Forget what you’ve heard about flight prices: There’s still time to get a great summer flight deal … if you know where to look. That’s what Gunnar and Kyle discussed this week along with a deep dive on where things stand with airfare. Are we going to get a break from high fares soon? Plus, the guys hate Delta’s new “Basic Business” fares, they love Flighty’s latest update, and they get the latest story in the saga of “bougie boyfriend.”
Forget what you’ve heard about flight prices: There’s still time to get a great summer flight deal … if you know where to look. That’s what Gunnar and Kyle discussed this week along with a deep dive on where things stand with airfare. Are we going to get a break from high fares soon? Plus, the guys hate Delta’s new “Basic Business” fares, they love Flighty’s latest update, and they get the latest story in the saga of “bougie boyfriend.”
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This week’s episode is also by Visit Fargo-Moorhead!
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00:00 - Ranking World Cup countries as travel destinations
02:05 - Katie welcomes us back to the show from London!
03:00 - The new-look Thrifty Traveler Podcast!
03:20 - Flighty’s new connection assistant update
06:23 - Sounding off on Delta “Basic Business”
15:40 - A word from our sponsor Bilt Rewards!
16:40 - A word from our sponsor Visit Fargo-Moorhead!
18:15 - What’s happening with airfare?
29:00 - Where to (still) find summer deals
38:50 - A listener’s “bougie boyfriend”
41:20 - How many Chase cards is too many?
44:45 - Kyle’s ideal place for a race route
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Yo, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Gunner, and with me, as always, is a man who's back from vacation. How was, uh, Taylor and Travis's wedding, by the way? I heard you gave a lovely speech.
They kicked me out. Yeah. Uh, I, I started rattling off, uh, Bebe Rexha songs thinking it was Taylor Swift, and they, they booted me.
It didn't go over well.
What part of the speech did you give them their, uh, the recommendation for their honeymoon? Where are they headed, Hermitage Bay?
Flint, Michigan, actually.
That's perfect. All right, today we're gonna help you salvage your summer trip because there's still time to get a good deal, and we're also gonna check in on the latest movements in airfare.
Um, and because Kyle's been on vacation, we're gonna let him off the leash to, uh, properly react to Delta's new basic business fares. I know that's why you clicked play on this episode to begin with.
I'm a dog now.
Uh, but first, Kyle, as folks listen to this, we only have one meaningful game left in the 2026 World Cup.
We don't know the participants of said final as we record this, but we know that France and Spain and Argentina and England remain in the tournament. Zero bad possibilities for a game soccer-wise. Uh, also four incredible travel destinations. So my question to you is rank them. I guess let's go reverse order ranking of places that you're most likely to visit next.
So number one would be what you wanna do next.
What I want to do next? Yes. Uh, rever- so worst to first?
Yeah.
Okay. Uh, number four, England- Okay ... just because I've been recently. Yeah. Number three, Spain. I've been plenty, would love to go back, uh, but just because I've been plenty, wanna prioritize places I haven't been yet.
France, I've not actually entered the country of France. I've been through the airport so many times, but this is on my wife and I's list, so that's number two. But number one, Argentina. Gotta get there. Gotta get into Patagonia. Gotta explore, um, Buenos Aires. Need to get there. Need to, need it to happen, like, next year.
Yeah, that's my list exactly. No notes. All right, today on the show, we love Flighty's new app update, we hate Delta basic business, and we're planning your summer trip. All that and more.
Hey, this is Katie standing in front of Buckingham Palace and the London Marathon finish line. My husband is just steps away from getting his sixth out of six stars in the Abbott World Marathon Majors.
You're listening to the Thrifty Traveler podcast
Okay, speaking of England, welcoming us back to the show this week is Katie, whose husband finished all six of the world marathon majors, which are Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City. Besides all the running, just quite a travel accomplishment in and of itself, running all those majors.
Um, your husband may have finished six marathons, Katie, but you are the real winner here if you get to go with him on all these trips.
That travel with running all of those marathons makes me really tired just sitting here thinking about it.
I know, but if you're just the spectator, then you're just living it up.
That's true. Yeah. Katie did it right.
Katie did it right. All right, before we get started, you may have noticed something different this week. We have new podcast art. I'm really excited about it. Uh, we got a whole new look. It looks great. It really captures the vibe of the show. Um, your first impressions on our, our new, uh, podcast logo and art that people are seeing on their phones right now.
Co-signed. Uh, hope people like it as much as we do. If they don't, don't really care 'cause I love it.
And finally, if you're listening to us every week, please head over to Apple Podcasts, leave a rating and review. It won't take you more than two minutes. It'll really help us grow the show. All right, let's get into something hot and something cold to look at the good and the bad news this week in travel, and we'll start with a hot new update to our favorite travel app.
Um, Flighty, it's beautiful, it's handy, it's increasingly important as travel disruptions grow and grow. Um, it got a big upgrade this week to its Connection Assistant tool. Uh, the app now gives Flighty Pro members step-by-step guides to their connection. So it lets you know when, where, and how to clear passport control.
It lets you know if you need to recheck your bag. It lets you know if you need to go through security again, if you need to change terminals, and more. Plus, it's giving you estimates on how long each step of that process is going to take, and even gives you an educated guess on what gate you're gonna be at when you arrive and when you depart again.
Um, basically, this is the closest thing we've ever had to a full answer to, "Am I going to make my connection?" The question that we get all the time that we always tell people, "It depends." Uh, how do you like this new update?
I- It's, it's just really impressive that this app continues to get better and better, despite being head and shoulders the best travel app, and it has been for many years because of how much information it can give you.
I mean, so many airlines now are talking about having concierge AI app service, Delta in particular, but others as well. But this is really what people, I think, are looking for. I mean, if, if all of this data is right and helpful, and I have no reason to doubt that it will be, Flighty is basically gonna hold your hand through the connection process and get you exactly where you need to go and let you know exactly what you're in for.
This is, like, supremely helpful. I, I love it.
Yeah, I, I'm, I'm ... I consider myself a veteran traveler, and still when you land coming off an international flight, especially in another country, you're just following airport signs kinda blindly and then just jumping into whatever line. To have the flight eConnection assistant there telling you, like, "All right, here's the line you need to go to, here's how long that's gonna be, here's what's next in your process," you know, instead of just stumbling around reading airport signs and, and joining long queues, it's really nice.
One thing I'm really interested in is that they're talking about giving gate predictions, which, you know, here in the United States, not a big deal. You- as soon as you get to the airport for, like, five-plus hours in advance, you know exactly what gate you're departing from, barring some changes, but those don't happen very often.
But, like, especially in Europe, you might not get your gate assignment until 30 minutes before departure, which means you're sitting in some part of the terminal w- w- looking at the board, and then finally you get a notification or finally it shows up on that departure board, and you kinda run to your gate.
If this works the way I believe it will, this will be huge to at least give you a good guess of which area of the concourse you need to be in if you're, you know, flying out of London or Paris or Amsterdam or wherever.
Yeah, definitely. Help you plan your lounge visits, help you plan your bathroom stops.
All crucial. All crucial when you're traveling. Um, let's move on to something cold. The main event, and this is why people are here, to listen to you talk about this. Uh, you've all likely now seen the news that Delta has introduced basic fares to its Premium Select, First Class, and Delta One cabins, bringing about the dreaded basic business fare.
It no longer includes lounge access or seat assignment or the ability to change and cancel for a voucher. Plus, you'll get one fewer checked bag. Uh, everything about the onboard experience with these basic fares stays the same, but the fares are just stripped of all the other things that used to be included in a Delta One fare.
Um, they are on sale now. They're still pretty limited as we record this. We found them on a few routes but not a ton. Uh, and importantly, they aren't available when booking with Delta Sky Miles yet. Uh, okay, everyone who turned on this podcast is here to hear you talk about this. I want you to pick your least favorite of the following airline cliches regarding this topic.
Are you, are you okay with this? All right. Uh, number one, basic fares are just, quote, "unbundling the flying experience." Uh, especially putrid. Uh, number two, basic fares create more, quote, "options and choice for flyers." I know you don't like that one. And finally, basic fares offer a cheaper option for Delta One flyers.
Which of those irks you the most?
I am just mashing button number three here. This is not cheaper The reason why Delta is doing this, the reason why United did it before them, is because it is a way for them to make more money, and they do that not by decreasing the cost of these business class fares, but by increasing the cost of what you used to pay for, and then you're paying the same amount in order to get less.
This is a price hike in disguise, plain and simple. And it's one thing for, you know, the likes of Delta to say, "You know, we're- we have a cheaper option for business class for travelers who care less about seat assignment and lounge access." Fine. Airlines are gonna market. That's what they do. But to see so many mainstream news publications, including, like, The Wall Street Journal, buy into that argument that these fares are, in fact, cheaper is just really, really silly and shortsighted, and these are smart people who know that airlines exist to make more money, that, that, that this is why they're doing it.
This is not cheaper, people. This is a price hike in disguise.
Yeah. Okay, here's the question that everybody wants to know. Is this coming to SkyMiles fares? 'Cause right now we're only seeing it with cash fares. Do you suspect that this is going to creep into our SkyMiles ecosystem soon?
It's not a matter of if, it's when.
A- and we know that because Delta, as we're talking right now, is still the only major US airline, at least among the big three of American, Delta, and United, that sells basic economy award tickets. So all of the, the framework is there for them to simply turn this on for business class as well, as well as comfort and premium select.
It's only a matter of time. Uh, I don't know how long it's gonna take. It took a couple of years from the time when Delta started selling basic economy tickets in the last decade before we started to see that creep into SkyMiles award tickets. It's not gonna take years this time. I would not be shocked if we got to the end of the year or even the end of the summer and started to see some Delta One SkyMiles basic award tickets using your SkyMiles where the cheapest rate is a basic business class ticket in Delta One, which is a bummer, because, you know, we've talked a lot for the last two months now about how amazing Delta SkyMiles flash sales, but especially Delta One deals have been.
And as this happens, when it happens, I would bet that the, the great Delta One deals that we've been finding in the not-too-distant future are going to be these basic fares that can't be canceled without forking over a penalty of the SkyMiles that you just booked with, can't pick a seat assignment, and pretty soon you can't even visit the Delta One lounge, uh, in, you know, now four airports and counting.
Yeah. Okay, um- I wanna just touch on a few more things. One, w- now basic fares are going to be available in every cabin on Delta. We've already seen these in the main cabin, obviously, and then most recently in the Comfort cabin last November. Um, another note about the lounge access piece of this. When you buy a basic fare, a basic business fare with United, you still get United Club access, you just don't get United Polaris Lounge access.
With these Delta fares, you get nothing, nada, unless you hold a Delta Sky Miles credit card or an Amex Platinum card that gets you lounge access, then you can use your lounge access like normal with a basic fare. Um, and most importantly for right now, basic business fare buyers will still get Delta One check-in and lounge access through January 18th, 2027.
So there are a few extra notes there on kind of the nuts and bolts of how this is all going to work. Um, I think for most people, especially thrifty travelers listening to something like this, they're not buying a Delta One ticket unless they can use their Sky Miles anyway, so it's probably not gonna matter to most of them.
Um, I guess what does this signal to you about what, what Delta is doing here and what the rest of the industry's gonna do? Is, is everyone just destined for this?
Probably. Yeah. This is a monkey see, monkey do industry, and to that point, Delta is not the first one to do this. United beat them to the punch earlier this year.
But Delta had been talking about going this way, not just for months, but for years. So this is not a surprise. I think what's really important to keep in mind, I'm gonna keep harping on this, this is not a cheaper ticket, and here's why. When Delta, which was the first U- major US airline to introduce these stingy basic economy tickets, they did that in order to compete with the likes of Spirit and Frontier and other low-cost carriers to, o- in order to kinda match price it with a skimp- skinnier product that then encourages people to pay more for seat selection, for checking a bag, whatever else.
It was a defensive measure Nobody, they're not playing defense on business class fares right now. This is pure offense. This is a pure way to squeeze passengers for more money and is a, you know, kind of a tried and true business tactic of the easiest way to get more money out of people is to go to your existing customers.
Those people are much more likely to pay you more money than somebody that's brand new. So in some ways it's really savvy that they're doing this, but I just, you, I have to harp on it. This is not a cheaper fare. This is not a better deal. It is just the opposite.
Yeah, and a worse experience, too. Uh, I've already felt this when I'm booking flights with Delta in the main cabin.
When you go to click on that fare on Delta's website and it says Delta Main, and then you're like, "All right, is it gonna hit me with basic? Is it gonna hit me with basic?" And you- It sure is You click on it, and of course the lowest fare is basic. Now, when these roll out, there's going to be 12 different fares to choose from on any given day, on any given flight.
I mean, it's three in the main cabin, it's three in comfort, it's three in premium select, and three in Delta One on a wide-body aircraft. That's so much, quote-unquote, "choice" that the airlines love so much and that we hate so much. Uh, r- they're just trying to get people to buy up to that classic or extra fare, and they're charging way, way more for it.
So 12 different options of, uh, what you can book, the seat you can book on a plane is crazy. It's really dumb. Um, and, uh, obviously it's gonna work for them, though. They're, they're gonna make a lot of money on this. Uh,
I was just gonna say, that's the worst part about it, is that this is absolutely going to work for, in many ways, the same reason that basic economy wound up working so well In the first place is that, you know, the, you see the price and you're like, "Okay, that's fine."
But then you click through and you see that's for basic, and then you convince yourself that, "Oh, I'll just, you know, I, I'm gonna pay another $200," or maybe it's gonna be 20,000 SkyMiles when that eventually happens, and that becomes a no-brainer and you condition yourself to do that, and then you have to remind yourself the basic price used to be the main price.
So you are paying now an extra $200 one-way or $400 round trip or 40,000 SkyMiles when, if, again, when that happens for these Delta One basic fares. It's only a matter of time. It is absolutely going to work. The house always wins, man. Yeah. That's what it comes down to, unfortunately.
So the message, the takeaway here I presume is, is book now.
We had a guy, uh, a few years ago message us at Thrifty Traveler, and he said that he has been farming SkyMiles for a long time. Is it time for our boy to harvest?
Harvest those SkyMiles, baby.
All
right. Yeah, you, you gotta. I mean, we've talked so much about so many great Delta One deals. There are still tons of Delta One flights to Europe bookable for 97,000 SkyMiles each way right now, even for late summer, which I'm sure we're gonna get to later in the show, but I would much rather have you book those right now.
Lock in that trip. Lock in whatever Delta One trip that seems reasonable for later this year or next year, and then, you know, if and when this happens where these basic fares spread to S- to SkyMiles, you're locked in and you're good to go. And odds are that, you know, once that happens, that 97,000 rate is gonna be in basic business class, and that's main ca- or that Delta One classic fare that you just booked and locked in is gonna be probably in the neighborhood of 120,000, maybe more.
Yeah. Okay. Um, let's talk about airfare. We wanna do a check-in on all things that's going on in the sky, and we're also gonna talk about some last chance summer trips, but first we're gonna take a quick break. All right. It's time for the Extra Mile, where we dig a little deeper on an important travel topic, and this week we're doing a check-in on the airfare landscape as we hit the halfway point in the year and in the summer.
Um, so Kyle, last time you were on vacation, I deployed my take that an airfare cliff is coming, and it took all of my self-control not to publish another take while you were on vacation this week too. But now we're a full two months removed from my prediction that airfare is about to come down. How do you think that's going?
It's like lukewarm milk. It's not warm milk. It's not... Y- yeah, it's, it's fine. Um, we're, we're on the right track I think. I think we both agree that- On the one hand, there are still tons of ugly prices out there, I think especially domestically. But on the other hand, we're finding more deals. Deals are getting a little bit easier to find.
So it's, it's a mixed bag right now. But I do think that most importantly for people who kinda put off booking that late summer trip because they didn't like the price that we're- that they're seeing, there are still some good options out there to, to book something for, you know, let's just call it mid-August and onward in the l- the kind of the last gasp of summer to, to get something that is not just, like, okay or reasonable, but is truly a good deal, which is not something that we would have said, you know, two months ago.
Yeah, I totally agree. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, but unfortunately we need to talk about the tunnel for a few more seconds because things are still out, not fun out there, especially, like you said, if you're looking domestically. According to the new consumer price index data released this week, airfare fell 1.8% from May to June.
That's good. But airfare is still up 26% compared to last June.
Not good.
Not good.
That, that number is not good. And that is, that is still the reality for a lot of people. This is the first month in, I think, three or four where we did see a month-over-month decrease of 1.8%, which is not a lot, but that is encouraging.
And so long as, knock on wood, rub your lucky rabbit's foot, whatever you got, so long as jet fuel prices don't explode again, which they are up in the last couple of weeks, so we can't rule that out, but so long as it doesn't get really bad again as it did in April, I think we will see June as the turning point where it got really ugly through, you know, let's call it mid-June, and then things have started to improve since then.
And my hope and expectation is that's gonna continue, that it- things will continue to slowly improve, that prices will continue to slowly come down, and we will find more and more deals as a result of that.
Yeah. So our own data, we, we track a ton of airfare here ourselves for our Thrifty Traveler premium subscribers.
Um, our own data that our chief flight deal analyst, Jon Shellbetter, went through for us shows pretty much the same thing, that f- that fares are overall still up, but things are softening. And probably the most important thing that came out of his analysis was the best fares just aren't lasting as long.
So when you see those, like, really awesome price drops and then fares get down to what you'd hope they are and what we like to book them at, uh, they're not lasting as long. Maybe just a day at some point. Maybe just a couple hours in some cases. But some of the best fares aren't lasting long. What do you, what do you think about that trend?
Yeah, I, I, I think that's absolutely correct. I think the analysis showed two things. It showed that the best deals disappear pretty quickly, and you need to be really decisive when you see a price that you like, and that international is really leading the way in terms of, you know, counterintuitively, your best bet at getting a better deal on flights is not domestically right now.
It is not flying to DC or New York or Miami or Phoenix. It's flying across the pond. It's going over to Europe, and in some cases, over to Asia where are tho- those fares are higher certainly than many domestic fares, but the deals, the discounts that we're seeing airlines do, that's where we're seeing it, is heading abroad somewhere.
Yeah, the, the traveler's instinct to stay closer to home when prices go up is almost always wrong. And, uh, we always love to tell people, encourage people, think bigger because a lot of the best value is, is traveling long haul. You're gonna pay the same price for a flight to, uh, Bergen, Norway than you will for a flight to Kansas City in, in many cases this summer.
So take a look around. Um- Let's talk about what the, the big four US airlines are talking about here and, and see what some of their comments are indicating for us. 'Cause it doesn't seem like they're scared that they're gonna have to lower prices yet, even though we're seeing some low-cost carriers, uh, give us some really, really good deals.
Um, little airline executive translator, just a quick, quick segment. I got a quote here from Joe Esposito, Delta's chief commercial officer. He said, quote, "We are focused on continuing this revenue momentum to fully recover this year's fuel cost pressure and improve margins as we move through the back half of the year."
Translate Joe Esposito.
Joe Esposito just told all Americans, "Don't expect fares to come down until 2027." Is that gonna be true? We don't know. You know, it really hinges on supply and demand, which Delta is not the only airline in charge of that. You know, if some, if some, one of the major US airlines or, you know, an upstart low-cost carrier or a low-cost carrier that just decides to get a little too big for its britches decides we're gonna add a bunch of new flights, you know, at the back half of summer or into the fall, then things could change.
But what Delta is saying, and really echoing what all of the major four US airlines, American, Delta, Southwest, and United have repeatedly said over the last three, four months, is that they are using these higher fuel costs from the war in Iran as an excuse, basically, to charge higher fares, because that is what airlines want to do.
That is what airlines exist to do. They want to charge the highest fares possible while still filling their planes, and they are having no problem doing that because the people who are still traveling right now are apparently willing to pay these higher fares. So there's no reason for them to discount them until there is.
Yeah. How about this, uh, this gem speaking of excuses for higher airfare? This gem from, uh, Delta CEO Ed Bastian. Ever heard of him? I have. Uh, he said, quote, "Even after recent fare increases, airfares remain 10 to 15 points below overall inflation since COVID."
Sure, Ed. You know, great. Thanks, man. Uh, I really appreciate that $500 fare to Chicago that used to cost $149.
Thank you for this, uh, inflationary deal. It's, it's not wrong I think it's easy to get caught up in the negativity of airfare. Um, look, if you don't like the price, you don't like the price, and this, this data point doesn't matter. It is, however, true that airfare still is typically has not kept up with inflation, which is exactly why airlines are seizing this moment of having higher fuel prices and, you know, an American public that is willing to pay many of them in some cases, or at least enough of them to fill their planes and turn a higher profit.
Uh, that is why they are doing this. I also think that this is really the driving force of why domestic airfare is so ugly, and the deals that we're seeing are increasingly flying somewhere abroad. Because these American airlines have a captive audience here of people who are willing to pay these higher fares, but once you start flying to somewhere like Europe, there's more competition, and there are competition from airlines that really just need to fill, fill their planes and cannot get away with charging as high of fares as some of the major US airlines, which means that the major US airlines then have to match those prices flying to places like Dublin or Amsterdam or wherever
Yeah.
Okay, that's, that is where we're starting to see, you know, some of the better prices. The, the rosier picture here is following some of these kinda lower cost airlines that are flying overseas, and then of course Southwest. Um, so we're seeing Icelandair, SAS both ran big sales, like 300s and 400s round trip to Northern Europe.
The kinda sales that they, we were used to them running three, four times a year, and then they kinda put a pause on for this last couple of months when airfare has been so high. Uh, they both ran in the last two weeks big sales again, like really solid stuff with, you know, round trips in the 300s to Iceland on Icelandair, for instance.
Um, and that did put some pressure on the big boys. We saw Delta slash SkyMiles rates to Iceland at the same time with, you know, uh, SkyMiles rates as low as 13,000 round trip flying up to, to Reykjavik. Um, we saw, for instance, Southwest run a big sale with, you know, prices that m- that are more closely resemble what we're used to seeing from them.
American and United had to cut their own fares to Denver and Phoenix as a result of that. Um, and then we've also seen lots of sales to Mexico and the Caribbean still. I think a lot of that is in part to JetBlue and how, uh, competitively they price all of their Caribbean routes. Um, so we are seeing the big boys have to, have to bow a little bit to some of these low-cost carriers, but it is very clear that as, as Ed Bastian says, they still think they got 10 to 15 more percentage points of fare growth that they could get to if they really wanted to.
Music to our ears, right? Yeah. Uh, the Mexico one is a good shout. Uh, JetBlue is certainly a big piece of that or maybe the kind of the driver of it, but I do think other airlines have matched with cheaper fares to Mexico. It's interesting because just last week Delta said that the whole of Central and South America is seeing really strong demand except for Mexico, and everything in airfare has less to do with jet fuel prices and much more to do with just supply and demand and competition.
And if demand to get to Mexico is low, that means airlines have seats that they need to fill. The best way to fill them is to cut travelers a better deal. So Mexico is a good spot to look.
Yeah. Um, one other, one other note I'll point out here, we've also seen some good Asia and Africa cash deals, too. This is flying long haul and economy, so whatever your appetite for that is, uh, some people don't really want to, but I mean, we've seen stuff in the 700s, 800s round trip to Africa and Asia, places like, uh, Nairobi and, um, Bangkok even, and we've seen lots of good stuff there as well.
So like we said, try and think big. As, uh, airfare goes high, it, it really, you know, that flight to Kansas City is gonna cost you a lot of money, and if you're looking for a good value, those really long hauls might get you what you need.
All of this, I think, comes with a really important caveat that this is like general guidance.
You may look at some of these places depending on when you're looking or which city you're looking from and still see some pretty gross prices but this is, I think, a starting point of the places to look where your odds of getting a better deal are much higher than, you know, flying to Dallas or to Nashville or somewhere domestically where the odds are much higher that you're gonna see something really atrociously expensive.
Yeah. Okay, let's get people off the mat here. If they were, if they have been, uh, if they've been tackled by high airfare this summer, let's, uh, let's pick them up. Let's get them on a trip.
God, you are gonna beat the sports metaphor to death, aren't you?
I already don't like it, but I'm too deep. Um-
You're committed to the bit.
All right. Airfare might still be high. There's still a lot of good ways you can save on a summer escape. Um, what's the first thing you tell people when they say, "I wanna get something on the books for this summer"?
I mean, the first thing is the cardinal rule of all things cheap travel, which is the flight first rule Which is important advice in normal times, and it is absolutely essential when things are looking ugly out there for flight prices, as they still generally speaking are.
So before you search for hotels, before you request time off work even, before you book a rental car, whatever, start by searching for your flights because that gives you the flexibility to pivot by even just a day or two from your preferred travel dates when that single decision could save you hundreds of dollars per ticket.
For a family of four or five, you could save 1,000-plus dollars on airfare just by starting your travel planning process by searching first for flights. The flight first rule is number one with a bullet the most important thing any traveler can do right now.
Yeah, and I think most importantly that, that flexibility, like you said, will allow you to do things like, uh, fly in the middle of the week if you can.
Um, fly early in the morning or late at night. Those flights are m- often much, much cheaper. And especially aiming for August, early September if you can swing it. I know a lot of people are tied to the academic calendar, and you'll brush me aside for saying try and get there in September, but September if you can do it, uh, way fewer crowds, still great weather in almost every place.
Um, booking a trip, a little summer trip in September or August. Um, even if, if you can plan out into fall break, um, do that. Uh, but right now you're just gonna need to look off-peak. If you're gonna try and fly on Sunday afternoon, you're gonna get fleeced for it.
I mean, even if September is, is out of the cards because of school schedules, there is a true airfare cliff, and it happens like clockwork every single year in the second week of August, which is when the end of the peak summer prices start to fall off.
So the difference between flying to somewhere like Amsterdam in the final week of July versus mid-August, you know, to be able to take that quick European trip before you have to get the kids back in school or before you have to go back to work That can save you hundreds of dollars per ticket. Um, so, you know, aiming for, I w- I would just say kind of mid-August and onward, wherever you can fit something in that schedule.
That also applies to domestic airfare, I would say. It's probably a little bit less pronounced, but especially with Europe. Tr- taking that trip, actually getting on that plane sometime mid-August and onward is, like, the single best decision that you can make.
Uh, let's talk about some destinations they should target, uh, for a good deal yet this summer.
Um, northern Europe is an obvious one. We've been talking about this Icelandair SAS sale, which is still running as you listen to this, hopefully. Um, you know, anything Iceland, uh, Scandinavia, um, and then, like, you know, even Germany and Ireland, um, you can find a lot of good stuff, a lot of really cheap fares going there in the 300s, 400s, 500s round trip for the end of summer.
Um, and then I think, uh, for domestically, this is pretty broad, but you should target anywhere that Southwest flies because Southwest is still running all the best airfare right now. They're essentially offering the same exact product as every other airline, um, and the fares are still way lower, and they're actually making some of the big boys match.
I mean, we've seen flight deals to Chicago and the DC area and Denver and Nashville and Phoenix. I mean, these are all just Southwest strongholds, and all these deals happened because of a Southwest sale that triggered all the other airlines to have to match. So those are kinda some places that I would recommend that you target.
Yeah. Go to your home airport's Wikipedia page, um, search for Southwest if you have Southwest service, and take a look at the places where Southwest flies. That is a really, really good starting point. Also, just kind of remove this layer of it, Google Flights Explore is number, number one tool of all things cheap travel, especially right now, where the mentality may be, "I wanna do something late this summer.
I don't really care where I go as long as it's cheap. I wanna start with a cheap flight." Google Flights Explore is tailor-made for these instances, where you can put in your home airport and then just spin across the country, spin across the globe. It's gonna highlight the cheapest places for your travel dates in green where you're gonna get the best deal possible.
Yeah, I would recommend not doing Google Flights Explore early on in your workday 'cause it might chew up a couple hours. Once, once you, once people discover Google Flights Explore, it's really hard for you to not just spend all day looking around the globe. I get to do it for a job, which is pretty amazing, but man, it is, it's a really fun tool.
It's kind of addicting. Then you're playing with your filters and figuring out exactly where I can go on exactly what day. Google Flights Explore is amazing. We, we will do a full episode on Google Flights and all of its features, especially Google Flights Explore in the future. Um, last bit of advice, Kyle.
And it's advice that we've given in, I would say, 70 of our 71 episodes so far. Flexible points for the win here. Amex points, Chase points, Capital One points, Bilt points, Rove, uh, Wells Fargo. Uh, whatever points you have that can transfer to partners, those are what are gonna be the key for saving on trips.
I have 19 flights on the books, I looked at my Flighty app this morning right now, uh, that range from next week through next February. Of those 19, I booked two of those flights with cash, one round trip with cash. I booked four of those flights with the operating airline's miles. So I booked, uh, for instance, Southwest flights down to Chicago for the White Sox Pope hat game.
Uh, they're honoring the Pope by giving everybody a pope hat, and I'm going down. I booked that with Southwest Rapid Rewards. Um, I also booked a trip to Amsterdam for work with Flying Blue Miles. All 13 of the rest of the flights were booked with partner award tickets. So I, for instance, booked, uh, American flights with Alaska miles.
I did the other way around, too, Alaska flights with American miles. I booked Delta flights with Flying Blue and Virgin, and I booked Japan Airlines flights with Alaska. Um, my trip, I have one more trip left this summer with my family. Uh, it's just to Michigan, a really short hop. It does not work without partner miles.
They were... Delta wanted $400 round trip to fly from MSP to Grand Rapids. That's per person. We ended up paying a grand total for both of us of 22,000 miles, and I think it was $80 in taxes and fees, 'cause they have that little partner booking fee as well. But, uh, a, that trip does not work, otherwise it's a 10-hour drive or a $1,000 trip for less than two hours in the air total.
It's, it's amazing. I mean, as much as these kinds of partner airline workarounds to book a flight on a domestic airline using a foreign airline partner's mileage program is the bread and butter of all things award travel, it is, like, the secret weapon, especially for domestic travel right now. Because if you're trying to fly United and trying to re- redeem United Mileage Plus miles or fly American and redeem Aadvantage miles, the, the mileage rates are gonna kind of follow the cash price.
The higher the cash price, the higher the mileage rate, which means you're gonna see some pretty gross mileage rates, too. But if you can use one of these workarounds, you can book those exact same flights for literally a fraction of it. And this is where, if you haven't dipped into this world of transferring your Chase or Amex or Capital One points to some of these foreign airline programs, now is the time to study up on this because of every redemption you just listed.
The two of us and a couple other members of our team are flying up to Fargo for our live show at the end of July in a couple of weeks, right? And I just looked. Delta is charging $550 per person for a less than one-hour round trip flight up to Fargo at the end of the month In SkyMiles, that same flight is 48,000 SkyMiles, which is also gross.
You can book those exact same flights using Air France KLM Flying Blue miles for 11,000 points round trip total, literally a quarter of the cost. It is absolutely essential right now, and for whatever reason, even though, you know, Delta is charging far more in SkyMiles and American is charging far more Advantage miles than they would have six-plus months ago, we haven't seen these airlines, at least for these economy domestic redemptions, get stingier with allowing their foreign airline partners like Air France or l- even like Alaska booking, um, American-operated flights using Alaska miles or vice versa.
We just haven't seen them kinda restrict that kind of awards sp- space that makes these kinds of workarounds possible. It's amazing.
Yeah. It's, uh, really, really good advice. Anything else? Any other tips you would give to someone who just peeled themselves off the mat and are ready to book something for the summer?
Just to repeat, you know, if you can, look abroad. If you're, if you've ruled out a, a big trip to Europe, uh, at the end of the summer because you assume it's going to be more expensive because of the domestic prices y- you've been seeing, give it another look. But maybe most importantly, just be decisive. The l- the longer you wait, the less likely that these better prices are gonna stick around, whatever good price that you see.
To the point you made at the top of the show based on our research, deals are just disappearing much more quickly. So if you see something you like, lock it in, make it happen, take the trip.
Okay. Let's help a listener. We also have an update from a listener that I'm really excited to read. This is a listener update from Liz.
You may remember Liz from the Travel Mistakes episode. Um, she is the one who accidentally booked her boyfriend at the fancy Kensington Hotel in London when she was actually booked at the South Kensington Marriott, uh, when she was running the London Marathon.
I love this story so much.
Uh, she has what she is calling a bougie boyfriend update, uh, and it is just spectacular.
She says, "Recently, while trying to frantically schedule all the perks I have through the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for the June 30th deadline after seeing posts for which credits to use on social media, I realized I don't have an Amex Platinum card, but my boyfriend does, and he was not utilizing his Lululemon credit.
I asked if we could go and use it to buy me a new running clothing item, and he agreed. When we arrived at the store, he realized they have a men's section and proceeded to buy himself a new outfit. He's now plotting which Lululemon items he's going to add to his wardrobe every quarter. I don't think using that quarterly credit is anywhere in my future.
Anyway, love the show and my bougie boyfriend." So who is luckier, Liz's boyfriend or, uh, Katie from our Welcome Back video with her, uh, marathon-running husband?
Uh, the, the Hotel Kensington still just looms large. Liz's bougie boyfriend is the luckiest man maybe on Earth. When I first read this, I actually thought that he used her Amex Platinum card to buy himself Lululemon clothes, which that would've been, like, the ultimate slap in the face.
It, it makes this one a little bit more palatable. It still is very, very funny.
I just love that she's like, "Yeah, let's, let's go to the mall, um, and we'll use your card to get me something out of Lululemon." And he walks in and realizes, "Lululemon has men's clothing?" It's just that realization just washing over him, being like, "Oh, man, everyone's legs look good in these, huh?"
It, it brings me back to when Amex revamped its Platinum card last, late last summer And introduce for the first time this, you know, quarterly Lululemon credit, and Saint Peter on our team comments on it. He goes, "And there's a new credit for Lululemon. Apparently, it's a clothing store." It's like, "Peter, welcome.
Welcome to the 21st century."
Oh, man. Um, I'm, I'm really sorry, Liz, that you're never gonna get use of that Lululemon credit because, um, bougie boyfriend is gonna be all over that thing now from here on out.
Decked out Lululemon head to toe by 2028.
Uh, we do have a question, though, from Pastor Craig. Pastor Craig writes us, "Dear sickos, you have successfully infected me with the booksy bug.
Thanks a lot. I travel to Italy about once a year out of MSP. I'm always hunting for good fares and points deals. As a Thrifty Traveler premium member, I'm learning a ton, but I'm still very much a points babe in the woods."
Is points babe in the woods the other side of the spectrum from sicko?
I think so.
I think so. I like points babe in the woods. He says, "About a year ago, I picked up the Chase Sapphire Preferred with a monster welcome bonus. It paid for itself immediately. I booked a one-way Lufthansa business class flight through Air Canada. Sweet. More recently, I grabbed the Sapphire Reserve when that huge bonus came around.
Between the travel credit and some local travel, I've already clawed back about $500 of that hefty annual fee. Here's my conundrum. With Chase's latest preferred perks and incentives, it almost feels like the Preferred is the more valuable card. Does it actually make sense to keep both cards and shell out nearly $1,000 a year in annual fees, or am I missing something obvious?
Help a brother sicko out. Splain. Thanks for a fantastic show, and keep the great content coming. Pastor Craig." What do you got for Pastor Craig? D- Does he need both Chase cards?
I think it depends. You, you have to do the math. The math on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is easier than ever before. Just with the new $100 hotel credit, you're done, and it is very easy to use that credit.
You just need to book a hotel through Chase's travel portal. Book that one-night stay that you need for a wedding or a road trip or whatever, and you're done. That one's simple. Where it gets more complicated is with the Reserve card because, you know, the annual fee is now almost $800 a year, and this card has just an absolute laundry list of credits.
I think Craig made the point that he got a lot of value out of his first year with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. So if you can keep that up, if you can get more value than what you're getting back, and you're being honest with yourself about what kind of value you're getting, you know, are you... Do you actually value that $300 The Edit credit?
At $300, would you have really booked that expensive hotel stay if not for that? Maybe you need to bring that down a little bit. So, you know, using our credit card tracker tool, which we'll link in the show notes, really do some inventory, and if you can truly come out ahead, I see no reason not to keep both, but no question the Chase Sapphire Preferred is much easier to make sense of the math on.
Yeah. Take stock of, of what credits you, you've used, what credits you really think you're going to use, and just kinda do the math on if you think you're gonna like it or not. You know, the, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is, is a big next-level card, gives you things like lounge access. Um, no Chase lounges here at MSP, so that's probably not a huge bonus for you there, but you do have some Priority Pass lounges and other ways to m- get more value out of that card too.
So, unfortunately I don't have, like, a really strong answer for you. If you wanna just go as simple as possible, you're absolutely right, I think the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the far superior card in terms of overall value. But if you want some of those bougie travel things from the CSR, maybe hold onto that one too.
Um, do the math, and if you wanna pick up a Chase Sapphire Preferred, um, if you're interested, use the link on our website to help support the show, and sign up for that while we still have that 100,000 point bonus right now. If you want us to answer your questions on the podcast, or if you have any feedback, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com.
We might feature your question on next week's show. And to close the show, as always, we go On the Spot, and I get to put Kyle on the spot this week. You ready?
I think so.
Okay. So we heard from Katie and Liz in this episode, who are both runners. Neither of us are runners. I
am, I'm famously not a runner.
You're famously not a runner, okay. I just wanted to check, I didn't wanna pigeonhole you as not a runner.
No.
Um, I do love, though, when I'm traveling, setting out on foot, whether it's a little jog or a long walk or a hike, I just love seeing cities on foot. It's just my favorite way to do it. Uh, my question to you, Kyle, is if you could create a Kyle Potter marathon or any sort of race anywhere in the world, where would you put it?
Whe- if whether it's a scenic hike or a drive or a w- a walk that you'd wanna return to or, or just turn into a big race or event. You know what I'm saying? Do you understand? You catch my drift here?
I, I do. I, I've got two. I would really like to redo the Narrows at Zion, um, and I think it would be fun to kinda make a sport out of it, like a race to the top of the canyon, um, or something else at Zion.
I need to get back to Zion National Park. It's just incredible. The other o- one m- more seriously would be, like- A sushi crawl through Tokyo Or a beer crawl through Munich or something like that, where you're going from spot to spot. You map out a route. It clocks in at, you know, let's just call it 15 miles or something, and I'm absolutely not running that.
I'm walking it. Uh, that sounds like a... Either of those sound like a really, really fun day.
That would be really cool. I have, I have... I thought of one just because I came up with the prompt. The Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland, uh, it's the, it's the, just the most postcard-y one. Um, my wife and I went there when she was studying abroad in college.
It was so cool. Going up the Lauterbrunnen Valley and then having midway through the race having to take the cable car up to Murren, and then finishing the race at the top of the cable car. Having a little break on the cable car would be fun, but that is just the most scenic valley I've ever been in. I was trying to think of, like, a good, awesome alpine place to have a big, big fun race with a bunch of people.
Unfortunately, if there's a race, there's just gonna be a big line at the tram, so I didn't really think through all the logistics there.
You didn't. You were just thinking of that pork knuckle at the top of the mountain to sustain you for the rest of the
race. Exactly. A little mandatory fondue before you head on the second half of the race.
Nothing l- nothing like a stomach full of bread and cheese- ... to get you through the rest of that race.
All right, that's all. Thank you so much for listening to the Thrifter Traveler podcast. Please rate us five stars on your podcast platform of choice, and like and subscribe to the show on YouTube. Send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation this summer.
If you have feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We'd love to hear from you there. Kyle, tell us about the team.
This episode was produced by your favorite host, who is dead set on helping you get somewhere for less this summer, Gunnar Olsen. It was produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas and edited by Kyle Thomas.
Our theme music is by Benjamin T. Cell. See you next week. See
ya.