I was Scott from Scott’s Cheap Flights. Now I’m Scott from Going. I’m a professional cheap flight expert here to help your 2023 travel plans.

Have you considered requiring all of your new hires to be named Scott?

one of the weirdest coincidences of my life that i only found out years after we started working together is that my co-founder's middle name is Scott.

is there some karmic gravitational pull between Scotts? science may say no but all available circumstantial evidence points to yes

"Great Scott!"

We now know what "Scotty doesn't know!"

trigger warning from my childhood!!

Let me give you some perspective on what a disaster your name change is going to be. “Scott’s cheap flights” says it all, and immediately gives one’s memory a jog… my first thought was oh yeah, I remember that guy, I really need to bookmark his site. And that’s after having forgotten about you for 5+ years. If I come across “Going” in 5 years, I’m going to have zero clue as to what the company does, and no reason to associate it with Scott’s cheap flights, and no reason to choose it over other commercial sites, as you’ll have disconnected your brand from its reputation.

Imagine if the Heinz family decided their Ketchup was to be rebranded…do to everybody’s efforts, and decided to drop not only the Heinz name, but the ketchup identifier as well, repackaging their product as “Topping“. What effect do you think that would have? If you said “catastrophic”, you’d be right. The only way Heinz could even hope to retain even a fraction of their old market share is to print on the new labels, in big print “Formally known as Heinz Ketchup”… and if you need to keep reminding people of who you were, you should have never changed your name.

On another front, say they don’t remember your name, but remember it was “something” cheap flights. If they look up “cheap flights” they’ll get lots of results, but will likely recognize “Scott’s Cheap Flights” as… that’s the one!

Say they don’t remember Going as the new name, because it’s generic as fuck, why would they? The only way they’re going to be able to determine if you’re indeed the site they’re looking for is if you basically handcuff “Going” with the phrase “Scott’s Cheap Flights”… forever. Because if you don’t, you’ll find your company in sharp decline… unless you have extremely deep pockets, and a decade long ad campaign big enough to make your brand name instantly recognizable, like Travelocity or Expedia. Which I seriously doubt.

If a marketing agency is helping you with this it’s because they see dollar signs, it’s going to take an extraordinary amount of money just to keep you from going into sharp decline (unless you keep a solid parallel presence as Scott’s Cheap Flights” as well).

The name change literally has no upside. It’s has no reputation, no name recognition, no emotional/personal hooks to engage memory retention.

Even if you manage to avoid a severe drop off when you’ve fully decoupled the original name, I’m 99% certain you’ll still go into year over year user decline, unless you significantly increase your marketing.

Now lets say your old website automatically redirects to going.com, and I get there from an old bookmark I had. If your new site doesn’t announce it was formally known as Scott’s, I’m going to assume some corporate asshat bought the rights to your old domain to scam the unsuspecting.

If you want to make sure people realize it’s a group effort, do so on your website, call them “Scott’s Cheap Flight Battalion” or something, give the group their own “about” page. Get some professional flattering portraits done, give them a bio (punched up by a talented copywriter to fit whatever group dynamic your collective identity suggests), let those who want to opt out, do so.

i understand and appreciate your perspective here. thank you for taking the time! even if we don't see eye to eye, i genuinely appreciate that you care enough to register all this and make sure i internalized it. thank you

Have you thought about relocating to Scotland, and doing business day-to-day in the Scots language? You could just rebrand to "Scots Cheap Flichts"

#retirementgoals

They can all just be Scott's Tots

whatcha gonna do whatcha gonna do to make our travel dreams come true

there was serious discussion to renaming our scholarship program...

Hey Scotts Cheap Flights team, thanks for everything over the years. We’ve used your emails to travel cheaply to Paris, Croatia, Japan, and many domestic destinations.

Since you’ve given me so much, I think I owe you some honestly here. I have a strong positive brand association with “Scott’s cheap flights” and honestly I don’t love the new name “Going.” “Scott’s cheap flights” was easy to tell people about. I think “Going” is too generic and it’ll be harder to find for people via word of mouth. Regardless though I’ll remain a loyal customer.

Is there anything else that unites you guys that could be prepended to “cheap flights”? What would you say most Going employees have in common?

I personally don't like "Going" at all. It is far too generic. Why mess with success?

I don't hate "Going" but "Scott's Cheap Flights" is like "Craigslist". Something one just doesn't forget.

i hear you. i liked/like the name SCF, in the end it just came down to a matter of fairness to me.

i didn't think it was fair to continue getting all the credit for a team effort. that may not matter to a lot of members, but it's important to me

i didn't think it was fair to continue getting all the credit for a team effort

I agree. I like the "personal style" of Scott's Cheap Flights.

The name "Going" seems like just another app. Just another start up from some silicon valley bro's.

i'm the same old scott but i hear you

ahhh i'm so glad to hear about the trips!

i definitely hear what you're saying. i didn't love it when i first heard it either, though it's grown on me. SCF can always be an "OGs know what it was originally named" club :)

our mission is to help people travel and experience the world, and cheap flights are a huge part of that but of course not the only part. some of the stuff we're working on is gonna go a bit beyond cheap flights, but still always with the north star of being on travelers' side and helping people travel as much as we all say we want to

I love SCF and I am loyal to the brand. I've been evangelizing SCF for years. My fear is "OGs know what it was originally named" are going to be the same "OGSs that know what the original service was and since Going doesn't (or can't because of market changes) provide the same service as it once was" are going to leave and that evangizling word of mouth growth will leave.

i completely understand the worry and i'd encourage you to hold us to account if you feel like we're slipping in our service.

i think we're moving the opposite direction and have been for years—providing far better service than we used to. let me give you one small example of a concrete improvement in the Going rebrand:

let’s say you live in Chicago. you used to get an email from us that would say “Paris — $300s-$500s (Feb-Nov)” but because it included fares departing other cities, you couldn’t immediately tell if it was a stellar fare ($305 roundtrip!) or just a decent fare ($589!), nor could you tell if Chicago had summer dates.

now, with the new Going rebrand, we’ve built it so the fare and dates (including in the subject line) are dynamic for your selected airport(s).

old SCF subject line: Paris — $300s-$500s (Feb-Nov)

new Going subject line: Paris — $342 (Feb-Jun / Aug-Nov)

you can tell right away this deal has $342 roundtrip fares out of Chicago with availability except in July. the goal is to show you right in the subject line how good the flight is for you and whether it has availability that fits your schedule.

Hey! I do a mystery guys trip every year. Everyone puts in $600 and one person plans. People find out moments before they get on an airplane where the trip is. What’s my best bet for $600 for 4 people traveling from Houston? Or got any cool ideas?

One guy found a deal to Iceland years back for $400 a person on your site and we all flew there and rented and rv and drove around for 4 days.

fun!! i do something similar but not a mystery. maybe one year we'll have the cojones to go your route.

ohhh snap. here's a sampling of deals we found in the past 3 weeks out of IAH (all fares roundtrip, not Spirit):

- Paris $497

- Hawaii $388

- Cancun $192

- Las Vegas $198

some good options in there! my vote is Paris but probably because i've (embarrassingly?) never been

What did your SEO team say when you told them that they need to promote the word “going” as your new brand?

just constant, endless gifs of that Raiders of the Lost Ark face-melting scene

I stopped subscribing years back when (unfortunately) you had to refocus on deals out of US airports.

Now that your team is 65 people, do you guys have any plans to expand again? Maybe just a teensy bit north of the border to YYZ? Please?

it was gut-wrenching on my/our end too.

to your question, we're hoping to! <3 Canada.

can you do me a favor and put your home airport and email in this form? when we start sending deals from there we’ll let you know rather than making you check back constantly (which you’re also welcome to do but i promise we’ll reach out!)
https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu

Hey Scott, Ive been a subscriber for years. I love the new logo, but I worry that Going doesnt grab your attention the way SCF does. However I wish you the best!

My question for you is about business class reward flights. I spend hours searching for United or Singapore Air (for example) deals for low price reward seats. I would love it if I could have a service where I could see all cheap reward flights out of a single home base airport. Maybe displayed on a calendar by month. Any thoughts on that? I can elaborate if necessary.

ahhh appreciate you! and appreciate the honest feedback. i hope Going grows on us all, but regardless of the name, our mission is the same as always.

have you checked out Straight to the Points? it's the best award flight alert service i've found, and the founder Spencer is an A1 guy.

Scott, I googled “Going” and you have to wade through dictionary definition websites, famous newspapers (like NYT) with articles including the word “going”, among other random sites. Do you all think you’re going to be the first website to come up when your name is searched? If not, are you first page? Scott’s cheap flights worked because the name includes the search term “cheap flights”.. is there going to be money spent on ads to help people understand the change? Seems like this is going to raise the cost of membership to pay for ad campaigns that are unnecessary in the first place. I know you’re too far down the road to switch back, but it seems like the customers are looking for the “why” on a complete rebrand, and just saying “I wasn’t comfortable using my name” isn’t a great reason.

I understand. remember, we just changed names *yesterday*. SEO takes a bit of time—hoping we'll rise up the Google ranks soon enough.

one thing i like about going.com is there's no need to google it, you can just type in the URL. with scott's cheap flights, you had to remember (was it scott? steve? shawn?), was it cheap flights or cheap trips or cheap travel, is there a dash in the URL or whatever? you may not have had any trouble remembering but a lot of other folks did (even journalists would refer to us on air sometimes as Scott's Cheap Travels)

Hi Scott - I have tried to book deals immediately upon receiving your email notifications, only to be told by the airline or travel service that “the fare has increased,” or “is no longer available.” I’m an Elite member and pretty unhappy that I’ve been unsuccessful at booking literally anything. Do you have any tips? Can you convince me to renew when my current subscription ends?

gah! that’s no bueno. are you opening the email and checking the fares right away (ideally within an hour or two of getting the alert)? prices can change quickly—the better the fare, the shorter it tends to last.

are you clicking the sample search in the email? we don’t get any kickbacks or commissions from the airlines, but we put in the sample search because sometimes great fares can be a bit tricky to find and we want to point you in the right direction.

are you playing around with the dates? availability can change quickly, and sometimes the price in a sample search (say, June 7-14) may have gone up after we sent the alert, but the cheaper prices are still available for other dates (say, June 8-15).

most of our members are able to get the cheap flights we send out, and i don’t want you to be left out!

Thanks, Scott. I’m particularly interested in the great SAS deals that have been bouncing around the past few days. I plan on booking a couple of trips this weekend after confirming details with friends. Hopefully they’ll still be available. Thanks for the tips!

certainly! they've been one of the airlines with a ton of cheap flights over the past 6-12 months. hoping it continues into 2023

Hey Scott, as a marketer I have a few questions for you,

• What other names did you consider?
• Did you do any concept testing? If so can you share any results? (Aka did people love going?)
• Had your team tested the new well designed emails vs. the “regular” ones we used to get? I’m getting a mix of both so I’m thinking there might be some testing going on.

Any future plans to send out alerts on award fare redemptions? Maybe a partnership with TPG (The Points Guy)?

P.S. I’ve set up Gmail filters to allow me to filter out a very specific airline I am following (not all airlines operating US to EU are dog friendly). It would be lovely if you guys had that feature in our notification… especially if you offered text notifications!

hello! certainly!

we have a super detailed writeup of the rebrand process here if you're interested: https://www.going.com/rebrand

i'm not sure i'm allowed to reveal the names we passed on—i'll check.

tonnnnns of testing (including ongoing) of the emails, design, everything. we want to make sure our deal emails, to take one example, are making the cheap flights as useful and accessible for members as possible.

let me give you one small example of a concrete improvement in the Going rebrand:

let’s say you live in Chicago. you used to get an email from us that would say “Paris — $300s-$500s (Feb-Nov)” but because it included fares departing other cities, you couldn’t immediately tell if it was a stellar fare ($305 roundtrip!) or just a decent fare ($589!), nor could you tell if Chicago had summer dates.

now, with the new Going rebrand, we’ve built it so the fare and dates (including in the subject line) are dynamic for your selected airport(s).

old SCF subject line: Paris — $300s-$500s (Feb-Nov)

new Going subject line: Paris — $342 (Feb-Jun / Aug-Nov)

you can tell right away this deal has $342 roundtrip fares out of Chicago with availability except in July. the goal is to show you right in the subject line how good the flight is for you and whether it has availability that fits your schedule.

But the new Going subject line here doesn’t mention Chicago either. I’m a paid subscriber with lots of departing airports, how would I know this is referring to Chicago versus one of my other airports? (I genuinely appreciate the effort putting into better descriptions in the subject line, though! More of that!)

that's actually an interesting idea. most folks only have one home airport (maybe ORD and MDW for Chicago folks) so they know automatically that the fares/dates are for them. but i wonder if we could build it down the line for folks with multiple departure airports to make sure you know right away which is which. i'll do a little investigating

As someone with a mostly regional home airport (MCI) multiple departure airports are almost the only way to go. Almost all of the deals I’ve used from you over the years have been multi itinerary via a major hub (which my friends and family in hubs love so they can see me for a day).

If anything I’d like a way to see in the subject line if it’s a (rare) deal from my home airport or from another departure city.

i like that idea. will give it some thought—thanks for sharing!

Thanks for doing this, I hope Going is a big success

Is there really a good day of the week to book flights or is that just a myth? How far out from my trip should I be looking at fares?

thank you!!

suuuper important to clarify between the cheapest days to book flights and the cheapest days to take flights.

there are no cheapest days to book flights. it’s not Tuesday at 1pm (was true 20 years ago, not true today), it’s not August 23rd, “national cheap flights day” (I am airquoting so hard over here).

but there are cheapest days to *take* flights: usually Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. it’s not true 100% of the time, but more often than not. these are days business travelers typically avoid, and so airlines know most people buying flights on those days are price-sensitive leisure travelers, and drop the fares accordingly.

re: how far out to be looking at fares, the cheapest fares are most likely to pop up during what we call a Goldilocks Window—not too early, not too late, just right in the middle.

for domestic flights, the Goldilocks Window is 1 to 3 months in advance of travel for non-peak dates, or more like 3 to 6 months in advance for peak season like Christmas or summer.

for international flights, it’s 2 to 8 months in advance for off-peak and more like 4-10 months in advance for peak periods.

You rock dude! Thanks for taking the time to answer me

appreciate you!

How do you make revenue off the service you provide?

membership subscription fees.

i'm glad you ask because we've never taken commissions/kickbacks from airlines or outside investment—we've been bootstrapped from day 1 and rely on members to keep the lights on and put food on the table. not only am i incredibly grateful to all our members, but also feel very lucky to get to work for them rather than having to answer to airlines or whoever

Hey Scott! Are there any plans in the future to open up the possibility of paying one of your employees to keep an eye out for a specific destination around a particular time?

For example, I’m getting married in October sometime most likely and have a couple destinations in mind. It would be (imo) an excellent feature to be able to reach out to your company and book something similar to a travel agent, where I give them a couple destinations and a time frame and see if they’re able to find deals to those places during that time. It would help things be a little more personal and situation dependent.

Thanks for doing the AMA!

ahhh early congrats, that's so wonderful! where are you considering?

thanks for the question—i really like this idea! a concierge service of sorts. i'm gonna give it some more thought. thanks for passing that along

Hi Scott - longtime sub. Has your team user tested the new email format in a mobile 1st environment?

To be honest - it sort of sucks. What used to be quick hit emails now have become a scrolling nightmare due to spacing, banner/image sizes, and formatting. (ios/gmail user)

howdy! thanks so much for being a longtime member, appreciate you <3

yeah, everything gets tested in all browsers/devices, etc. i hear you, and we're still working out the little details to make it as usable/simple as possible while also being elegant and enjoyable to look at.

i love that you're willing to provide feedback especially about mobile stuff. we're working on the app as we speak—if you had any interest in helping kick the tires later on, we're collecting folks to reach out to later when there's beta testing ready. no pressure, of course

https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/WPlcmhr0

Hi Scott and Team! I got round trip tickets from a non-hub midwestern city to Rome for $325 last year and it was incredible. Can you do me a huge favor and collaborate with Rick Steves at some point? Scott + Rick = travel magic. I agree with many here that Going feels a bit generic, but I’ll continue to tell people about “Going” as often as I’ve told them about SCF. Good luck!

ahhh amazing—$325 from a smaller airport to Rome. just incredible!

i love Rick Steves. can anyone here put in a good word for me please?? i would fanboi so hard around him though, it'd be truly embarrassing. tell him about the time he led my wife and i on an app-based audio tour walking through Amsterdam's red light district. hoo boy!

appreciate you so much <3

Any update on when you guys might offer the ability to search for deals by date range?

ohhh i may have some good news for you—have you logged into your Going account and clicked the DEALS tab at the top? you can now choose which travel months you're interested in and see all the currently available deals from your home airport(s)

Is this purely a name change for the company or has some owner ship or restructuring taken place? I've enjoyed the info you and team have provided.

Also looking for tickets to Thailand this year, any suggestions on historically oogd times to book?

just a name change/rebrand, no ownership change

ohh great! the Goldilocks Window for international flights is 2-8 months in advance of departure for non-peak travel dates; 4-10 months out for peak times.

Are you all ever going to share last-minute amazing deals? We're a family of 5 who loves to travel international and has a ton of flexibility in our schedule (paid customer of Going) - but - your team has said they avoid sending out deals that are only a week or two out. This would be a *huge* value add to those of us who can take advantage of it. We know they're low likelihood since business travellers pay $$ but mistake fares are low likelihood too. :p

yes! this is what our Weekend Getaway alerts aim to do.

our main deal alerts purposefully avoid last-minute deals since they don't work for most people, but the Weekend Getaway alerts are for just that—great deals for long weekends over the next few weeks.

if you're a Premium member you should be automatically getting those. let me know if not?

Are you global or does your service only cover flights originating from the US?

+1. Would be nice if they offered their service to Europeans, too.

let us know where from!

https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu

Here's hoping for Perth soon!

g'day

right now we only search for cheap flights departing US airports, but that'll change at some point.

if you want us to let you know when, can you do me a favor and put your home airport and email in this form? when we start sending deals from there we’ll let you know rather than making you check back constantly (which you’re also welcome to do but i promise we’ll reach out!)

https://hello-going.typeform.com/to/kAm51Kyu

Alright, what are the Goldilocks windows?

the cheapest fares are most likely to pop up during what we call a Goldilocks Window—not too early, not too late, just right in the middle.

for domestic flights, the Goldilocks Window is 1 to 3 months in advance of travel for non-peak dates, or more like 3 to 6 months in advance for peak season like Christmas or summer.

for international flights, it’s 2 to 8 months in advance for off-peak and more like 4-10 months in advance for peak periods.

What would you suggest is a good window for shoulder? Europe in September/October?

if it's the first week of September, i'd try to get it booked by early June at the latest.

if it's mid-September on or October, you should have decent options through late July or even possibly August if you live in a larger city

Hi! Just wanted to say thanks! I have an upcoming trip to the Scottish Highlands thanks to Scott's Cheap Flights -- Chicago to Inverness for about $400 on Delta. I booked a fare on Delta that doesn't allow for seat selection, which I've never done before. Any tips or ideas what kind of seat this will get me? I assume a middle seat, probably.

yessssss congrats! that's wonderful!

sometimes it'll be a middle seat, yes, but keep checking back on the app or website. seat selection sometimes opens up in the 24-72 hours before a flight and you can pick an aisle/window/maybe even exit seat?? that's the best thing you can do (save paying for a seat reservation), just check back on the seat map close to departure

I'm curious: what are your thoughts about the future of air travel in general? I ask as someone who's pretty disappointed in the state of the industry; everything from the sustainability of flying, lack of innovation, pilot shortages, labor concerns, additional negative changes to the passenger experience, etc.

Outside of the occasional cheap flight, is there anything I can look forward to? Or is becoming a points-obsessed credit card churner the only way to enjoy flying moving forward?

i think the longterm trend is towards more a la carte service but also lower fares (even accounting for fees). without dismissing your very valid concerns, the only thing i'd add is that those who reminisce for the "golden age of flying" are reminiscing for a time when air travel was exclusively for the wealthy, minorities were often barred, women faced preposterous levels of sexism, cigarette smoke filled the cabin, planes crashed all the time, when they weren't crashing they were getting hijacked (literally 1x/day at one point in the 1960s), etc. etc.

i dislike cramped seats and have the same environmental concerns, but i'd take air travel today over basically any time in the past

Not a pricing question, but in lugt of the recent cluster fu*k of recent weeks, what are some entitlements that airlines have to legal provide, which they aren't volunteering but have to comply when asked - cancellations, lost luggage, meals, hotels, rebookings.etc? Also helpful if u can include various regions - EU, UK, Canada USA? Thanks good luck with the new venture!

yes—one of the great things about not getting paid by airlines is we can give travelers the type of advice they need, including what their rights are when airlines fuck up.

(1) under federal law, if an airline cancels or significantly changes your flight, you're entitled to a full cash refund if you choose not to travel. not a credit, not a voucher. cash.

source: https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds

(2) if the cancellation is caused by something within the airline's control (not a snowstorm, say) they are on the hook in most cases to make travelers whole for out-of-pocket expenses like meals, hotel, ground transportation, etc. here's a great dashboard of what each airline explicitly commits to doing: https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard

(3) rights are much stronger in the EU where there's a law EC 261 that entitles travelers to compensation up to 600 euros if there's a long controllable flight delay plus you get to keep your flight.

(4) if an airline loses your luggage, you're entitled to up to $3,800 in reimbursement for domestic flights or $1,700 on international ones. they're required to compensate passengers for "reasonable, verifiable, and actual incidental expenses that they may incur while their bags are delayed" and cannot "set an arbitrary daily amount for interim expense"

source: https://www.transportation.gov/lost-delayed-or-damaged-baggage

Do cookies matter on flight searches?

honest to god it doesn’t do a damn thing. we sift through 100,000s of fares each day—if anyone were to see cookies juicing fares, it’d be us.

but just to be sure i tested this once and searched for a Denver-London flight 100x in a row. (video here) on the first search and the 100th search, the fare stayed the exact same: $441.

what’s happening is that airfare is extraordinarily volatile. think of them like Super Bowl tickets. the fare sometimes changes while you’re searching not because of your searching, but because that’s what airfare does. (in fact, the logic of “cookies increase your fare” has it backward—almost all companies respond to a customer who’s interested but doesn’t ultimately purchase by lowering prices with a coupon code, not jacking up prices.)

it won’t makes fares more expensive, so if you don’t believe me, nothing wrong with continuing to take the extra 30 seconds and cookie clear or incognito search.

Hi Scott! I was a subscriber previously but am considering re-subscribing. I am physically disabled and require more room on flights, as well as accommodations (e.g. wheelchair to/from gates, help with luggage). My disability is a hidden disability so I look “normal” on the outside but have a lot of mobility issues; the skeptical looks from airline staff and passengers is another story. 🤗

My husband and I really want to travel more this year, but I actually haven’t traveled internationally when I’ve had this many physical limitations. On domestic flights, I usually have to pay more for premium economy or higher, since I am usually considered ineligible for a seat with more room as I don’t have an immobilized or fused leg, for example.

Do you have any advice as to international airlines that might be considered better for accommodating individuals with disabilities, even if that just means making the whole process of requesting assistance easier? Including when needing assistance in the arriving country. Or international airlines that typically have more leg room than others for economy seats (if that’s a thing)?

I have a Delta credit card and airline miles for domestic flights. My husband is considering opening a card for another airline. Do you have suggestions as to what might be the best option when considering international flights?

Thank you so much and apologies if that was all a total over share. Navigating travel while disabled is REALLY hard sometimes.

hello! appreciate your taking the time here, it's great to hear from you.

generally speaking, the airlines with the best on-board service (roomiest seats, best overall service, meals, concierge service, etc.) are going to be either Asian carriers or Middle Eastern carriers. a few that come to mind off the top of my head are ANA, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Singapore, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar. European airlines are generally better than domestic US flights, though it varies.

i completely understand how daunting it all is—there's so much to wade through! one of my core beliefs is travel is a muscle, something we get better at with practice. i have full belief you'll get there!

I’m personally in a unique position due to my height which will makes it challenging with the limited legroom on many flights. I’d like the cheapest flight and not need something like first class just because of my height, and there are options such as regional airlines with much greater legroom, airlines that offer upgraded seats (still much cheaper than first class), and certain seats with additional legroom that can be chosen (such as the exit row), but as of now I haven’t found an easy way to search for these options. In addition, if it’s not a direct flight then there’s the whole issue of needing to see if the next flight will have enough legroom, if there is a way to choose a seat for that flight, etc.

Do you have a solution for this or is this something you’d see any value in adding to your service?

i hear you loud and clear. and unfortunately for many of us but especially for you, airplane seats really have been shrinking—width has narrowed by 2" over the past few decades while legroom has shrunk by 3".

if i were in your position, there's a couple things i'd do:

(1) prioritize cheap business class flights, which while quite a bit pricier than economy, have gotten far more affordable in the past couple years. just in the past week we've seen business class fares like $1,240 roundtrip to Portugal and $1,485 roundtrip to Morocco or Senegal. even Premium Economy is far more prevalent now than it used to be, and that's partly why we made our Elite tier to make sure folks were getting the best price possible on larger seats.

(2) try to get lowest tier elite status with one airline (American is probably the easiest since you can get it just through credit card spend) because that opens up substantially more seat selection not just on AA, but also partners like Alaska, jetBlue, etc.

situations like yours aren't uncommon and one of the primary reasons we avoid budget airlines like Spirit that has 28" of legroom (yikes)

How is your service different than Jack's and others? TIA

there are a number of knockoffs out there trying to do what Going does, and nothing wrong with healthy competition! take a look and decide for yourself which is best.

if you want my opinion, Going has been at it far longer and i'd like to think our product is better, our deals are superior, and our customer service is second to none.

Did you guys do your rebrand in-house or hire an agency to do it?

a mix! we worked with some awesome folks at Design Studio and also the entire Going team has been working for months to get this rebrand shipped.

if you're curious for more detail we have a big writeup here: https://www.going.com/rebrand

Hi Scott, did you consider the bathroom implications of the new brand?

Like,

when your on the lawn 'a mowing

and then you just start Going

everyone poops

Hey Scott, I have been a premium member for years and absolutely love the service! Your book was great as well. My question: I am going to a wedding in Barcelona in September. We want to hop around Europe before and after. We live in tampa and we are trying to think of the smartest route over to Europe. Do you generally find New York to be the best hop off point? And if so, into any one city in particular?

amazing—thank you so much for the kind words!

i'd keep an eye on fares not just TPA<->BCN, but also out of MIA, MCO, NYC, and BOS. NYC is the cheap flight capital of the US, but Boston too has a tonnnn of cheap flights to BCN. MIA has some, ditto with Orlando, but considering how close they are it could wind up having the best all-in price.

definitely possible we'll see a great TPA-BCN fare, especially considering how far out you're starting to monitor. 6 weeks back or so there were TPA-BCN fares available for $494 roundtrip, for instance. there's hope for you!

Do airlines really track website/destination traffic and bump fares accordingly?

nope. it doesn't make a difference. if anything, logically you'd think they would lower the price when someone searches but doesn't buy a ticket.

<3 you SCF

Aisle, window, or middle?

ahhh i'm not crying you're crying <3

middle. hear me out!

i used to be window but now that i have a couple young kids, what brings me the most joy is seeing them admire the world from 30,000 feet. they get the window seat, i take the middle, and i love it

Have you used ChatGPT? I wonder if it will become our travel agent of the future.

i have! still formulating my thoughts on how it could impact travel. what's your take?

Hi Scott! Long time subscriber here. Firstly, I want to say thank you for everything you and the team do. As a university student, I've been able to travel and study abroad thanks to SCF :) Where is a place you would like to travel to this year?

hey thank you for being a long-time subscriber. appreciate you! that's so wonderful and flattering to hear. any particular highlights?

the flight i'm most excited for this year is to Sacramento. hear me out! i found $50 roundtrip flights and since i spend most saturdays looking after my 4yo daughter, i thought it'd be a fun afternoon to go to the airport, fly down to Sacramento, deplane, turn right around, and fly home. it's going to be silly and fun and we're both so excited for it

Hey man !! This is crazy I was just thinking about you!

How are you doing ?? I was wondering how everything works. Do I need to pay into the service to access the cheap flights? What if in only travel once a year? Do the flights include baggage ? I’m trying to fly to Colombia or somewhere in South America from philly or NYC soon but flights are looking to be out of my budget !!

howdy! and thanks!

we've got a free tier on Going—nothing wrong with getting a sense of how it works and if you like it before deciding if Premium or Elite is what you want. and if not, you're more than welcome to stay on the free tier as long as you like!

we only send out deals that are truly excellent—here's the average savings off normal prices:

- domestic: $200
- international economy: $550
- business class: $2,000

if you get just 1 flight to Europe from us in the next 10 years, the savings more than cover the membership. but zero pressure, truly!

we include in every alert whether bags are included or extra—one nice thing about not getting commissions from the airlines is we can be completely on the travelers' side and transparent about any fees.

tonnnnss of cheap flights to Colombia lately. just in the past two weeks there were a spate of fares to Bogota and Cartagena under $300 roundtrip on a full-service airline

This is so weird, I just started trying out your Elite subscription this week because I’m hopefully trying to book a huge Tokyo trip for my honeymoon next year!

My question: what’s the furthest in advance that you can book an airline ticket and do you find the old adage true: the further in advance you purchase, the cheaper the flight will be?

Alternatively, what causes prices to fluctuate most? Thank you so much!

yay!! Tokyo is the best always, but especially for a honeymoon. pre-congrats!!

the furthest in advance is 12 months. i'm so glad you ask because while it's true that with airfare the early bird gets the worm, it's not true that the earliest bird gets the worm.

cheap fares are most likely to pop up during a Goldilocks Window—not too early, not too late, just right in the middle.

for domestic flights, the Goldilocks Window is 1 to 3 months in advance of travel for non-peak dates, or more like 3 to 6 months in advance for peak season like Christmas or summer.

for international flights, it’s 2 to 8 months in advance for off-peak and more like 4-10 months in advance for peak periods.

I got to see Paris a few years ago thanks to your services, and am on the hunt for my next trip - just signed up for Going premium! What's the coolest place you've visited before? What's on your bucket list?

ohhhh yes! i love hearing that so much—congrats!

confession: i've never been to Paris. so i suppose that's on my bucket list! other than that, Socotra is the absolute tip top of my list, but it's a someday/maybe idea considering how remote it is.

one of the coolest places i've visited is a natural infinity pool in the mountains of Oaxaca named Hierve el Agua. the views are divine.

Is there any truth to multiple searches for a flight may cause an increase to the ticket price?

honest to god it doesn’t do a damn thing. we sift through 100,000s of fares each day—if anyone were to see cookies juicing fares, it’d be us.

but just to be sure i tested this once and searched for a Denver-London flight 100x in a row. (video) on the first search and the 100th search, the fare stayed the exact same: $441.

what’s happening is that airfare is extraordinarily volatile. think of them like Super Bowl tickets. the fare sometimes changes while you’re searching not because of your searching, but because that’s what airfare does. (in fact, the logic of “cookies increase your fare” has it backward—almost all companies respond to a customer who’s interested but doesn’t ultimately purchase by lowering prices with a coupon code, not jacking up prices.)

it won’t makes fares more expensive, so if you don’t believe me, nothing wrong with continuing to take the extra 30 seconds and cookie clear or incognito search.

Do you think prices will drop for a summer yyz-ams flight or should I book now?

depends what they are now. if it's under $750 i'd book, if it's over i'd wait but try to get booked by March at the latest

1. How do you personally feel about everything going on in the airline industry? Are there any extra steps we should consider before securing a flight?

2. Will there be a thorough way to alert people about any recent civil unrest in an area whose flights you're promoting?

(1) i think the flight disruption chaos is bad and unfortunate, but thankfully still very much the exception to the rule. the vast, vast majority of flights don't get delayed or canceled, though it's a huge kick in the pants when they do. a big part of my job these days is to help guide travelers about their rights and best strategies navigating flight disruptions.

(2) we avoid sending deals when a place is undergoing particular turmoil. otherwise, the State Department's travel alerts are probably your best bet