Last summer my friends flew from LA to the Caribbean for $89. They hadn’t been back more than two weeks before they flew off to Switzerland for $227 return.
Most people’s reaction to that is “Nice for some“. Because not everyone works for an airline, can figure out how to accumulate millions of points, or has the time to watch airline fares like moving points on the stock exchange.
But here’s the kicker … neither did they.
They don’t have airline discounts, despite my constant badgering they haven’t signed up for any frequent flier programs, and they don’t spend any time researching to find cheap flights. So how the hell do they do it??!!
It’s because last summer, I told them to sign up for Cheap Fly Club, which is a free email subscription that sends you notifications of stupidly cheap flights.
I guess they do listen to some of my advice!
Here’s How to Find the Cheapest Flights this Summer
Free Notifications on Cheap Flights
Last summer I published a post with the news that I’d just heard about Cheap Fly Club; a free email subscription that sends emails directly to your inbox with crazy cheap flight deals.
They’re self confessed research nerds who were watching airline fares like moving points on the stock exchange, and in the spirit of sharing, decided to set up a small newsletter to share the deals they found.
The idea quickly went viral, and since posting about them last year, their ‘small’ newsletter now goes out to 95,000 + travelers. Myself being one of them.
Because why travel to South Africa if the flights are $900, when you have the opportunity to visit Amsterdam for $217? I’ll visit South Africa when it’s cheaper, another time.
To be honest, this actually takes the pain of choosing your next travel destination out of the equation; when you travel based on where flights are cheap!
How Does The Subscription Work?
Right now as you read, Josh (creator of Cheap Fly Club and all round fab guy), has algorithms searching and scanning the websites of 50 + airlines so he can find out about massive fare drops and error rates as soon as they’re released.
He ends up finding flights at 50%+ off literally every day. Like New York to Amsterdam for $194 return (an actual deal that landed in my inbox this morning).
“Signing up” for Cheap Fly Club means you’re joining a newsletter. You subscribe to their email list by entering your email here: cheapflyclub.com and hitting the button that says “Send me cheap flights!”
You’ll start receiving emails with alerts on cheap flight deals from airports around Canada and the USA. Like this email they sent with an alert on cheap flights to Beijing ($389 from Chicago to Beijing when they’re usually $1,000!).
The emails list a range of departure airports you can catch the flight deal from, the dates it’s available, the normal price (so you know how much you’re saving), and a link to Google flights so you can book directly with the airline.
They don’t make your bookings for you, they just notify you about the price drop… the rest is up to you!
What the Emails Look Like
Frequency wise, emails come through a couple of times a week.
They only send out exceptionally good deals, rather than spamming your inbox to meet a certain quota. So some days you may not receive an email; their core focus is on quality rather than quantity.
This is what the emails you’ll get look like:
Pro Tips for Making the Most of the Subscription
As I mentioned above, I’ve been signed up to free emails from Josh for over a year now, and over that time I’ve come to know a couple of tricks for making the most of the subscription.
Free emails come in whenever they find a flight that’s been discounted by more than 50%. So the destination is different everyday. From Hawaii for $350 (return), to Norway for $400 (return), if you’re using this subscription, you’ll be open minded about destinations you will travel to.
These are not last minute deals. The best deals they find tend to be from between 3-10 months away, which leaves you with enough time to arrange your commitments, rather than having to pack at the very last minute and panic. I’ve created a folder in my inbox exclusively for emails from Cheap Fly Club so I can easily go back to past flight deals.
The flight deals you’re sent are for international flights departing North America to anywhere in the world, however there’s still value in signing up even if you’re not permanently living in the US and Canada.
If you live elsewhere in the world, you can often reverse his finds to book the opposite way. Or if you’re not living in North America but travel through a lot, you can pick up cheap flights to continue on your journey out of the States.
Premium Members Get Awesome Benefits
Joining the Cheap Fly Club is completely free and as a free member you’ll be receiving ridiculously cheap deals a few times a week. Initially, everyone starts out as a free user, and you then have the option to upgrade to a premium subscription if you love the service.
Premium Subscribers get between 2-3 flight alerts on any given day, and offering a premium subscription is how Josh makes his money (it costs $4 per month). Premium Subscribers receive all the deals he finds, whilst free subscribers receive alerts for 25% of the deals.
You also get awesome benefits like limiting the emails to only receive deals for your chosen departure airport, will receive notifications of the deals 2 hours in advance of free members, and in addition to searching for cheap flights, they also search for the best hotel deals to go along with your flight.
You also receive notifications on deals for business class flights, which aren’t included in the free subscription list. And the savings on business class well and truly outweigh the $4 you spent to get the notification.
Premium costs $4/ month and is charged monthly. They have thousands of members both on the free and premium levels, so there’s no pressure to go either way!
What are you waiting for? Sign up for free emails now to find cheap flight deals this summer! ➡ cheapflyclub.com
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Megan is an Australian Journalist and award-winning travel writer who has been blogging since 2007. Her husband Mike is the American naturalist and wildlife photographer behind Waking Up Wild; an online magazine dedicated to opening your eyes to the wonders of the wild & natural world.
Having visited 50+ countries across all seven continents, Megan’s travels focus on cultural immersion, authentic discovery and incredible journeys. She has a strong passion for ecotourism, and aims to promote responsible travel experiences.
11 Comments
That LA to Caribbean flight is beyond bananas Meg. I flew from NYC to Mumbai and back – round trip – for like 300 bucks once. Insane deal that popped up.
I know right!! That said, it sounds like you’ve been doing a pretty good job too, NYC to Mumbai return for $300 is an awesome fare, nice work on catching that one!
Do you know how this compares to Scotts Cheap Flights? I’ve been signed up to Scott’s list for a while now. He sends lots of good deals, but I haven’t bought anything yet (not many deals flying out of Colombia).
Hi Mitch :) I haven’t used Scotts Cheap Flights before myself, if you’re looking for flights out of Colombia it’d be worth signing up for Cheap Fly Club if you were interested in visiting the US, since they only send deals from US airports but you can reverse them if they emailed with a deal to Colombia. Or if you can get cheap flights from Colombia to the US yourself, and then book one of the deals they send you as a connecting flight, because that could also be worthwhile too depending on how much flights to the States are from where you’re at :)
That’s genius!!
Excellent article !!
Glad it was helpful Priya, I hope you find some awesome deals!
I’ve been dreaming about Caribbean for years. Wishing I could go there this summer.
Definitely sign up then, as there are often many travel deals to the Caribbean. Hope you find something awesome!
Won’t ever pass up a good deal!!
My feelings exactly :D