Any new airline route is worth celebrating: Who wouldn't want additional nonstop flights to a destination you could previously only reach without a connection? But watching closely for new routes is also the single best way to find cheap fares or award availability bookable with points and miles.
Any time airlines launch new nonstop routes – and even brand-new destinations – they're hoping to lure in new customers as they expand. That's why we follow the news and search for cheap cash (or award fares to use your points and miles) in the wake of these announcements … because they regularly lead to huge savings.
The formula is simple: U.S. and foreign carriers launch new flights to destinations all around the world. Not long after, we regularly find incredible deals on those upcoming new routes for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members. It's like clockwork, and it's the closest thing we have to a sure thing in the world of flight deals.
Best of all: We're right in the middle of the best time of year to take advantage of new routes. Airlines are in the midst of tinkering with their schedules for next year by adding destinations down south and looking ahead to the summer travel season, adding new nonstop routes to Europe and beyond, too. September, October, and November are the best times of year to take advantage of new routes – it's part of the reason why we call this time of year Booking Season.
Tracking new routes isn't just fun. It's smart. Alongside airline capacity changes – when a carrier adds extra weekly flights or swaps in a bigger aircraft with more seats – it's one of the biggest drivers of deals today.
A Familiar Script
Here's how new routes often play out.
Step one: An airline announces a new route on Sept. 22, instantly putting thousands of seats on sale all at once that nobody has booked yet. We cover the news … because we love new routes.
Step two: With so many empty seats suddenly up for sale, the airline releases far more than normal to book using points and miles – or at cheaper rates when using cash.
Step three: We round up the best deals and send them to our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert subscribers as soon as we find them.
Voila! You're heading to Hong Kong (HKG) or beyond thanks to a new route announcement, our flight deal alert, and your quick work.
That's just one of many recent examples of why we love new routes and why one of the best ways to save big on airfare is to watch out for them.
Where (& Why) to Watch for New Routes for Flight Deals
You should watch for new routes on your own by following your local or nearby airports on social media, following your favorite airlines, and keeping up with the news the best you can.
But really, you don't actually have to do anything. We always watch for this type of news and will always bring you the latest right here. And if we find big savings on airfare or award redemptions, our Thrifty Traveler Premium members will get the deal right away, too.
But it's good to understand why a new route deserves your attention.
The number one reason is simple: New routes mean empty planes, and the airlines need to start filling those seats right away. A good deal – be it with points or a cheap fare – is a great way to build a buzz around a new route and fill those seats at the same time.
Some airlines will offer those fares at a steep discount right from the get-go. But sometimes, it takes a few days (or even weeks) for the lowest fares to kick in. Here's a perfect example.
After announcing a new route from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Copenhagen (CPH), Delta Air Lines put the flights on sale … at prices that were closer to $1,000 roundtrip. Ouch. But after a few days, Delta decided that was too many open seats to keep at that price, triggering a massive sale and fares that looked like this instead.
A similar situation happened with Icelandair's route from Miami (MIA) to Iceland (KEF) starting this year. After the route was announced, fares started high. That didn't last long.
You don't have to cross the ocean to take advantage of a new route, either. Earlier this year, American Airlines announced new nonstop service to South Caicos (XSC) in Turks & Caicos, which started out at exorbitant $700-plus prices. But just a few weeks after the announcement, the predictable happened: A big sale.
To save on flights booked with cash, you'll need a little patience, but usually within a few days or weeks of a new route being announced, the low fares will pop up and that's your window to book!
Book Business Class with Points on New Routes
Want to fly business class using your points and miles? New routes might be your single best bet to make it a reality.
Booking premium cabins using your points and miles can be a chore, as award availability can be tough to find to actually put those points to use. But we've seen an undeniable trend: Virtually every time an airline adds a new route, they often open up those top-dollar seats to be booked with miles, too – including by airline partners.
We already dug into Cathay Pacific's new route to Seattle (SEA) above, but this has happened literally dozens of times this year alone. The battle between Starlux and China Airlines for establishing service to Phoenix (PHX) is the perfect example.
Remember the steps? Step one: Starlux adds new service to PHX. Step two…
That's right: unprecedented points and miles award availability – including in the fancy business class cabin for just 85,000 Alaska miles each way!
It didn't stop there, though. China Airlines also added new nonstop service from Phoenix to Taipei (TPE), and as soon as those flights went on sale, all those business class seats were released to China Airlines' partners like Air France/KLM Flying Blue – which offered up those seats for just 72,000 miles each way!
It's practically impossible to book these seats at low rates from other U.S. hubs like Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO) these days, but the new Phoenix addition triggered wide-open availability.
The pattern also took shape on Alaska/Hawaiian's new routes to Asia this year, too. The new combined airline launched flights to Seoul (ICN) and Tokyo-Narita (NRT) on Boeing 787s. That triggered tons of availability to book those seats.
Just 95,000 Alaska miles each way could do the trick for both of those flights – a fantastic deal to fly lie-flat across the Pacific.
OK. You probably get the picture by now, right? I don't need to bog you down with three more examples of new routes that instantly triggered business class award availability, do I?
Step one: KLM announces new flights to Portland (PDX). Step two…
Step one: TAP Air Portugal announces new flights to Los Angeles (LAX). Step two…
Step one: LATAM announces new flights from Miami (MIA) to Buenos Aires (EZE). Step two…
In each and every case, our Thrifty Traveler Premium members received these award availability alerts the day the new flights went on sale. It's a slam dunk.
To get step two booked, you have to understand step one. That's the key.
Delta SkyMiles Flash Sales + New Routes: A Match Made in Heaven
You don't have to fly up front to take advantage of these new route flight deals, either. In many cases, the economy availability is much better, even. And no airline offers better points rates on economy flights overseas than Delta when they do some of their famous Delta SkyMiles Flash Sales.
Delta runs these sales to make up for slow-selling flights, which often leads to mind-bendingly low fares abroad. But it's not just slow-selling inventory – sometimes it's for new inventory, too. Take, for instance, this new route to Hong Kong (HKG) Delta announced just a few months ago. The route was announced on July 16. When tickets first went on sale, they came with a hefty price tag of close to 100,000 SkyMiles roundtrip.
But after a few weeks, as seats stayed empty, Delta caved…
This SkyMiles flash sale to Hong Kong (HKG) was a perfect example of how new routes trigger the best prices. Because SkyMiles are dynamically priced, the best rates didn't come right after the announcement like the business class seats in the section above. Instead, they came a few weeks later.
We've seen this SkyMiles pattern take hold dozens of times over the last few years. Another perfect examples is on the new Atlanta (ATL) to Marrakech, Morocco (RAK) route, which triggered this plummeting of SkyMiles fares over to Africa this winter!
If Delta announces a new route, watch it closely … or just let us do the work for you!
Bottom Line
That old saying goes “Newer is better,” and it can easily apply when you're looking for a great deal on a new flight.
As airlines try to drum up interest and fill seats on their newest routes, we regularly see deeply discounted fares (or amazing points deals) to some of your favorite – or soon-to-be favorite – destinations. So stay up to date on the latest new routes here at ThriftyTraveler.com and subscribe to Thrifty Traveler Premium so you don't miss out on the next great surprising deal.
