We spend all day, every day looking for flight deals for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members. We're not done yet, but 2023 has been a banner year of amazing deals.
In fact, narrowing down this list to just the 10 best deals was a brutal exercise. In 2023, we're on pace to send 1,200 deal alerts to tens of thousands of subscribers all over the U.S. and Canada. But honestly, these 10 deals were showstoppers: the ones that caused alarm bells at Thrifty Traveler HQ and the ones that our members are still raving about.
There were unbelievable mistake fares on both economy and business class tickets over to Europe. There have been several amazing deals to get to Japan, Australia, and New Zealand this year or next using points – including in lie-flat business class. And much, much more.
Without further ado, here are the 10 best Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deals of this year. More deals are on the way – don't miss alerts like these in 2024!
- Mistake Fare: United Biz Class to Europe for $899
- Another Mistake Fare: Paris for Just $229
- Fly Delta One Suites to Japan from 85K Points
- Flying ANA First Class to Tokyo from 50K Points
- Qantas Business Class to Australia for 80k Points
- United Polaris Business Class Worldwide from 60k Points
- Delta One to Europe for 50K Points
- Nationwide Flights to Europe Under $499 RT
- Europe from 27K Delta SkyMiles RT
- New Zealand for 37K Delta SkyMiles
Mistake Fare: United Biz Class to Europe for $899
When the airlines miss a digit or place the wrong fare on the wrong flights, our team of flight deal experts goes into DEFCON 1. More importantly, our Thrifty Traveler Premium members win.
What's better than a mistake fare? Just one thing: A mistake fare on a lie-flat seat abroad, bringing the cost of flying United Polaris business class down to what most travelers expect to pay economy.
It doesn't get much better than this, so go figure it was one of our flight deal alerts of the year.
This deal is long gone now – get the next unreal mistake fare with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
These tickets to London-Heathrow (LHR) normally cost $4,000 or more, but the airline mistakenly sold them for as low as $900 roundtrip! When messes up like this, just book the deal ASAP and say “Thank you!”
Best of all, the airline honored this fare. We heard from tons of Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers who took a comfortable trip to Europe and back thanks to this sizzling deal.
Another Mistake Fare: Paris for Just $229
There were not one but two outstanding mistake fares, and this one was a doozy: Nonstop flights from New York (JFK) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) for just $229 roundtrip!
Don't believe me? Here's the proof.
This deal did not last long: It disappeared in just a matter of hours … but not before hundreds of our subscribers booked a trip to France this year or next for less than a weekend trip to Chicago.
You probably won't stumble upon a mistake fare searching for flights on your own, but that's what Thrifty Traveler Premium is for: We search every day for the best deals. When we find a mistake fare, we notify our subscribers so they can book it right away.
Fly Delta One Suites to Japan from 85K Points
It might not have been a mistake fare, but this recent award deal to Tokyo and South Korea was still stellar.
Consider this: Delta typically charges 400,000 SkyMiles or more for a one-way trip to Asia in Delta One Suites. So we don't need to tell you how good this deal was – we'll just show you.
Delta is charging 400,000 SkyMiles for these suites now – don't miss the next deal with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
That's right: As low as 85,000 SkyMiles each way to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) in business class suites. This deal was so rare, we consider it a Unicorn Alert. So we sent it to tons of subscribers inboxes along with a text alert, too.
Deals like this don't come around often. In fact, they almost never do.
If you used Delta's TakeOff 15 benefit to get 15% off your award ticket, it brought the cost down to just 85,000 SkyMiles!
Flying ANA First Class to Tokyo from 50K Points
Travelers are flocking to Japan this year and making plans for next year in record numbers. You won't find a better way to get there than this.
ANA's First Class is called “The Suite,” and it's as good as it gets. From a laughably large 4K screen to top-notch bubbly and cuisine, it's the pinnacle of first class. But maybe it's too good: It's practically impossible to book these suites using points.
But that's just what we found, sending another Unicorn Alert to our Thrifty Traveler Premium member to book these suites for a flight to Tokyo – and book them fast. Best of all, you could book for just 55,000 points each way using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Get this: These exact same first class flights to Tokyo typically cost $20,000 each way!
Qantas Business Class to Australia for 80k Points
Lately, we've been finding more and more business class deals flying to Australia and New Zealand using points. That's typically impossible, so it's a trend that travelers should love.
It all started with one of our best deals of the year.
The nonstop Qantas route from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Melbourne (MEL) is almost never bookable with points in business class – in fact, it hasn't been since. But that's the real value of Thrifty Traveler Premium: We do all the legwork for you, letting you know when these ultra-rare deals are suddenly available.
You could even book this one with 80,000 American AAdvantage miles apiece.
We know many of our subscribers got a crack at this deal, fueling the perfect vacation to Australia in 2023 or 2024.
United Polaris Business Class Worldwide from 60k Points
We have a team of eight full-time flight deal analysts that methodically scour the globe for the best points and miles availability every day. What usually comes of those painstaking searches are deals that include one or more departure cities to one or two destinations.
What we don't normally find is availability that is from everywhere, to everywhere…
This United Polaris deal was special. It wasn't as much to a specific destination as it was for every single worldwide route featuring United Polaris seats.
Yeah, read that again. You could book a business class seat on almost every United route on the globe using miles. We've never seen anything like it and haven't again since.
Not all of our deals are this widespread, but we heard from travelers who booked this availability on some routes that never have open seats.
Delta One to Europe for 50K Points
Everyone wants to fly Delta One business class. Here's the problem: Using SkyMiles, it'll typically cost you 300,000 miles or more each way.
But not always. Check this out.
That's right: You could book those exact same lie-flat business class seats over to Europe for a fraction of the points. Heck, these seats cost less than most Delta economy flights!
The trick is finding award availability to book these Delta business class via Virgin Atlantic for just 50,000 points, and that's tough to do: That availability disappeared for a year. But we found it again a few months back, instantly alerting our Thrifty Traveler Premium members.
This deal was limited and didn't last long, but it's the absolute cheapest way to fly Delta One, period. And it's easily one of our best deals of the year.
Nationwide Flights to Europe Under $499 RT
After skyrocketing over the summer, flight prices to Europe dropped precipitously this fall.
How low could they go? How about this.
This is one of many dirt-cheap flights to Europe this year – get the next one with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
I know what you're thinking: “These fares must be on ultra-low-cost carriers or crappy airlines.” Wrong.
Even for under $300, you'd be flying American, Delta, and United and their European partners on this deal. In fact, more than 90% of our deals feature the mainline carriers and their partners.
But at these prices, I can't blame you for wondering…
From Bristol, Tennessee (TRI) to Akron, Ohio (CAK), this deal touched all corners of the country, too.
Plus, the European destinations featured on this deal and more than dozen more we sent over the last two months weren't too shabby either! Whether you wanted a nonstop flight to London-Heathrow (LHR), a more far-flung excursion to Turkey or Greece, or a getaway to Spain or Portugal, the deals spanned far and wide.
Europe from 27K Delta SkyMiles RT
If Europe is what you seek, you don't need a ton of points or miles to make it happen … if you wait for a Thrifty Traveler Premium alert.
And the deals don't get much better than Delta SkyMiles flash sales. While your SkyMiles are tough to use if you want to fly up front, they can get you far if you quickly jump on one of these short-lived sales.
This deal featured nearly every Delta airport in the U.S., making one quick connection over to Europe for just 32,000 SkyMiles roundtrip! With a Delta Amex card and the TakeOff 15 benefit, it could be as low as 27,000 SkyMiles roundtrip!
From Athens (ATH) to Madrid (MAD), this deal was your ticket abroad in 2024 if you want to fly Delta.
New Zealand for 37K Delta SkyMiles
Earlier this year, we called out Delta for the lack of solid ways to use SkyMiles.
Just a week or so later, this happened.
You're not seeing things. That's just 37,000 SkyMiles to fly all the way to Auckland (AKL) and back. Yes, roundtrip.
It was easily among our most popular deals of the year, and it's not hard to see why. We heard from hundreds of our Thrifty Traveler Premium members who used this alert for a unbelievably cheap trip to New Zealand this year and early next.
Bottom Line
Of the 1,200 Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alerts we sent to subscribers in 2023, these were the 10 that we just can't stop thinking about.
Thanks to our alerts, Thrifty Traveler Premium members are going to Europe in United Polaris Business Class for $889 roundtrip, going to Tokyo in Delta One for 85,000 points, flying to Europe for $273 roundtrip (or 27,000 SkyMiles), and much, much more!
Lead photo courtesy of Delta Air Lines
Always looking for cheap flights mainland