Show the whole month. 
• From the options given, select your departure and return flights. Once you find your dates, hit OK or Select.
• You’ll then be offered a choice of travel agents or the chance to book with the airline. You may also be offered seating choices.

• Once you select your booking options, you can purchase the ticket.

You’ll be asked for credit card details to pay, which is pretty standard. However, you can circumvent this if you don’t have a credit card.

See Related: Best Resorts in Cancun

Dollar Flight Club Free, Premium, and Premium Plus+

DFC offers three subscription types: free, Premium, and Premium Plus+. Each subscription has its perks. To see which one is the most worth it, let’s compare them.

See Related: Ways to Book the Cheapest First-Class Flights

Free

With the free version, you can get up to one daily flight deal, which is minimally personalized.

Premium

With the Premium plan, you get five times as many flight deals. You’ll also get the alerts first, with no ads. Moreover, you have more personalization options, including up to four departure airports.

Premium members can receive extra notifications. If you have a U.S. or Canadian phone number, you can set up Dream Destination Text Alerts. This way, you’ll get instant iOS/Android SMS alerts for deals to up to three destinations.

As a Premium member, you’ll see error fares and hidden sales. You’ll also get alerts for domestic flights and weekend getaways.

Handily, you can pause your Premium membership if you know you won’t be traveling for up to six months. This is essentially a six-month membership extension. 

Premium membership also gives access to affiliate perks from companies like Fodor’s Travel and AllTrails. As you can see, it’s quite a jump from the free plan.

Premium Plus+

Premium Plus+ has all the features of Premium, with additional perks. First, there are business- and first-class flight deals. Top-tier service is promised, and you’ll get discounted access to Mobile Passport Plus.

Incidentally, DFC’s Premium Plus+ subscription is cheaper than the annual fee for the first-class flight plan offered by Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights). Currently, Premium Plus+ is limited to members in North America.

Which Package Offers the Best Value?

Considering the subscription fee and associated features, the Premium package is definitely the best value for money. The entry-level zero-cost membership gives barely any personalization. You’ll be left to do most of the work, defeating Dollar Flight Club’s purpose.

Conversely, Premium Plus+ is too glorified; its additional features aren’t useful if you’re not a regular first-class traveler.

Dollar Flight Club Alternatives

There are several great platforms out there that are similar to Dollar Flight Club. Let’s break down each option in comparison with their offering.

Going.com vs. Dollar Flight Club

Going.com, previously recognized as Scott’s Cheap Flights, has built a strong reputation amongst budget-conscious travelers as a trusted provider of cheap flight notifications. The company prides itself on delivering top-quality service as an alternative to the more expensive Dollar Flight Club. We even have a full standalone guide on comparing Going.com and Dollar Flight Club if you want more information.

Not only does Going.com offer cheap flight notifications, but it is nationally recognized for its prompt customer service and consistent flight deals, making it a staple for many globetrotters. Read our full Going.com review.

Thrifty Traveler vs. Dollar Flight Club

Thrifty Traveler is a timely alternative to the Dollar Flight Club for those wishing to get the best flight deal notifications. It’s an efficient service that alerts members when flight prices drop, allowing them to secure tickets at a significantly reduced cost.

The Minnesota-based platform has been assisting travelers since 2015, consistently providing budget-friendly airfares without compromising the specifics of their trip. Read our full Thrifty Traveler review.

Mighty Travels vs. Dollar Flight Club

Regarding efficient flight-finding services, Mighty Travels holds its ground in the travel industry terrain. It is a digital platform providing travelers with tools to locate the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals.

With a user-friendly interface, Mighty Travels allows customers to easily navigate various deals on airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and car rentals. They provide a free plan with limited access, and the premium plans offer advanced search filters, deal alerts, and 24/7 customer support. Read our full Mighty Travels review.

Pros and Cons of Dollar Flight Club

So far, Dollar Flight Club looks to be a good deal. Let’s sum up the highlights.

Pros of Dollar Flight Club

• It has a reasonable annual Premium fee.
• All the hard work finding a cheap flight is done for you.
• The Premium fee pays for itself many times over.
• Flight deals are relevant, recent, and constantly updated.
• You can enjoy discounts with DFC partners such as SafetyWing, Rentalcars.com, Viator, and more. 
• You can pause paid subscriptions for six months if you know you won’t be traveling.
• The main takeaway is the unbelievable value for money. According to DFC, you can save 60%-90% on standard flights. If you’re a frequent flyer, you save thousands of dollars annually.

Cons of Dollar Flight Club

• The free membership plan is virtually useless. There are few alerts but plenty of annoying ad pop-ups.
• There’s no built-in search engine.
• There’s automatic renewal for all subscriptions, including the Premium trial.
• There are no subscription reminders or renewal notices – it’s up to you to remember to cancel.
• Automatic renewals are non-refundable, and there are no prorated refunds, either.

Dollar Flight Club Reviews

Dollar Flight Club has over a million members, and according to DFC’s website testimonials, many are delighted with their savings and the service. On TrustPilot, though, Dollar Flight Club receives mixed reviews with an average 3-star rating from over 100 customer reviews.

We agree that, after testing the customer service Help Center, there was limited help in solving simple questions. While one question was answered within a few hours, the response to a follow-up query took days. Furthermore, the FAQ section could be organized more helpfully.

The preemptive auto-renewal process occasionally means people are charged when trying to cancel Dollar Flight Club, leading to a negative experience for some. Other unhappy customers grumble about the rigid refund policy. Some think renewal information is misleading, and a reminder email should be sent.

However, Dollar Flight Club uses an auto-renewal model employed by countless businesses, such as Amazon Prime. If you manage your subscriptions well, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Is Dollar Flight Club legit?

Yes – it’s all legit. After all, Dollar Flight Club is only doing what anyone could do at home – simply finding deals – if they had endless time to spare!

Is Dollar Flight Club Worth It?

Now for that final Dollar Flight Club verdict. You’ll likely get your money’s worth if you sign up for Dollar Flight Club’s Premium plan. It’s pretty cheap, and the return is astounding, especially if you’re often in the air.

However, if you’re not a frequent flyer, it’s a waste of $69. You might as well figure out your flight details yourself. For a helpful, no-nonsense, free alternative, I’d recommend Google Flights.

Their date grid mainly lets you quickly identify cheap deals. Kayak and Skyscanner are also helpful if you want to find prices for flights, hotels, and car rentals all in one spot.  

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