Hi All,
I know you have seen deals around here from time to time for Scotts Cheap Flights and some of you may have even signed up. If you have wondered what the premium version is like and wondering what you are missing out on, here is a free 3 month trial.
Hopefully you can find some good deals on flights using the account
Terms
Instant digital redemption
Renews automatically at $39 USD per year
Cancel anytime
New users only
more like a paid version of Ozbargain
Some of the deals he picks up don't show up on the aggregators but usually show up on Google Flights which is how he mostly finds the cheap deals.
I know you have seen deals around here from time to time for Scotts Cheap Flights
No, I haven't..!?
There has been as that's how I found out about it ( just use the free one though)
maybe you're not on ozbargain enough :P I see them referenced every few weeks
Not much of a deal when you need to put your credit card in first…
Also this is a lot like gambling, you pay $39 a year in the hopes that you get something worth buying.
I guess I might be under estimating the amount of mistakes airliners make. I signed up to the free version to see.
The free version was nothing special. I have signed up to Scotts Cheap Flights for about 3 months, and no specials yet that can justify me paying for the subscription first.
Paying for something in the expectation/gamble that it might pay off doesn't sit right for me.
I am on his free emails. TBH almost all of the deals the emails say I missed out on because I am not a premium subscriber I have already seen on here.
No real harm in trying it for free (except for forgetting to cancel), but would just recommend flightfinderau or whatever it is called.
Explain how this website can provide flights that no other websites currently do for free?. Seems like a massive scam in hopes that people forget to cancel after the 3 months. Am I wrong?
Seems like a massive scam in hopes that people forget to cancel after the 3 months.
Word, bro/sis.
I read his blurb and user reviews of the paid service a while back. Looks good to me. I thought I was great at finding low fares, but I'm happy to let him do the hard research slog.
IMHO, commissioning some dude to scout out flights/prices/available dates for you is not a practical approach, unless your required flights are very distant, and very basic. Does the model involve them doing all the 'real-time' searching/research, putting all the relevant offers to you (in the fullness of time), and then you deciding/responding (in the fullness of time) in the affirmative or the negative?
Often a flight that is found for a certain price at one time-point is no longer available even an hour or two later. What happens then? Yet more effing around? Total re-jigging of the preferences/deal/price/commission-paid-to-"Scott"/etc.?
The entire model seems flawed, unless it works in some way that I cannot fathom…
Happy to be corrected.
Most of the flight emails he send out aren't fat finger/price errors, they are sales, sometimes unadvertised. Majority have lasted days.
It's pretty simple, he has Google Flight notifications of price drops of hundreds (maybe more) of popular destinations around the world. I suspect he also subscribes to all airline email specials along with check all the various forums around the world. It's not just Australia, he covers the entire world so it is a lot of tedious work but nothing someone very determined can't do. It's just if you can be bothered to do it or not.
Erm… so is it a personalised service, or not? Or is all you get for your money access to his emails (in a nutshell)?
You can select destination cities. So if you just want Melbourne deals, then you can do that. I'm subscribed to all Australian, New Zealand and Singapore. It was actually one of the Singaporean deals to Europe that helped me plan my upcoming trip to Europe.
So it's 'fully automated' then. Given this, it would seem to be just a re-jigged version (or combination) of numerous other 'services' that are already available online for free. Pass.
Not automated. He writes an email describing the deal that targets select cities but all of those who are subscribed to that city get the email.
OK, for example Monday's premium email:
Full service return flights to Krabi in the $600s (Thai Airways)
Solid deals on full service, everything-included flights to Krabi. If when you think of Thailand you see those beautiful white beaches with the turquoise water, that's probably Krabi! Flights are on Thai Airways via Bangkok. Most flights have just short stops in Bangkok along the way, while some have half day or even overnight stops; so be aware when searching if you want to avoid the long ones, or maybe make it a 2-4-1 and include a bit of Bangkok too.TO: Krabi (KBV)
FROM:
Brisbane (BNE) - $653
Melbourne (MEL) - $644
Sydney (SYD) - $691WHEN: Dates in June, then August to November
NORMAL PRICE: $950
AIRLINE: Thai Airways
BUY BY: I think these fares will last a few days at least.
This deal didn't really interest me but maybe would for someone interested in going there. This wasn't listed on ITWTF, OzBargain or any of the other travel sites which makes it unique in nature.
Premium services like these depend on how you value your time and if you are a frequent traveller.
Have you heard of Flight Fox?
OK cheers for the responses, genuinely appreciated. I would call that a 'semi-automated' service, simply because it is not a personalised service, but anyways there's no point splitting hairs over that. You've now described/demonstrated exactly what it is, quite well.
I think there's probably a good reason why those flights/prices you alluded to were not listed on ITWTF, OzBargain or any of the other travel sites… they're not that 'special'. Indeed, much better 'deals' are routinely listed on such (free) sites from time to time. Maybe this "Scott's Cheap Flights" site might be useful for those that are relatively well-heeled but time-poor. This is probably not the profile of the average 'Ob-Bargainer'…
No worries. He did catch JAL's great deal to Japan which was posted by IWTF at 7:30AM. Scott's email came in at 8:30AM which I think went out to premium and free subscribers. So he does get the really good deals but also the cheaper than normal deals.
Instant digital redemption
Is that even legal ?
I'm a paid premium subscriber.
For Australia, most of the deals he sends out are usually found on OzBargain (either before or after his emails) or will be picked up by IWantThatFlight's price dropping mechanism however there have been some good tip-offs. e.g. The Hainan Airline deals with free hotel was based on a tip-off from his email about one city and ended up finding a couple more including free hotel stays. He was also on top of some of the Philippine Airlines deals to Canada/US. There are a lot of deals he sends out that I don't think are that interesting despite being cheaper, e.g. Monday's premium deal was Krabi (KBV), FROM: Brisbane (BNE) - $653, Melbourne (MEL) - $644, Sydney (SYD) - $691.
With that in mind between OzBargain, AFF, Secret Flying, Fly4Free, and IWantThatFlight Deals that will cover almost all of your cheap flight bases. Best flight deal I ever got was $266 USD to LA from AFF.
I'm subscribed to the premium subscription because you can set other destination cities for deals. For example, any New Zealand or Singaporean based flight deals are useful for us to post on our sister sites. Probably wouldn't bother just for the Australian flight deals.
Ok, I'm in. Let's see what deals I get. Used a prepaid credit card to avoid accidental renewal.
I'm bit hesitant about what they do with the credit card details and how they store them. They definitely do not verify the card to ensure it is active when you enter it - therefore, its hard to assume that info is stored with a reputable 3rd party provider.
Thanks Gaz1. Your link worked.
OK, just a comparison of the last several of Scott's emails vs. OzBargain/Cheapies deals:
So is this like a paid version of iwantthatflight/skyscanner?