I'm Scott from Scott's Cheap Flights. Here to help find you cheap flights for the next 6 hours! AMA

Hey Scott!

My husband and I booked a flight to Amsterdam because of an awesome deal you emailed! It'll be our first overseas trip AND we're ringing in our 1st wedding anniversary. We're going in April. THANK YOU!!

Question: What is your best / favorite story from the people you've helped with Scott's Cheap Flights?

Yesssss!! I LOVE hearing that!

Oh man, favorite story. That's a great question. It's hard to narrow down to just one, but the two stories I hear the most that I absolutely adore are (1) when engaged couples didn't think they could afford a honeymoon, but then were able to get a $400 flight to Europe from the list; and (2) when people have family abroad that they haven't seen in years because of the cost of airfare, only to get some great deal that lets them finally reconnect. They melt my heart.

What's the most impressive deal you've found on a first class ticket?

Ohhh wasn't first class but last year I found flights from the US to Cuzco for $377 roundtrip in business class. That one definitely stands out in my mind

Kuzco?

guilty

I love your emails! It really makes me with I lived in a larger city though. I found a deal to Spain from St. Louis a while back that was half what I paid when I went to Germany 3 years ago. I know cheap flights aren't super common directly from STL, but does your premium list typically have more options?

Ahh that's great! Didya end up getting the Spain deal?

So the main difference is that all the deals get sent to the premium list, whereas just 1/3 go to the free list. We just implemented a new feature for premium subscribers too where they can select specific departure airports they want alerts for, rather than having to get them for entire regions. So in your case you'd only get deals that included STL departures, rather than having to get alerts from places not necessarily nearby like MSP, ORD, etc.

I did get the flight to Spain. Headed there in March.

!!! amazing. Have a blast!

So is it a one man company, or does every employee have to be called or rename themselves Scott?

Oh it's a legal obligation for everyone to rename themselves. It's a new management style.

Hey, it's me ur Scott

Oh hi Scott. Cool name. Want a job?

What are your tips to finding a cheap flight? Do you use those 'tips' (buy 6 months before hand, etc) that we can easily find on the web, or do you use any special stuff that normal people won't be able to utilise?

95% of what I do is publicly available and accessible.

Not sure if you were looking for more specific tips, but in general:

• Use Google Flights to search for a few months at a time and easily find the cheapest dates.
• Use Momondo to bring the prices down on those flights even further.
• It sounds obvious, but be flexible about everything. If you choose where you want to go, then choose dates, then look at prices, chances are the prices will be high. If you flip the script and look at where's cheap first, then decide if you wanna go there and what dates are best, you'll wind up with some cheap flights.

How often do you book the deals you find for yourself?

Ahhh not often enough! The temptation is there, believe me, but I also have a decent stash of frequent flyer miles (humblebrag) that I can redeem for free flights, and the cheapskate in me has trouble justifying paying for flights when I can still get some for free, ya know?

Scott! I signed up for your emails this past summer and I can honestly say they are one of the highlights of my inbox! Do you know of any good deals from Atlanta to Europe or the Caribbean?

Ahhhh <3 <3 <3 thank you!!

I don't have any deals in my back pocket (as soon as I find em I sends em) but there was a great deal from Atlanta to just about every European airport last week for ~$450 roundtrip. Hopefully it pops back up soon!

Oh do find flights from Asia, Australia and New Zealand?

Yep! Australia and NZ been going for some months, and juuust about to do Asia. Hope we can find you something good :-)

Oh yeah! Are you finding many deals from Australia/ NZ or are they pretty rare?

Yeah! Definitely not rare. Granted prices are a bit higher in general departing Aus/NZ because they're islands in the middle of the ocean, but we're able to find 2-3 deals each day that are $250+ off normal fares :-)

how many hours per week do you work?

Far too many. Probably 80+. But I've worked enough difficult jobs to know that spending all day searching for airfare hardly counts as "work" ya know? So no pity for me haha

My boyfriend and I just booked flights to Paris in June. Do you have a go-to source for booking places to stay while traveling? We've looked at Airbnb but were curious about other options. Thank you!

!!! that's fantastic!

I usually do Airbnb. I like that it's relatively inexpensive, but more importantly you can get great central locations that would cost 4x as much in a hotel. Downside: no free breakfast. But hey, you're in Paris. Cafes everywhere!

That was definitely why Airbnb was appealing to us. Thanks for the reassurance!

Happy to help!

Scott, many have heard of the success you have offered. Could you describe a disaster trip or two that occured and any key reasons that the trip didn't work out and how to do it different next time? Kind of a cautionary tale is what I'm asking about.

Ohhh that's a great question.

I'll offer two brief travel disasters of my own:

(1) Cut it way too close on a flight from Belgium back to the US. Train delays to the airport didn't help. By the time I got to the counter it was 45 minutes until my flight. Wouldn't accept checked bag, nor would they give me my ticket because they said it was too close to boarding. Ended up having to pay $500 to rebook onto the next flight. Could've been worse but 22yo Scott was devastated to blow that kind of cash.

(2) Getting off a bus in southern Portugal (Faro) at 2am with no plan of where to stay. Of course basically everywhere was closed and this was the pre-smartphone era. Ended up sleeping out at the marina with one arm over my backpack and one eye open looking out for muggers. Hassled by police to move it along at 6am. Slept in a park that afternoon. Lesson: don't show up to a new city at 2am expecting to easily find accommodations haha.

Do you often find good deals flying out of PDX? Usually it seems like there's nothing outrageously impressive, and it doesn't make sense to bend a schedule around mediocre savings.

For sure! PDX is my future home (and my brother's current home) so always on the lookout for there. A couple recent PDX deals I found all on full-service airlines:

• Amsterdam/Paris/Rome for $495 roundtrip
• London for $587 roundtrip (nonstop, summer)
• Hong Kong for $409 roundtrip

What is the best way to get and maintain airport lounge access? I currently have an American Express platinum so I have a priority pass, but it isn't exactly the cheapest.

Cycle through other premium credit cards. I like the Amex Plat, but the priority pass only gives you access to lounges, not guests (except for Amex centurion lounges).

Other ones that will give you the Priority Pass with free guest access: Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, etc. Only need one per year

Thanks for your thoughts! I forgot to mention, I'm Canadian so the scene isn't quite so rich with these types of ccs.

Ahh yeah shame. Canada has many, many great things, but lucrative credit card signup bonuses aren't one of them.

Hi Scott! Love the listserv -- Haven't found anything yet but I only signed up in December so I'm thinking 2017 is my year for cheap flights :-D

Two questions: Where have you traveled to the most? And what was the best cheap flight you found (for yourself or your list) in 2016?

Ahhh <3 <3 I hope so!

Great questions.

(1) Mexico. It's a divine country, so incredibly diverse, and the best parts of it are away from the coasts, imho.

(2) Oooo that is a great question. The best flight I found for the list was probably NYC-India for $212 roundtrip. The best flight I bought myself was a flight between Asia and the US for $169 roundtrip. (The only catch was the flight began in Taiwan rather than the US.)

Hm I've only been to the Mexican coasts... might need to head inland now! And that India flight would be divine for me! Fingers crossed you find another!! Thanks for answering :) :)

Fingers crossed!

Go visit Mexico City if you like big cities (it's a world class city on par with NYC, Tokyo, etc.) or Oaxaca if you like smaller but beautiful colonial cities.

In your experience, what is the European country that is routinely the cheapest to fly to from the US?

Also I'm definitely going to check your website out.

Brussels has been the cheapest, followed closely by Amsterdam and Paris. Lately there have also been great deals to Spain, Germany, and Italy, though Italy is historically less common.

And England of course.

What's your favourite colour?

Used to be purple. Now it's green. What's yours?

Blue, but I don't always wear it. Do you watch Game of Thrones? Oh, I travel back and forth between Narita and Brisbane, I can usually find fairly cheap flights on my own but do you have anything going?

I do! I feel a bit odd because I wouldn't have expected I'd enjoy it, but here we are.

Yeah! We find cheap flights from Australia and New Zealand and juuuuust about to expand to include cheap flights departing Asia :-)

Scott. Subscriber here. Any chance you could find me a hot deal to Hawaii (anywhere within) from Toronto for travel in the next couple of weeks?! fingers crossed

Argh, I've been poking around but the best I'm seeing alas is $244 for one-way or $465 roundtrip in early February

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=HNL,LIH,KOA,OGG;t=YYZ;d=2017-02-01;r=2017-02-08

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=HNL,LIH,KOA,OGG;t=YYZ;d=2017-02-01;r=2017-02-08;tt=o

Sorry I couldn't find more :-(

I'm a subscriber ti Scott's emails. I'm actual using a tip for a multi-leg flight in two weeks!

Scott, it seems like I'm seeing an increase in similar services being offered. They start as Facebook pages and then transition to website/email lists.

Have you seen this too? Has it affected business? Or, is there room for similar services in the market?

Ahhh amazing! Where ya going?

Yeah, been a few copycats lately unfortunately. All I can do is keep my head down, keep finding those cheap flights, and hope to keep people like you satisfied, you know?

Hi Scott! I'm a subscriber to your emails, and thanks to you just grabbed a fare from PDX-FCO for $500!

Do you see sales or deals using miles/points very often? Can I request that you send those out to your list when you do?

Ahhh amazing! <3 <3

Every once in a while airlines do a sale on award tickets, but it's rare. I haven't really been sending those out because typically the cost of a trip by points is always the same, and only what varies is availability.

If you want to keep up with those sales though I'd definitely recommend following The Points Guy :-)

Looking for March flight to London from Dallas Ft Worth. Last trip in Sept paid about $1300.00 non stop to Heathrow. When is the most frugal time to travel to London from DFW?

Typically the cheapest time is January through April, but less so January and February give how close it is. I've seen that route on sale, even nonstop, in the high-$400s or low-$500s roundtrip recently. Hoping it pops up again soon for ya. I know the AA monopoly can put a damper on spirits in DFW at times

what your average itinerary aboard?

Totally depends on where you're flying. To the Caribbean: $200s roundtrip. To Europe: $400s. To Asia: $500s.

Are there any cheap flights from the US to the Canary Islands?

Sometimes! A couple months ago there were flights from all across the US to Tenerife for ~$400 roundtrip. Would love for those to pop up again soon

Hey mate! Love to see how you work this.

How did you get set up to score the world cheap flights? It's a bit of a niche job!

I'm trying to plan a return trip from Australia (bne) to lax or sfo between August 20 – September 10 this year to catch up with some friends, or do you usually only catch short notice flights?

A lot of luck! And a weird obsession with finding cheap flights that I somehow turned into a company. It's all very strange.

No, not usually short notice flights, but unless the prices are divine right now I think you could probably hold off a bit before booking. For international trips I usually recommend booking between 3-6 months out. Any longer than that and you risk missing out on future sales, ya know?

What behaviors from other passengers annoy you the most when you fly?

Disrespecting or just flat out ignoring flight attendants. No question. So rude!

Hey Scott just want to stop and say thanks because of you my wife and I will be able to go on our dream vacation to Europe we leave us in March and we can't wait thanks so much. We were wondering how did you get started finding cheap flights?

Ahhh amazing! <3 <3

I got started just because I was a broke college student who wanted to travel but didn't have the money to do so. Finding cheap flights was a necessity if I wanted to go anywhere.

Chicken or fish?

What meal do you always avoid on flights?

Oh man, probably chicken but neither's ideal. I usually try to go vegetarian (harder to mess up).

To be honest I don't have any dogmatic rules about food on planes. I usually try to sneak a peek at what other people got and how it looks, but other than that I'm hungry and out of options ya know?

Subscribed! Thank you so much for doing this!

I'm looking for a flight from Chicago to California to Taiwan around the middle to end of June. Any tips/target ticket prices to aim for?

Also, would the ticket price rise up drastically if I were to include a few days trip to Japan in there as well?

My pleasure! June is a bit tough since getting into peak travel season, but I'd imagine you should be able to get fares in the low-$500s roundtrip.

Re: Japan, the cheapest way would be just to buy a roundtrip to Taiwan and then book a separate roundtrip between Taiwan and Japan for a trip-within-a-trip.

How are you able to find these cheap flights? ( love your service btw!)

Putting in 8-10 hours each day on various flight search engines (Google Flights, SkyScanner, etc.) and honing my skills over many years. It's a weird thing to be good at

I'm new to airfare - went to Mexico last year and my first time flying. We booked business class (I was not in charge of booking) and it was fantastic. We're looking to go again this year and I'm in charge of booking this time. Looking at all of the different options is a bit overwhelming.

Is it worth getting business or first class, or are most of the deals you find dependant on being in economy?

Ahh nice! If you're paying out of pocket business class usually tends to be 4-5x more expensive than economy. It varies on the specific route/dates, of course, but if cost isn't a huge factor then why not? If it is, come join the rest of us plebes in economy :-)

What is your most hated airport?

Ohhh that's a great question! Honestly I'm not much of a fan of my home airport Denver. It's far out from the city, it takes forever to get from the gates to the front, and it's always super bumpy on approach. Plus side: the mountain views are always beautiful.

90% of my travel is for business and I usually can't control the dates of departure or return; they're set for me. Would using your service be of any help for me?

Honestly probably not. If you know the dates well in advance it's possible, but otherwise you might just be subject to the airlines' whims.

Hey Scott! Have you been to Marrakech? If so, any suggestions? I have booked tickets and am planning my itinerary. Additionally, do you know what websites are good for looking up activities for destinations? Thanks for your help!

I have not! I've been to Fez and down in the Atlas Mountains (both of which were divine) but alas not Marrakech. Sorry about that! I usually like to start my trip planning on Wikitravel, for what it's worth.

Hey Scott!

Any particular reason why airport located in DC, Chicago or NYC usually have the best deals? For instance, Atlanta is the Delta hub but there are rarely any great deals departing from there.

Thanks!

Ahh it's because those cities don't have one airline with a monopoly that controls prices, unlike Atlanta.

I wrote up a slightly longer explanation about why cities like NYC have tons of cheap flights and cities like Atlanta have so few if you're interested: https://scottscheapflights.com/few-deals-from-specific-airport/

I live in juneau alaska, are there any deals for my area?

Ahhh not commonly but every once in a while! I found some deals a couple months ago from Alaska to Europe in the $400s roundtrip. Didn't even have to buy a separate trip to Seattle or anything!

I want to go to Yosemite sometime in June or July for a week, flying from Tampa or Orlando. Flights seemed pretty steep last time I checked though, any suggestions?

Have you checked flights into SFO/SJC/OAK as well? They're pretty close and definitely cheaper. Can rent a car there, turn it into a nice California roadtrip

Scott, why do you think US continental flights are more expensive than European flights in general?

I'm going abroad next year and looked at flights around European countries and they're cheap!

Fewer budget airlines in the US to provide competition, and especially no good rail systems to compete with airlines.

Hi!

any info for CPH-SEA outbound April 11, return on the 17th?

also, any info on what the long-haul is like with Norwegian Air (comfort, food, etc)? They seem to have good prices to NYC, but I don't want to be trapped in a low-price hell bucket for 6 hours....

Ooo you may be in luck! Found CPH-SEA on those dates for $445 roundtrip on KLM:

http://www.momondo.com/flightsearch/?Search=true&TripType=2&SegNo=2&SO0=CPH&SD0=SEA&SDP0=11-04-2017&SO1=SEA&SD1=CPH&SDP1=17-04-2017&AD=1&TK=ECO&DO=false&NA=false

Re: Norwegian, it's not exactly like RyanAir because the planes are fancy new 787 Dreamliners. What you have to be aware of going in is they charge for everything (bags, food, drinks, etc.)