Starting to explore business class redemptions after realizing I'd benefit from extra comforts at my 68 yo age. But want to try to stretch my present points. In past have benefited from booking AA international tickets with the benefit of MCE seats due to status at no extra fee and usually had middle seats empty. However this past summer loads eliminated this benefit. How is thrifty traveler premium different from going premium, roam premium alerts or other paid alert search sites.
Posted by
Freedonia
18197 posts
Before I would pay a third party for this information, I would...
--make sure I am signed up for flight deals from the airlines I am considering;
--set up flight alerts on Google Flights. If prices change, they will notify you.
The nice thing about Google Flights is you can tell it where you want to go and in what class. You can then see the cheapest tickets for months at a time per day. So, flying on a Tuesday might be cheaper than a Friday.
Do not look for cheap business class seats through a third party. Airlines don't discount business class seats through third party sites.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
9829 posts
I tried Thrifty Traveler for a year on advice of friends. I found it provided no value to me and discontinued it after that time. It is really designed for the type of traveler who can drop everything and head off on a trip at a moments notice. It just didn’t fit with my planner approach to travel. It might be a good fit for others.
Posted by
ATL, USA
660 posts
I was a TT premium subscriber for a couple of years from before the pandemic until maybe 2022. It didn't really do anything for me. First, as Carol said, the deals seem to favor travelers with a lot of flexibility/ability to travel on short notice, and willingness to travel in the offseason, like Scandinavia in January.
They also seemed to favor people who fly out of big hubs where there is competition from lots of airlines - NY, Boston, Chicago. I fly out of ATL and found far fewer deals.
The deals seemed to be things for like "Iceland for $299 RT" but of course that was the lowest class of service. The deals never seemed to extend to C+ or equivalent, especially out of ATL. I don't want to go to Iceland badly enough to fly basic economy. Not anymore.
The premium class deals, such as they were, seemed geared toward people who played the credit card points game - open a new card from Capital One and use your 100K mile signup bonus to fly business class on Etihad. I'm not a credit card churner.
At some point they moved all their Delta Skymiles deals to premium (they used to be in their regular newsletter) which is why I think I subscribed to the premium newsletter to begin with. Again, the best deals were out of non-Delta hub airports. So if I wanted to drive to Charlotte I could fly to Rome for 35,000 Skymiles. At one point, maybe I would have been willing to do that.
I still get occasional emails from them and from Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) when they are trying to get people to sign up for premium, and nothing has changed as fas as their usefulness to me. Google Flights works very well for me.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
3100 posts
I subscribed this year on a whim (and because the gave me a good deal) They did alert me to a GREAT price on BA Business class to London that I booked for March. But that same deal was on social media like "flyertalk" within an hour and if I did "alerts" from there I could have gotten it too. So I probably won't renew.
I don't find their points notifications useful at all because I generally don't have points on the airlines they are discussing and haven't really done the "chase or Amex" points game.
If you haven't used flyertalk they have a forum called "Milage Run Deals" and then "Premium" forum under that. I do warn you, it's not a "touchy friendly" place. They use airport and airline abbreviations and are not really helpful if someone posts "what airline or airport is that"? (Not helpful would be they attack LOL )
Another trick I use to get extra comfort is to use my DL miles to fly to places that have better deals in Business or Premium. So for the BA example above I am actually "commuting to JFK" to board that flight (but considering it was cheaper than a coach ticket from Atlanta I am happy to do that.) The only caveat is while some airlines will "protect" you on this type of routing others won't. So when I do it with Delta for example I can show up at the airport to check in and have them "link" the reservations. Then if my flight from Atlanta to New York is delayed they take care of me, but if you do this on other carriers even if both flights are on the same airline if you miss a flight you are out of luck so allow LOTS of time. For the flight to London I arrive in New York 8 hours before it leaves. (I have lounge access and just set up in a lounge and work)
Posted by
286 posts
I pay for seats.aero to do points searches. That said, thrifty traveler is searching on their own and sharing points deals which may disappear quickly. booked a flight to Finland for next summer from the West Coast for 62K pts in biz which was a great deal.