How Thrifty Traveler Premium Flight Deal Alerts Work

Looking for cheap domestic and international flight deals from your home airport? Award alerts to use your points and miles? Maybe even a deeply discounted first or business class fare? You've come to the right place.

Here at Thrifty Traveler, we find flight deals for a living: Cheap flights is what we do, 24/7/365. And if cheap flights are what you're after, you'll want to be a Thrifty Traveler Premium subscriber. Join us and you'll get:

• Dirt-cheap domestic and international cash fares
• Deeply discounted business and first class tickets
• Award alerts to use your points and miles, whether you've got Delta SkyMiles, American AAdvantage miles, transferrable credit card points, and countless more
• The occasional (and ultra-rare) mistake fare or unicorn alert!
• Other great perks like one-on-one travel credit card consulting and access to our members-only Facebook group

We're biased, but we're also confident that it's the best flight deal alert service on the market, finding both cheap cash tickets as well as points and miles deals. Our members get instant email alerts for deals from their home airport (or any airports they want deals from – we find deals from 200-plus airports and counting!) then book direct with the airline. And now, members can see all their deals online!

Each and every flight deal we send saves our members $200 or more on fights – and in some cases, thousands! You'll get deals like domestic flights as low as $100 roundtrip (or less!), trips to Hawaii under $200, fares to Europe for $300 to $400 or less, award alerts to fly lie-flat business class around the world, and much more. Premium members can also opt in for our new Hotel Alerts for an extra $49.99 a year and get great deals to book hotels and resorts, too.

Curious how our flight deal alerts will save you money on travel? Take a look.

 

 

How Our Flight Deal Email Alerts Work

Our team of flight deal experts are constantly on the hunt for the best flight deals, flash sales, and mistake fares. And we share these deals with Thrifty Traveler Premium members. Unlike other services, we also find and send our Thrifty Traveler Premium members award alerts so you can use your credit card points and miles to book and save even more!

No matter what kind of deal it is, these are cheap flights on full-service airlines with just one stop – or maybe even nonstop. We're not putting you on day-long flights on budget carriers.

Here's how it works:

 

 

1. Our team uses multiple tools to search all day, every day for the unadvertised flash sales, fare wars, and cheap deals you won't find otherwise.
2. When we find one from your home airport, you’ll get an instant email alert with a link to book your flights.
3. All you have to do? Book directly with the airline and start planning your trip.

We aren’t a travel agency, and we don’t make the flight deals … we find them. And if you ask us, we find the best, cheapest deals! And whether you near a major U.S. hub or a small regional airport, we've got you covered: We find flight deals from more than 200 U.S. and Canadian airports – more than any other service!

Wanna see what these alerts look like? Keep reading.

Related Reading: Check out Thrifty Traveler Premium Reviews from our community of travel lovers like you! 

 

See All Your Deals Online, Too!

Thrifty Traveler Premium members can now see all their deals online!

Just log into your Premium account (and bookmark that page!) and you can scan through all the recent deals we've found and sent … whether they're from one of your departure airports or not! You can filter for cash or points & miles deals, set price limits, and even search for specific destinations.

 

 

One note: This new hub defaults to showing deals from your selected airports – just click “departure airports” to add more airports to your display.

We'll continue sending every email alert to members' inboxes – some deals are so time-sensitive that they can disappear within hours. But this new deals page should be travelers' new, one-stop shop for all Thrifty Traveler deals.

 

What You Get with Thrifty Traveler Premium

This is our Cadillac plan. We might be biased, but we know it's true: It's the best flight deal service on the Internet.

We find and send members both cheap cash fares as well as award alerts to book flights using points and miles – and we've doubled down on that lately, helping travelers save even more as they get back out there. That means more award space alerts, more deeply discounted business and first class fares, and more outstanding deals.

In the last month alone, we've sent members more than 120 flight deal alerts and counting, including:

• Sub-$100 roundtrip fares to Palm Springs (PSP) and other domestic destinations, Hawaii and back from $185, and cities throughout Europe like Paris, London, and Rome for $365 – all for trips later in 2025
• Several discounted premium cabin fares, including a $1,500 lie-flat business class seat to Casablanca (CMN) or Singapore Airlines Premium Economy tickets to Europe or Southeast Asia for just $845 – all a fraction of the typical fares!
• More than 25 award space alerts, including a chance to book Qatar Qsuites with miles for next year, wide-open United Polaris business class award space several European cities bookable for as low as 45,000 points, and many more
• A resurgence of amazing Delta SkyMiles flash sales like roundtrip flights to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) for 42,000 SkyMiles and even deeply discounted Delta One business class fares, like Taipei (TPE) for just 83,000 miles each way or Europe for 167,000 SkyMiles roundtrip!

 

 

This deal is long gone now – get the next one in your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

You can pick just one or two preferred airports to get alerts from or all 200+ cities in the U.S. and Canada we cover. But Premium members can really fine-tune their deals, getting deals only from select airports … but still receive all business and first class fares, no matter where they depart from.

You can also toggle off points and miles deals … or you can take things to the next level, if you want. Premium members can opt in to get text message alerts for the rarest “Unicorn Fare” deals as well as Nerd Alerts – tailor-made for the points and miles aficionados out there who don't mind booking last-minute or want rare first and business class deals wholly outside the U.S.

 

 

Beyond all those amazing flight deals, our Premium members get some other exclusive benefits, like …

• Price lock for life! Once you've signed up for Premium, your annual price will never increase!
• One-on-one consulting with our experts to help pick the right travel credit card
• Access to our members-only Facebook group to chat with fellow travelers

 

Some Recent Premium Deals

We scour the globe for Thrifty Traveler Premium members to find the cheapest domestic and international flights and award deals, then send them straight to your inbox. If you like what you see, you book your flight directly with the airline to save $250 (or much more – especially with a great award fare or premium cabin deal), and start planning your trip.

Our members love getting award alerts to use their miles, and we're constantly finding deeply discounted sales to use your Delta SkyMiles, American AAdvantage Miles, United MileagePlus miles, and even Southwest points. When Delta typically charges 80,000 SkyMiles roundtrip to Europe, nothing beats getting there for just 24,000 SkyMiles thanks to one of our Delta SkyMiles flash sale alerts.

 

 

Hoping to splurge with your points and fly lie-flat? No problem: We hunt down rare business and first class award seats and alert members all the time. We do all the legwork for you, letting you know what's available and the best ways to book with points.

For example, we're constantly on the lookout for chances to book business class seats over to Europe on the cheap. It doesn't get much cheaper than this: Just 21,000 points for a lie-flat Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seat to London later this year!

 

 

Want to fly the world's best business class, Qatar Qsuites? You're not alone. These suites have gotten much harder to find lately … until just last week, when we tipped off Thrifty Traveler Premium members to wide-open award space in late 2025 to fly Qsuites nonstop to Doha (DOH) – or even continue all the way down to South Africa!

 

 

Cheap cash fares flying business or first class are even rarer – but they do happen, and we find those, too. A while back, in fact, we sent members a $1,700 roundtrip fare in British Airways or Iberia business class to Spain. That's more than 50% off normal prices!

 

 

But you'll still get all the dirt-cheap fares in economy we find every day, too. How cheap? How about sub-$200 domestic flights all across the country … or roundtrip flights to Paris for $385 or less … or winter getaways to Mexico from $227. We could go on and on.

 

 

And then there's the holy grail of all flight deals: Mistake fares, when airlines mess up and accidentally sell flights at deep, deep discounts. These insane fares only crop up once or twice a year, but we always let our subscribers know with both an instant email and a text alert, like this – yes, we got the numbers right – $135 roundtrip fare from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Dublin (DUB) we found last summer.

 

 

Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Premium to get deals like these  – you'll make your subscription fee back (and then some) when you book your first deal!

 

Bonus: Add Hotel Deals!

Want to take your cheap travels even further? Hotel Alerts are here!

For an additional $49.99 a year, Thrifty Traveler Premium members can opt in and start getting alerts to book some of the best properties in the U.S. and across the globe using their Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, or Marriott points – or transferrable credit card points. You'll also get hotel deals in each flight deal alert – including discounted paid rates.

We're still just getting started with this new add-on service, but we've sent some stellar hotel deals like: 

• Calala Island, an all-inclusive resort on a quasi-private island off the coast of Nicaragua that you can book for 150,000 Hilton Honors points
• Wide-open award availability to book the Andaz Maui this year for as low as 35,000 Hyatt points per night
• The spacious Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown in New York City for just 34,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a night … before it shot up to 90,000 points nightly 
• Unbelievably rare award space to book the Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills using as few as 25,000 Hyatt points later this year

 

 

And many, many more. We typically send two or three standalone hotel alerts each week that members can book using their points. Plus, Hotel Alerts subscribers also see hotel recommendations in (almost) every flight deal – including discounted cash rates.

Check out our roundup of the best hotel alerts we've found (so far!)

 

Who Are Our Services Good For … And Not?

We think most travelers could benefit from our Premium flight deal alert service. Who wouldn't want the heads up on the cheapest flights from their home airport?

But there's no question that some travelers can benefit from this service more than others.

 

Who It's Best For

• You're sick of overpaying for flights: No matter where you're going, Premium flight deal alerts often save travelers at least $250 – or much more – compared to normal prices.
• You're open to traveling wherever a cheap flight will take you: Our long-time, most-loyal members tell us that getting flight deal alerts has changed how they travel because it's opened their eyes to new destinations they wouldn't have otherwise considered.
• You want to travel both domestically and internationally: Sure, you could just focus on one or the other. But since we send both domestic and international flights to Premium members, travelers who want to go somewhere both near and far stand to gain the most.
• You've got points and miles to burn, too: Thrifty Traveler Premium is the only flight deal service that finds both cheap cash fares as well as award alerts to use their points and miles – including first and business class redemptions!

 

Who It's Not Good For

• You've got one trip in mind: If you already know exactly where and when you want to go and don't care about other trips, you won't get the most value out of Thrifty Traveler Premium.
• Your travel dates are set in stone: If you can be even a little bit flexible with your schedule, you could come out ahead. But if you can only travel on specific dates, you may find that the deals we send you don't work with your plans.
• You want a travel agent to book your flights for you: We're not a travel agency. Instead, we simply send you the best deals from your home airport and put the power to plan your trip (for less) in your hands.
• You're looking to travel last minute: Some travelers assume this is what our service is all about, but we never send out flight deal alerts that would force you to hop on a plane in the next few days or weeks.

 

Thrifty Traveler Premium FAQs

Do you offer a free trial? Or what if I want a refund?

We're so confident in our flight deals, we offer a 100-day money-back guarantee. If you give our flight deal email alerts a try and the deals don't blow your mind, shoot us an email.

 

I'm looking for a specific flight on specific dates. Will this work for me?

Our flight deal alert service works differently than a travel agency: We don't make the deals, we find them! This service works best for travelers who are open to travel to more than one destination. Just let the cheap flight be your guide of where to explore next.

If you only have one specific destination and date you need to travel on, we recommend using Google Flights to search and setting a Price Alert for the specific dates you need to travel. 

 

Can I search for deals, like on Expedia or Priceline?

You will receive flight deal email alerts as we find them, rather than searching for deals. You can expect at least two or three emails a day from larger cities – or a few emails a week from smaller airports. Thrifty Traveler Premium members typically get a handful award alerts and premium cabin fares a week, too.

Unlike a search engine, you won't put in your destination or dates. When you get an email alert for a deal you're interested in, simply follow our instructions to book direct with the airline.

Otherwise, you can log into your Premium account for another look at all the deals we've sent.

 

Bottom Line

It's as simple as that. We find flight deals, we send them to you, you book directly with the airline and save $200 to $500 or more on each flight.

Never overpay for a flight again! Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Premium today, and join the thousands of subscribers who are flying for half (or less!) the price.

 

Sign Up for Thrifty Traveler Premium Now!