Buying guide✈️ Points & Travel
Going vs Its Competitors in 2026: Which Flight-Deal Service Wins?
Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) against Dollar Flight Club, Thrifty Traveler, and Jack's Flight Club — annual prices, what each tier covers, and which flight-deal subscription is the best value for most US travelers in 2026.
Checked against primary sources, July 2026 · How we verify
We independently score every service with our Experience Index. We may earn a commission if you subscribe through links on this page — it never affects our scores or picks.
What these services actually sell
Before comparing prices, be clear about what a flight-deal subscription is — and is not. Every service here is an alert service, not a booking site. You set your departure airports; the service emails you when unusually cheap fares, or outright mistake fares, appear; and you then book directly with the airline or an online travel agency. None of them sells you the ticket. That means they all compete on the same axis: the speed, relevance, and reach of the heads-up, not on checkout convenience or price at the point of sale.
Every one of these is a deal-alert service, not a booking tool — they compete on how fast and relevant the heads-up is, and all of them live or die on your flexibility.
It also means the honest caveat applies across the board: a deal you cannot fly is worth nothing. If your dates and routes are rigid, no subscription in this category — however cheap or celebrated — will pay off. The whole comparison below assumes you can occasionally move on a good fare.
The annual prices, side by side
Entry-level pricing is where the field separates most clearly. Here are the flagship paid tiers at a glance.
Going and Jack's Flight Club anchor the low end near $49/year, Dollar Flight Club sits in the middle at $69, and Thrifty Traveler is the outlier at $129.99/year after its March 2026 increase. Price alone does not decide it, though — the tiers cover different cabins and layer on different amounts of editorial guidance, which is where the real choice lives.
| Service | Free tier | Premium | Top tier | What the top tier adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) | $0 | $49/year | Elite $199/year | Premium economy, business, first-class deals |
| Dollar Flight Club | $0 | $69/year | Premium Plus+ $99/year | Premium-economy and business-class deals |
| Thrifty Traveler | None | $129.99/year | Premium+ about $149.99/year | Broader deal set (Premium+ figure approximate) |
| Jack's Flight Club | $0 | About $49/year (US) | — | Lean, low-cost; US pricing varies |
Going and Jack's Flight Club: the low-cost economy pair
At roughly $49/year, these two are the value plays for flexible economy travelers. Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) is the broad, well-known option: a $0 free tier limited to continental-US economy deals, a roughly 14-day trial, then Premium at $49/year opening up all domestic and international economy deals, mistake fares, and points-and-mileage alerts. Its $199/year Elite tier layers on premium-cabin deals for the minority who fly and can book them. Jack's Flight Club offers a similar low-cost, economy-focused proposition with a free tier and Premium around $49/year in the US — though its pricing shifts between US and UK markets, so confirm the current US figure before you commit.
Dollar Flight Club and Thrifty Traveler: paying up for cabins and depth
The pricier services justify their cost differently. Dollar Flight Club runs a $0 free tier, $69/year Premium, and a $99/year Premium Plus+ that explicitly adds premium-economy and business-class deals — so its case rests on catching fares in the front cabins, not just economy. Thrifty Traveler is the priciest at $129.99/year for Premium (raised from $99.99 in March 2026, with existing subscribers grandfathered) and roughly $149.99/year for Premium+, a figure worth treating as approximate. Its pitch is editorial depth and curation rather than the lowest sticker price. Whether either premium is worth it depends on how often you fly the cabins or value the extra guidance.
The savings claims, read honestly
Several of these services market concrete savings numbers, and they deserve the same skeptical reading. Going says Premium members save an average of $500 on international flights and $200 on domestic — but those are company-reported averages, not a promise. An average blends the member who caught a spectacular mistake fare with the one who never booked anything, so your personal result could be far higher or, just as easily, zero. The same logic applies to any headline figure a rival service cites. Read them as marketing context that tells you the ceiling is real, not as a return you are owed on your subscription.
That is the through-line of the whole category, and it echoes a lesson from the credit-card side of travel: a benefit is only worth what you actually use. Before you trust any advertised saving — from a flight-deal subscription or a card credit — it is worth reading the skeptic's capstone on whether credit-card subscription credits actually save you money, which applies the same "averages are not outcomes" discipline to card benefits.
Who should pick which — and who should skip all of them
Pros
- You have flexible dates and airports, so you can act on a surfaced fare and one good deal can cover the annual price many times over.
- You mainly fly economy and want the broadest reach for the lowest price — Going or Jack's Flight Club at around $49/year.
- You fly premium cabins and want alerts for them — Dollar Flight Club's Premium Plus+ or Going's Elite tier.
- You value curation and editorial depth over the lowest sticker price — Thrifty Traveler.
Cons
- Your travel dates and routes are fixed — no service in this category can help, because you cannot book most alerts.
- You expect guaranteed savings — every figure here is an average, and your realized saving can be zero.
- You want a booking tool — these are alert services, so you still do the booking legwork yourself.
- You would pay for the priciest tier without flying the cabins or valuing the depth it adds.
For the deeper single-service verdict, read is Going Premium worth it in 2026, then, before you trust any advertised travel saving, work through the skeptic's capstone, do credit-card subscription credits actually save you money. The points hub ties the rest of the travel-value flywheel together.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest flight-deal subscription in 2026?
Is Going better than Dollar Flight Club?
Do these flight-deal services guarantee savings?
Which flight-deal service is best for most US travelers?
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