Everybody loves scoring a deal on flights.
And companies like Going claim to find you deals up to 90% off.
I’m salivating just thinking about it.
But does the service actually live up to the hype? And is it really that easy?
In this Going Review, I show you exactly how to use the tool to find flight deals that seem too good to be true, plus examples of actual flight deals that I’ve been receiving as a subscriber.
Key Takeaways
👉 Going added more features to their paid tiers, making them even more valuable.
👉 Their deals can save you up to 90% on flights with zero effort on your part, but there’s a catch.
👉 To take full advantage of the tool, you need to be flexible with either your dates or your destination.
Table of Contents
What is Going? (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights)
If you’ve never heard of Going or Scott’s Cheap Flights before, it’s basically a company of travel experts that scour the web every day searching for best-value flight deals from any airport of your choice
They then send the deals relevant to you directly to your inbox.
These include two types of deals — flights you pay for with cash, and flights you pay for with points.
Here’s the best way to use each of them to save money on flights (lots of money).
As a paying customer, I used Going to score some amazing flight deals in the past. These savings got me so pumped that I managed to get them to sponsor this post. That said, as you’ll see, all opinions are my own, and the service is not right for everyone.
How to Use Going to Find CASH Deals on Flights
1. Create a Going account
It’s completely free to join Going, and you can sign up here.
That said, free members only receive deals on continental US economy flights.
If you want international deals or other seat classes, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid tier.
The good news is, you can test it out for free for 14 days — and you may even find the deal you’re looking for during that time!
2. Choose your departure airports
Once you join, head to your settings to set up your departure airports.
The emails you receive will ONLY include flights that depart from these airports.
If you want to receive even more deals, you can choose multiple airports.
It’s smart to choose popular hub airports that have a lot of flights to the destinations you’re interested in.
For example, if you live in Montana and want to go to Australia, you should follow California airports as well.
If there is a deal from Cali, you can buy a cheap connecting flight from your home to Cali and still save tons of money.
The same idea applies when considering destinations. Sometimes you can save money with deals that get you close to your final destination.
For example, if you want to go from the US to Paris, it’s worth considering any deal that gets you to Europe. From there, it can be a cheap budget flight (or train) to Paris.
3. Watch your inbox 👀
Now just sit back, relax, and keep an eye on the deals that show up in your inbox.
They look like this:
It’s a good idea to open these emails ASAP because some deals don’t last long.
If you see a crazy deal, don’t wait to check your schedule or talk to your partner or request time off work.
Book it now, then figure out those other things within the next 24 hours.
In the US, there is a regulation saying that carriers flying to and from the US need to offer free cancellations and changes for 24 hours. The catch is you must have purchased directly with airline at least one week before travel.
So if you book it and later that day realize it’s not possible, you can get a refund.
4. Search proactively using filters
In addition to waiting for emails, you can also search for current deals from within your Going account.
To find what you’re looking for faster, they have a bunch of handy filters.
You can sort current deals by specific airlines, airports, price, stops, months, seating class, domestic/international, and even the type of experience (beach vacation, mountains, family-friendly, foodie, etc.)
Remember, these deals are constantly changing. It’s smart to search with these filters right when you sign up. But after that, it’s easiest to just watch your inbox.
5. Read deal instructions
Each email has instruction on how the deal works, including:
- The date ranges the deal applies to.
- Baggage and upgrade costs.
- The airlines you’ll fly.
From there, click the button in the email for even more specific booking info, like the percent savings, plane information, and how long they expect the deal to last.
6. Book and save $$$
Finally, click the “Book on Google Flights” button, and it will open a new search window showing the deal in Google Flights.
Then simply adjust the dates for the trip you want (making sure it falls within the date range of the deal).
Once you have your dates set, click to purchase the flights directly on the airline’s website.
How to Use “Going with Points” to Find AWARD Flights
Here’s a quick video walkthrough on how to get flights essentially for free using the Going with Points tool.
1. Turn on Points and Miles deals
After logging in, go to your Settings.
Then under the Flight Alerts tab, make sure Points and Miles deals are turned ON.
2. Monitor inbox for Going with Points deals
Going will now send the points and miles deals from your departure airports to your inbox.
These emails look like this:
3. Follow instructions in email
The inside of the email includes tons of helpful information, including:
- The available routes.
- The date ranges for this deal.
- The airlines and types of points you can use to book the deal.
- Points and taxes breakdown for the departing and returning flights.
- Information on how to transfer your credit card points to the correct airline to book your flight.
- Extra tips and tricks to get even more value out of your points for a given deal.
4. Book your award flight
The email teaches you exactly how to convert the points you have into the flight deal.
Now all that’s left is to actually do it!
Just make sure you search for the award flight for your dates on the airline’s website (by following the email instructions) BEFORE you transfer any points.
Point transfers from banks (like Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, Capital One Miles, etc) to a specific airline award program (like American Airlines AAdvantage Miles, United MileagePlus Miles, etc) are irreversible.
So you only want to make these types of point transfers if you’re 100% sure the flight is available for your dates.
Going Review: Pros & Cons
Pros 👌
✅ Laziest way to get best-value deals. Saves you hours (or days or weeks) of searching for the best flight deals.
✅ Huge savings. Taking advantage of just one Going deal for one person can pay for the membership cost up to 10 times over. If you use multiple Going deals per year for an entire family, you could save thousands of dollars each year.
✅ More bang for your points. Going with Points makes it dead simple to get flights practically for free. It also allows you to squeeze more value out of each point. If you’re just a normal person (i.e. not a hardcore points and miles nerd), it’s not unreasonable to expect to get DOUBLE the flights out of the same amount of points.
✅ Deals are vetted. Going doesn’t waste your time with crappy deals. They only send deals above a certain savings threshold on quality airlines (no substandard budget airlines) with reasonable routes (no ridiculous or unnecessary layovers).
Cons 👎
❌ Departing from US only. Going sent me a message that said, “We do have plans to expand internationally and potentially into new categories. That said, at this time, we don’t have any timeline we can provide for when this change will go into effect.” So for now, it’s only useful for flights departing and returning to the US.
How much does Going cost?
Going has three price tiers — Limited, Premium, and Elite.
The Limited tier is completely free and includes economy class deals to continental US destinations, plus access to their travel experts newsletter.
If you don’t plan to travel internationally and don’t care about points deals, then the free plan is probably all you need.
Premium and Elite are both annual paid plans, but you can try them for free for 14 days.
Premium costs $49/year ($4/month) and includes:
- All domestic AND international economy class deals.
- Mistake Fare deals from all airports (when airlines mistakenly price a flight EXTREMELY cheap — these don’t last long).
- Points and Miles economy class deals.
Premium is what makes most sense for most travelers who want to travel internationally.
Elite costs $199/year and includes everything in Premium. But instead of just getting economy class deals, you get deals on all classes (Economy, Premium Economy, Business Class, First Class).
Elite is only worth it for a certain type of travelers, which I’ll get to in a sec.
Are there any Going discount codes?
Going is offering a special 20% off to Project Untethered readers who use my affiliate button below with discount code MITCH20.
Use code MITCH20
Is Going Elite worth It?
To me, Elite is only worth it if your main goal is to fly business class or first class using your points.
It also makes sense if you’re willing to splurge on first-class and business-class cash deals, but these are still pricey even with the huge discounts.
For example, I personally would never spend thousands of dollars on a business class flight, even if it were marked 60% off.
But I understand that other people earn more money and have different priorities than I do.
However, I would pay for business class seats with points, which I essentially got for free.
Is Going Premium worth it?
Going Premium is worth it for many types of travelers.
Let’s do the math.
Based on their data, Going users save an average of $200 on domestic flights and $500 on international flights.
That means in the worst-case scenario, if you sign up for Premium, you’d just have to use it to find ONE international flight for ONE person every 10 years to break even.
On the other hand, let’s say you’re a family of 4 and you use your Premium membership to find flights for one international vacation per year.
You’re essentially paying $49 to receive $2,000 in average savings each year. Not too shabby.
The only scenario where Going wouldn’t really make sense is if you’re dead set on one specific destination on very specific dates.
To maximize your odds of success, you should have some wiggle room with either your dates or be open to considering various destinations.
Going provides amazing resources on destinations through guides, allowing anyone to explore a destination they may have never considered going to.
If you’re able to be flexible with either the destination or the dates (or both), Going is awesome. It may even help you discover an awesome destination you never considered before.
In the end, you’re best best is to simply test it out with a free trial. Then you can decide for yourself if the value you get is worth continuing your membership.
Use code MITCH20
Mitch is your typical nomadic backpacker. Or at least, he was. But after stopping in Colombia to take “one week” of salsa lessons, his life took a sharp left turn. He met a cute Colombian girl in dance class, fell in love, and got married. Over half a decade has passed since he left his career to travel the world as a digital nomad, and he’s never looked back.
Nowadays, he’s the blogger behind Project Untethered — where he runs an awesome email newsletter and Youtube channel teaching adventure-craved wanderlusters how to escape the rat race, earn money from anywhere, and build an “untethered life”.
His advice has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Yahoo, MSN, Reader’s Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, and more.
Mitch's Travel Recommendations:
Travel Planning Resources - Everything you need to plan your trip on one convenient page.
Going Cheap Flights Newsletter - Get flight deals from your airport up to 90% off sent straight to your inbox.
Safetywing Insurance - This cheap travel insurance has saved me over $15,000 in medical bills.
Booking.com - Book accommodation without adding your credit card (in case you need to cancel).
Trusted House Sitters - Take care of pets in exchange for free (sometimes luxury) accommodation.
Flexjobs - Find remote jobs without having to sift through crappy ones.
Skillshare - Free trial to take unlimited classes that teach digital nomad skills.
Wise - Send and receive money abroad cheaply (great for freelancers).