Are you ready for the real deal about travel writing and how we find the best deals on air travel? We’re on the road at least once every month, and most of the time, we’re paying transportation costs. Since we’re a travel couple, that doubles the bill.
We’re also home-based in Huntsville, Alabama, the historically highest-priced departure city in America because of its high number of business travelers and our unfortunate proximity to Florida and Nashville. We’re driving distance from bread-and-butter budget destinations, so the airlines can’t justify the routes.
Needless to say, we’re always looking for ways to save on airfare. Our business and happiness depend on it. Luckily, we’ve found some tricks we’ll pass you on.
Photo Credit: Deposit Photos.
The Proof Travel is Evil
Huntsville is Rocket City, USA. You can’t throw a slide rule here without hitting a rocket scientist or math nerd of some flavor. In that spirit, we’ll share the mathematical proof that travel is evil, which you may have seen before regarding women requiring time and money.
Statement: Travel is Evil
(1) Suppose that travel takes time and money: Travel = Time * Money
(2) Suppose that time is money: Time = Money
(3) Substituting (2) into (1) gives: Travel = Money * Money = Money^2
(4) Remember that money is the root of all evil: Money = sqrt(Evil)
(5) Substituting (4) into (3) gives: Travel = (sqrt(Evil))^2 = Evil
Therefore, Travel is Evil. QED.
The only way around this conundrum is to minimize travel costs and the time it takes you to find the deals. That’s where the Dollar Flight Club comes in. Based on your customized parameters, they can save you up to $500 a trip, and the deals are sent directly to your inbox. Plus, you can try the service for just $1 if you’re interested.
Photo Credit: Deposit Photos.
How Dollar Flight Club Works
Dollar Flight Club is not a booking service, just like Coleman Concierge doesn’t book trips. Like us, they pass on timely and useful travel information, namely in the form of alerts to airfare deals that redirect you to other websites like Google Flights and Skyscanner. What’s really cool is that they have a US-based team that reviews the deals before sending them to you, so you don’t have a bunch of automated flight alerts clogging up your inbox every time a price changes.
We’re obsessive about emails because we get about 1,000 in our inbox every day and need to keep it clean for our peace of mind. That’s why we love that Dollar Flight Club stores all of the currently active deals they found for us in our account. It seems like Gmail has a mind of its own when it comes to organizing folders and ordering mail, but all we have to do is log in to Dollar Flight to see the deals.
Dollar Flight Club Membership Levels
Dollar Flight Club has three Membership Levels: Basic, Premium, and Premium Plus.
Basic, as the name implies, is pretty simple. You sign up, select your home airport, and get some flight deals sent to your inbox. Since it’s free, you’ll get your money’s worth, but you don’t get all the deals or services, and you can only select one airport. It’s a good membership if you like to dream about traveling and are dipping your toes in the discount airfare pool.
Premium is a great place to start if you’re serious about taking a trip. You get all the mistake fares and highly discounted international and domestic deals from up to four selected departure airports. You’ll make up your $69 annual membership on your first flight!
Premium Plus gives you access to the cheapest Business and Premium Economy deals leaving your home airport, plus a priority support team to help you with travel questions. It’s a premium plus service for people who have long since graduated from coach and wouldn’t blink at the $99 annual fee.
Photo Credit: Deposit Photos.
Dollar Flight Club Is More Than Just a Platform For Finding Flight Deals
One of the things we love about being a travel influencer is all the amazing people we meet, like Jesse Neugarten, the Founder and CEO of Dollar Flight Club. Before we teamed up with Jesse and company, we wanted to know what his company was all about. This is what he told us –
Dollar Flight Club is more than just a platform for finding flight deals; it’s a gateway to incredible travel experiences. Our team works tirelessly to unearth the best deals, sending out only those that meet our high standards for quality and value. This value focused approach is what sets us apart from the rest. We’re on a mission to make travel affordable and convenient, especially with our focus on domestic flights for US based customers. Our US-based team of travel experts is eager to share their knowledge and help you explore the world for less.
Photo Credit: Deposit Photos.
Other Ways to Save Money on Travel Costs
For some people, the only thing separating them from booking a trip is the price of a plane ticket. This travel hack is for the other 99% of the population. The best hotels and resorts in the world have extra inventory and offer deep discounts for people who are flexible in their travel plans, and here’s how you can get in on that game.
Make a “dream list” of your favorite vacation companies and look for their travel deals page. For example:
Sandals has travel deals for 65% off to Jamaica, Barbados, and Curacao
Their sister company, Beaches, has similar deals if you’re traveling with kids
If you like cruising, Uncruise is offering 15% deals on their website for Alaska cruises right now, and you can sign up to Virgin for exclusives in your inbox
Looking for adventure travel? G Adventures has a last-minute travel deal page
Stay in Playa Del Carmen instead of Cancun’s Hotel Zone
We’re subscribed to all these and more and get a steady stream of screaming deals. If only we could find cheap flights.
Screaming Deal of the Summer: The Best of Both World
Imagine saving 65% off the rack rate and $500 a ticket on airfare. That’s what you can do when you let Dollar Flight Club find the flight deals that you can match up with your accommodation and activity search. You can afford to actually travel with all the money you’ll save and have enough time to find something fun by letting Dollar Flight Club find the best airfare prices.
Ready for the cherry on top? You can get two weeks of Dollar Flight Club Premium for only one dollar! That’s long enough to run the “Best of Both World” game and see if it works for you. Or maybe you’ll get a flight deal on a dream vacation you’ve always wanted and just pull the trigger. Either way, you’ll learn a lot in just two short weeks.
The Proof is in the Pudding
How do we know this works? We’ve tried this ourselves and found some amazing vacation ideas. First off, we put in our four airports: Huntsville, Nashville, Birmingham, and Atlanta, and waited for the deals to come in.
Pretty soon, we got this banging flight offer from Atlanta to Cancun in our inbox that saves nearly $350 per ticket. That’s $700 dollars right of the top for both of us.
We love Cancun, or more appropriately, we love that Playa Del Carmen gives you the same access to the Yucatan Peninsula without the Hotel Zone markup or Tulum price gouging. It’s hard to find a room under $200/night in the Cancun Hotel Zone, but in Playa, there bunches under $50/night and even the 5-Star El Taj Oceanfront & Beachside Condo Hotel is only $161/night.
Let’s say we go 5-star and in Playa, that’s still a savings of around $500 for the week. We have other Riviera Maya tricks, like booking a rental car once you arrive (we got ours for $1/day!) and driving to local cenotes instead of bus tours to Ik Kil ($100 savings), or going for happy hour specials at Alux Restaurant Bar and Lounge (a super cool restaurant in a cave) instead of their $$$ diners or paying a door fee.
There’s lots of ways to save money in Riviera Maya, but the hotel savings from basing out of Playa and the flight savings with Dollar Flight Club alone will save us $1,200! That’s pretty cool, and letting Dollar Flight Club find our flights gives us more time to plan a dream trip to Riviera Maya.
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
Final Thoughts on Dollar Flight Club
Where’s the catch? Dollar Flight Club memberships automatically roll over to standard, annual membership. They also auto-renew, so you’ll want to set calendar alerts when these dates come up. Saving $500 a ticket for even a regularly priced membership is a great deal. The math says you’ll make your money back even if you only use the service once every seven years, but you should consciously choose whether to renew.
Now with their offer to try the Premium Version of Dollar Flight Club for just $1 for 14 days it could be your sign to check it out! We would love to hear your thoughts, do you subscribe to flight deal emails?