Comparison
Going vs. The Flight Deal
You’ve come to the right corner of the internet.
Since 2015, Going has helped millions of travelers see the world for less. We find the best flight deals that save members an average of $550 on international economy flights, $200 on domestic economy flights, and up to $2,000 on international business class flights.
While we think we’re the best, we know we’re not the only game in town. Here’s how we stack up against The Flight Deal.
The Flight Deal, founded in 2011, shares information about what it deems “great deals” on airfare (among other travel services)—fares that break down to no more than ¢6 per mile. These may include so-called “mistake fares,” when airlines discount tickets for more than they meant to. Deals are posted on the homepage and Twitter feed, so people can browse new posts to see what cheap tickets are available recently without signing up for anything, or there are two subscription membership options.
Subscribers to their Real Time emails receive deal alerts from one of 12 locations, while Premium members get alerts about deals from up to five airports (in one region) out of 23 airports served. Members then book the flights directly with the airlines or through OTAs.
Real Time emails contain deals on both domestic and international tickets in economy class only, while Premium members get notified about domestic and international fares in economy as well as premium economy, business, and first class.
The Flight Deal’s Real Time members pay $20 per year, while Premium members pay $80 per year. Their most basic service is among the cheapest options, unless you go with something free like Secret Flying—though of course in that case we recommend opting for the Limited (free) version of Going.
The Flight Deal is a legitimate company. There are no reviews on Trustpilot and online reviews aren’t plentiful, but some reviewers like the volume of deals posted on both the website and social media feeds. Others lament that there’s no customization possible with the subscriptions (so you’ll get emails with a lot of fares that aren’t from an airport near you) or search function for hunting down particular destinations or departure airports on the website.
Real Time and Premium members can unsubscribe at any time, which triggers an automatic refund for what The Flight Deal refers to as “unused credits.” The refund policy assigns a value to each month members use the service, with the first month being the most valuable and the value declining every month. Refund amounts depend on how many months into your annual membership you are when you cancel.
Going serves more than 15 times the number of airports that The Flight Deal’s Real Time subscription does, and nearly eight times more than Premium members see. In addition, Going members can select multiple airports from which to receive deal alerts—and therefore customize their emails to only show relevant deals.
Going's Premium does cost more than The Flight Deal’s Real Time newsletter, but members get notices about fares The Flight Deal doesn’t cover (like our Weekend Getaways) as well as the aforementioned ability to tailor the alerts so it’s easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. If you like to fly in style, you can even go for the Elite service and opt to receive deals in business class and premium economy. And for people who aren’t quite ready to become members, Going's free email subscription (called Limited) offers a sample of international airfare deals every month for as long as you want.
While a Going membership costs a bit more than The Flight Deal, a higher quality of service comes along with the higher price. We have a whole team of Flight Experts who spend all day every day using our technology to search for fares to find amazing deals and get them to our members fast.
We frequently break news of major Mistake Fares before anyone else—and with Mistake Fares, every second counts—and we present our deals with no B.S. We’re not trying to sell you on a deal. We just want to make sure you never overpay for the flights you want.
We think we’re the best option for finding out about amazing flight deals, and our members agree.
The biggest drawback of The Flight Deal’s service is the limited number of airports served—just 12 for Premium members vs 168 airports serviced by Going.
Overall, Going is a far more robust service that serves a lot more airports, and we apply a rigorous evaluation process to ensure we don’t clog up your inbox with less-than-stellar deals.
Flying out of Nashville, Santa Fe, Columbus, Boise, or dozens of other smaller airports? You won’t get deals from The Flight Deal, but Going has you covered. We send deals out of 168 different US airports all around the country, and while we tend to find the most deals out of major cities like NYC, SF, DC, LA, Boston, and Chicago, we don’t neglect smaller dots on the map, which still get several deals from us per month.
Check out our lists of the best and worst airports for international deals and for domestic deals to see how your local airport stacks up.
The Flight Deal has been around since 2011, but their website simply states that they’re a team who loves to travel. At Going, you can meet Scott himself and the 35+ person team online, on social media. Plus if you reach out to our member success team you’ll get a response from a real person. Got questions? You can reach us at [email protected] or check out our extensive help center.
The Flight Deal states that they determine if a fare is a good deal by looking at the price per mile, and they never send a deal that equates to more than six cents per mile.
At Going, we take into account a lot more than just price. First, we apply high standards to decide if it’s a flight worthy of our best friend. If it involves a lot of inconvenient stops or extra fees, or it’s on one of those last-resort airlines (cough::Spirit::cough), it doesn’t make it to our members’ inboxes. We don’t take any commissions from airlines, so our priority is on sending you flights you love—not on trying to convince you to book a not-so-great flight just so we can pocket the scratch.
Because our deals are hand-curated based on multiple criteria, we can use our best judgment to constantly adjust our price standards and adapt to changing conditions. During the pandemic, the overall pricing landscape had changed and 'deals' to Europe didn't meet The Flight Deal’s rigid price-per-mile standard. We were able to adjust, understand what the new 'normal' price looked like, and select deals accordingly. We didn't leave folks who want to go to Europe high and dry just because pricing dynamics changed. They still got the absolute best deals that were available.
Since real people evaluate every deal, nothing falls through the cracks.
At Going we receive over a thousand testimonials every week from members who have booked trips because of us. On Facebook, we have nearly 3,000 reviews with an average rating of five stars.
See how Going compares to other services, like Next Vacay, Thrifty Traveler, or Dollar Flight Club.
If you live in one of the dozen major cities served by The Flight Deal, and have a smaller budget for a flight finding service, The Flight Deal’s Real Time Newsletter option might be enough for you (though we’d recommend you give our Limited service a try to compare!).
But if you live in one of the many cities not served by The Flight Deal, Going is here for you with frequent deals that are all vetted by a real human to make sure only the best deals make it to your inbox.
Published September 3, 2021. *All competitor details were accurate at the time of publishing.