No doubt about it: 2024 was the best year of flight deals since we launched our Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert service. And it's even more impressive by the numbers.
We've heard from hundreds of Premium members who booked bucket-list-busting trips all over the world for a fraction of what they thought they would pay – or, better yet, paying next to nothing by using their points and miles instead. That's why we do what we do: help people travel the world for less and take trips they might have only dreamed of. It's what drives us.
But I wanted to sift through the vibes and dig into the hard-and-fast numbers. How many deals did we send this year? What destinations did we feature most? What departure airport popped up in the most flight deals? Let's find out.
Total Flight Deals: 1,245 (& Counting!)
We delivered more flight deals to our subscribers than ever before in 2024, sending well over 100 flight deals a month, on average. The final tally will grow before 2024 comes to a close.
Travelers who opt in to receive deals from “All Cities” – including our quirky-but-fun “Nerd Alerts” – received all 1,245 of these alerts. But the final number in Thrifty Traveler Premium members' inboxes varies: Travelers can instead tailor those deals to only receive alerts from their go-to airports, get every business class fare we find no matter where it departs from, among other fine-tuning features.
Speaking of airports…
Total Departure Airports We Search From: 226
We've said it before and we'll say it again: We find flight deals from more airports than any other flight deal service on the market.
From Saskatoon (YXE) to San Diego (SAN) and from Fargo (FAR) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL), we currently search for flight deals from 226 U.S. and Canadian airports every day!
Check out our full list to see if yours is included. Spoiler alert: It probably is!
Total Business & First Class Deals: 349
We sent our members a business class flight deal for nearly every day on the calendar in 2024!
It was a record-breaking year of lie-flat flight deals and points and miles availability for our members. We heard from hundreds of them who were able to book the fanciest seats in the sky for their next trip.
Unicorn Alerts & Mistake Fare Deals: 13
All 1,245 flight deals we've sent this year were great, saving at least $250 (or much more) a ticket. But some are ultra-rare and extra special: Mistake fares and our famous “Unicorn Alerts” – the deals so time-sensitive that we send a text message so members can book ASAP.
In all, we sent 13 Unicorn Alerts in 2023 – more than one a month! That includes the only bonafide mistake fare of the year: Just $135 roundtrip from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Dublin (DUB), which we dubbed our #1 deal of the year.
But there were plenty more alerts for rare award availability for points and miles aficionados. A few standouts include:
- A chance to book Qatar Qsuites and Qatar First Class … all for the price of business class!
- Some record-low pricing to fly Delta One Suites using SkyMiles, like a recent roundtrip to Europe for 167,000 SkyMiles
- Ultra-rare availability for two passengers to book Emirates First Class between New York City (JFK) and Milan (MXP)
- Unbelievably cheap Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seats to London-Heathrow (LHR): Just 21,000 points!
Total Nerd Alerts: 28
Some of the flight deals we send are just … different.
We call them Nerd Alerts, and they're built for all our fellow “sickos” out there who might go to extreme lengths to book a stellar deal or fly a special cabin. We sent 28 of them this past year.
Some of these flights never touch U.S. or Canadian soil. Other times, they're only bookable one-way, leaving you having to find a way home. But they all offer insane value to fly some of the best airlines in the world.
Take Etihad's Apartment First Class – the seat you see in the photo above (yes, that's on an airplane). As you can see, your best bet to book that seat is by snagging a flight between Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) – not the U.S.
Total Hotel Alerts: 55
After years of sending flight deals, we branched out this year: Thrifty Traveler Premium Hotel Alerts went live in July, allowing our Premium members to pay a bit more each year to start getting the heads up when some top-rated hotels and resorts around the world are bookable with points.
In the months since, we've sent 55 hotel alerts – more than two a week! Here's a small sample.
As a bonus, we also now include hotel options in (almost) every flight deal alert we send – and not just points availability but discounted paid rates, too!
Most Deals by Destination: Hawaii (41!)
Ahhh, Hawaii. It's our most frequently requested destination for U.S. and Canadian travelers.
This past year, we sent more than 40 alerts to get travelers to the Hawaiian Islands – the most of any destination … by far. If you're keeping score at home, that's shockingly close to one Hawaii deal a week in 2024!
Most Deals by Departure Airport: New York City (734)
Travelers who had New York City (JFK) chosen as one their departure airports had plenty to pick fro: We found 734 different flight deals departing from JFK in 2024! Remember, we sent more than 1,200 deals, meaning a majority of our deals included low fares from this East Coast hub.
From other major hubs to even small regional airports, we sent tons of deals from all 200-plus airports across the country. But travelers would be wise to add New York to their departure airport settings – it's only a positioning flight away!
Cheapest Domestic Fare: $57 Roundtrip!
Southwest and JetBlue, two low-cost carriers known for their splashy sales, both offered $57 roundtrip airfares a few times throughout the year.
Southwest's lowest fares were flying to Chicago-Midway (MDW) and several airports scattered throughout Southern California. JetBlue, meanwhile slashed fares as low as $57 roundtrip flying in and out of Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Boston (BOS), and New York City (JFK).
Cheapest International Fare: Minneapolis to Dublin for $135 RT
It wasn't just the cheapest international deal of the year – it's one of the craziest fares to Europe we've ever seen.
This Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Dublin (DUB) fare we found this summer clocked in at just $135 roundtrip, helping thousands of subscribers get to Ireland this summer for less than most hour-long domestic flights. That's a mistake fare if there ever was one!
Cheapest Lie-Flat Fare: Singapore to Bali for $257
KLM Airlines – yes, the Dutch carrier – runs a unique little flight between Singapore (SIN) and Bali (DPS) using one of its widebody airplanes. And it featured in our cheapest lie-flat fare of the year.
It's called a fifth-freedom flight, and airlines do this to keep their planes moving during downtime or reposition them in order to fly home from a different airport. On this short hop, you could have book a lie-flat KLM business class suite for just over $250 each way!
Cheapest Points Deal: Denver for 3.8K Southwest Rapid Rewards
You read that right: Just 3,800 Southwest points was all you needed to fly to Denver (DEN) from nearby Salt Lake City (SLC) – or vice versa. Yes, that's roundtrip, too.
This was part of a broader deal featuring Southwest fares flying into Denver, with fares between just 3,800 and 19,000 Rapid Rewards points roundtrip.
Cheapest Lie-Flat Points Deal: Nassau to the Cayman Islands for 12K Points
Another one of our famous Nerd Alerts, this strange British Airways route between the Bahamas (NAS) and the Cayman Islands (GCM) could be booked for just 12,000 points each way!
When you use British Airways' Avios program to book, you can book a lie-flat business class suite for just 15,000 Avios and $1 in taxes and fees! When we sent this deal, there was an American Express-to-British Airways transfer bonus that brought it down to 12,000 points.
There's no better way to island hop in the world!
Most Popular Domestic Flight Deal: Nonstop to Hawaii from $190
We've covered the most frequent deals and the lowest prices, so now let's pivot to the deals that proved to be most popular with our Thrifty Traveler Premium members.
Surprise, surprise: Hawaii took the cake again. Then again, it's no shocker that these sub-$200 roundtrip fares would be incredibly popular with travelers on the West Coast.
We found several flight deals to Hawaii under $200 total, but this deal from November was the most popular by far.
Most Popular International Flight Deal: Nonstop to Amsterdam & Paris from $519
Everyone would love to fly nonstop to Europe, but you typically wind up paying much more for those convenient fares.
Go figure this deal featuring dirt-cheap nonstops to both Amsterdam (AMS) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) proved to be incredibly popular. There were plenty of cities to pick from, too.
Many of these routes were close to half-off or more flying this the spring or fall of 2024. We sent this to our members at the end of February so they could get a head start on their planning for the year.
Most Popular Lie-Flat Flight Deal: NYC to Italy & Spain from $2,259
Throw “business class”, “Italy”, “Spain”, and “summer” into a blender and you'll typically see sky-high prices – think $5,000 or more.
Yet it wound up with one of the tastiest and most popular Thrifty Traveler Premium deals of the year.
Whether you flew from New York City (JFK) or Newark (EWR), you could fly to Barcelona (BCN), Madrid (MAD), Milan (MXP), or Rome (FCO) for less than $2,300 roundtrip. That's more than half-off the usual price.
Most Popular Economy Points Deal: Europe from 26K Delta SkyMiles
Finding a cheap way to use your Delta SkyMiles to get to Europe is no walk in the park. Sometimes, we can see rates north of 100,000 SkyMiles roundtrip.
That's a terrible deal. This wasn't.
Forget paying a mountain of Delta SkyMiles: You could fly from countless U.S. cities to Amsterdam (AMS), Barcelona (BCN), Dublin (DUB), Edinburgh (EDI), Frankfurt (FRA), London-Heathrow (LHR), Madrid (MAD), Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), and Rome (FCO).
It was one of the best ways to use your SkyMiles all year, period. It's not shocking it was among our most popular deals of 2024, too.
Most Popular Lie-Flat Points Deal: Hawaiian First Class from 29K Points
Yes, Hawaii again.
This was our latest deal flying to Hawaii, putting travelers in the brand new Hawaiian Airlines First Class seat using their points. We flew in these suites earlier this year and thought it was easily the fanciest way to get to Hawaii out there.
And thanks to a transfer bonus from American Express to Virgin Atlantic, you could book this deal for just 29,000 points each way!
Most Popular Hotel Alert: Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica
The Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique hasn't even opened its doors yet, but it's already in high demand. Our Hotel Alerts subscribers were among the first to book this incredible-looking property for 120,000 Hilton points a night thanks to this popular alert.
This dreamy-looking adventure hotel costs over $2,000 per night when you pay with cash, so it's a phenomenal use of Hilton points – or Hilton free night certificates!
Bottom Line
It was a banner year for Thrifty Traveler Premium, and the numbers bare that out!
We sent close to 1,300 flight deals in 2024, departing from nearly 230 airports in the U.S. and Canada. You can add another 55 hotel alerts to that tally … in just the six-month span since we launched!