Admittedly – most of the trips we share on our site only have 2 to 20 seats at that price and they go quickly, but 9 out of 10 times I get told a fare isn’t available – it still is when I go to check myself.
[Prefer to watch a video? Click here.]
Here are several troubleshooting tips to make sure you find the trips at the prices we share with you:
- The most common reason fares don’t get found is not that they’re gone, but that they haven’t loaded yet. It can sometimes take 30 to 60 seconds for all prices to load (even on a big search engine like Kayak or Travelocity, even on a computer.) If you don’t wait for the little status-bar thingy to fully load, the lowest prices won’t show. Here is a video example.
- Your best search experience is on a computer. Searches on mobile phones can take even longer to load – which can be frustrating (but still worth it when you’re talking about getting the best 1% of deals on the internet). I highly recommend doing these searches from your computer. It’s infinitely easier than from a phone.
- Once you get to Kayak – make sure your results are sorted by price. Sometimes they override our settings and sort by “recommended” instead of by price.
- If I say a fare can be found between January and March, that doesn’t mean you can fly any time during those months. I send links to the lowest date I found, and there are almost always alternative dates you can find – even when that specific date has sold out (and it will). Here is a video showing how to find alternate dates.
- These are airline “fire sales” solely intended to get a few butts in seats in a hurry. There are rarely more than 8 or 10 seats (sometimes as few as 2) at that price and once they get those seats filled, the airlines raise prices back up (often within hours). Here is a video showing several fares that disappeared between when I identified them – and when my assistant could get them verified/published. Although you can usually find a similar fare by playing around with the dates, have no fear if you don’t. I’ll find more. 😉
- If you’re a premium subscriber, keep the above 4 tips in mind. 9 times out of 10, the fare is still available as long as you’re checking for them soon after I send them.
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Photo credit: https://www.123rf.com/profile_mathes If you’re a free subscriber – you are competing with 100x more people than premium subscribers. Your best bet is to watch for our email alerts and check fares as soon as you hear from us. Whenever you’re ready to upgrade, know that there is 99% less competition for those seats, and fares will last a LOT longer.
I typically take my whole family on a trip for the same cost as what other people pay for just one person (and many of my subscribers have better track records than me). Sure, some trips will disappear between when you find them – and when you can text your travel partner to plan for them, but that’s the cost of booking trips that are among the most affordable .1% of trips on the internet.
Trust me though. It’s well worth it.
Feel free to read my FAQ page and my blog to make the most of traveling “The JGOOT Way”.
PS – Want to watch a video instead? Click here.