Thrifty Traveler is an online website made by travel lovers to help people travel cheaply. Thrifty Traveler offers cheap flight alerts to free and premium subscribers, but which one is better for you will depend on where you travel. If you ever travel outside the continental United States, the premium subscription is well worth it.
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What is Thrifty Traveler?
Thrifty Traveler is a website that helps travelers learn how to travel cheaply. Whether you are on a budget, have rewards points to use, or want to take a luxurious vacation for cheaper than average, Thrifty Traveler will help you.
The website covers many essential parts of travel, including flights, credit card rewards, frequent flyer miles, and other ways to save money while traveling. The website includes guides to teach you everything you need to get started traveling cheaply and maximizing your rewards.
In addition to the free guides and news on their website, Thrifty Traveler offers two different subscriptions to receive flight alerts and other benefits: free and premium. You can sign up for one of the subscriptions and get emails from Thrifty Traveler letting you know about all the best deals and travel news in addition to other services included in the premium subscription.
How does it work?
Thrifty Traveler offers three main ways that travelers can learn about travel deals and cheap flights:
- Sign up for the daily newsletter. If you are looking for domestic travel deals, travel news, and other travel tips and stories, the newsletter will provide you with all of it daily. The newsletter is free to sign up for with your email address.
- Join the Premium Subscription. Thrifty Traveler’s premium subscription is the only way to get their flight deals for destinations outside of the continental United States. Their deals will save you up to 90% on flights. The cost is $5.99 per month or $44.99 per year with a one hundred day money-back guarantee.
- Learn all about credit card points and miles. Outside of flying on cheap flights, you can earn rewards while traveling to get you discounts on your next trip. Thrifty Traveler has many articles and videos so you can learn more about choosing a credit card, using your credit card for the best deals, and how to be smart with your credit cards.
These are the three main ways to get deals from Thrifty Traveler, but their website also has many more resources like articles on how to get the best deals and save money on a trip. They have information on the best websites to use when booking your vacation and how to get the most out of your credit card benefits when traveling.
Is the Premium Subscription Worth It?
Signing up for Thrifty Traveler’s premium subscription is the only way to get cheap flight alerts for destinations outside of the continental United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. Once you sign up, you will receive the flight alerts immediately instead of waiting until the daily newsletter is sent out like free members.
If you are flying outside of most airports in the United States and Canada, you will be able to set your home airports and receive alerts for only the airports you fly from. The list of airports that you can choose from has over one hundred and sixty airports, so nearly everyone in the United States and Canada will be able to fly out of their local airport. However, many of the best flight deals come from big cities.
If you do not live near a large city, you can follow the biggest hubs like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles since some of the best deals come out of these cities. Then, if you want to book a deal from one of these hubs, you can fly from your local airport to the big hub then take a cheap flight from there.
Another benefit of premium is the free travel rewards consulting. Thrifty Traveler’s credit card expert will help you get started with earning points and rewards through travel credit cards. Travel rewards consulting is a personalized service so that they will recommend the best cards for your spending and lifestyle.
You will work with the expert and plan to earn points and miles to use your rewards for free or discounted travel. It can be an overwhelming process, and having a guide to help you get started is a massive benefit of the premium subscription.
Can I get flight deals without premium?
If you do not sign up for a premium subscription, you will still receive some cheap flight alerts, but only domestically in the United States. You will not be able to select a home airport, so you will receive a whole list of departure airports to choose from, and you will need to look through it every time to find your airport.
If you are only traveling in the United States and do not need instant flight alerts, the free subscription will work fine for you. In addition to the newsletter, you can follow their specific departure airport Instagram accounts for the best deals.
There are nineteen cities covered by these accounts and will sometimes alert you of premium deals as well so you can see what you are missing without a premium subscription. The airports covered are all major cities so that you can follow the one closest to you.
Free Guides on Thrifty Traveler
Even if you do not subscribe to Thrifty Traveler, you can utilize the free guides on their website to learn more about cheap travel. The guides are split into four categories. The first one is the beginner’s guide so you can learn some basics of cheap travel and travel credit cards.
The Credit Card Guide has all of the best travel credit cards broken up by category. The primary section includes the best current credit card offers, including sign-up bonuses, reward categories, and other benefits. If you are looking for a new card, you can also find a list of cards depending on what you are looking for, such as airline cards, business cards, hotel cards, and cards with no annual fee.
The Travel Guide includes everything you need to plan your next vacation, including flight deals, destination guides, hotel reviews, and airport information about lounges, TSA PreCheck, and airline information. The information in this section will help you make your next vacation better than the last with tips and deals to save you time and money.
The final section is the Points & Miles Guide, which will help you maximize your spending by using travel credit cards so you can earn while you travel. The Points Principles section will get you started learning about using points and miles to travel. Then you can move onto the other sections to learn about specific cards, how to choose the best cards for you, and how transfer partners can help you maximize your points.
More Cheap Travel Resources
If you are looking for more cheap travel, you can utilize more websites and resources when planning your trip. Another website for cheap flight alerts is Matt’s Flights. It offers a free and premium subscription as well, but they each offer different benefits than the Thrifty Traveler subscriptions, which you can read about in this Matt’s Flights Review.
In addition to cheap flights, you will need to book accommodation and activities on your vacation. If you want to travel on a budget, check out 28 Tips to Save You Money. Even with a cheap flight, travel can be expensive, so using these tips will help you travel for even less money.
When it comes time to book your accommodation, activities, and any ground transportation, there are other websites that you can use to get deals. You can find amazing travel deals on some other websites to keep your entire trip cheap, not just your flights.
Final Thoughts
Thrifty Traveler Premium is worth it for anyone looking for cheap flights to international destinations from the United States and Canada. There is also a one-on-one service for premium members who want to start using credit cards to maximize their travel points and rewards. If either one is something you are looking for to enhance your cheap travel, a premium subscription is well worth it.
