The Flight Deal is one of the primary websites I follow to alert me to airfare deals. The daily email is a great digest of current reasonable fares out of many major U.S. airports. I’ve often browsed the options presented to me, but I have never pulled the trigger on a fare found through them.
Until now. I’d been considering booking a trip with the older of my two boys as a father-son getaway before the school year starts, and a fare presented by The Flight Deal turned out to be just what I needed to make it happen cheaply.
Follower for years, finally pulled the trigger
I’ve gotten daily emails from The Flight Deal for over two years now. It consistently clues me in to some of the better fare sales on a daily basis. I don’t always read the email, but I find that more often than not I’ll take a peek during the day. My other go-to site is Secret Flying, which specializes in “mistake fares”.
The Flight Deal email on July 27 included a $168 round-trip United fare from San Jose to Atlanta. I decided that it was worth looking into. I’ve been sitting on a $300 travel voucher from a business trip that went awry (SEE: United’s problem is…everything), and this could be an opportunity to use it.
The fare was easily found using Google Flights (SEE: 6 reasons Google Flights is the BEST flight search engine). Amazingly, it was available in August over dates that worked. I clicked through to the United website, entered all the info, and then tried to apply my voucher.
Which gave me an error. Eventually I had to restart the entire booking, which was for the best. The new price was now only ~$154 per person round-trip! And this isn’t basic economy (SEE: 2 ways the American Airlines basic economy fare outdoes United’s). I ended up having to call United to book the fare and apply the voucher. Grand total out of pocket? A mere $7.20. #win
Don’t delay booking!
I’ve had a few times where it looked like we could make a trip work with a deal presented through The Flight Deal, but I delayed booking. The typical need is to talk with my wife about the idea, and this doesn’t always happen quickly, depending on our schedules.
In this case, I went ahead and booked the fare, knowing I would have 24 hours to change my mind. Turns out, it was a great thing I did. I checked about 2 hours later and it was already gone over our dates!
It’s hard for some people to operate this way, but you need to get into the habit of booking first and asking questions later, especially if it is an extremely good deal. With U.S. airlines you’ll nearly always have 24 hours to change your mind.
My wife and I finally discussed the trip the following morning, and it became a go. So glad I didn’t put off booking!
Conclusion
So now my son and I are headed to Atlanta in a few weeks. The trip had to be super cheap since our budget can’t afford much at the moment. The Flight Deal sale made was serendipitous and the only reason it could even work. I never expected to get decent summer tickets anywhere for less than ~$200 per person round-trip.
Anything I need to know about Atlanta? What are some must-see places?
Image courtesy of Raymond Spekking under CC 4.0 license.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
No link to the flight deal website?
I thought I had it in there at the first mention. I had an error saving the post during writing, so maybe I lost it and didn’t notice.
As a person who is based in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area, Ian, I usually tell visitors that it is best known for civil war and civil rights.
Outside of popular destinations pertaining to those two topics, points of interest include the Georgia Aquarium, which is currently the largest aquarium in the world. The World of Coca Cola is another popular attraction. You can take a behind-the-scenes tour of CNN and visit Centennial Olympic Park, with its Olympic ring fountains which you can walk through on a hot day. Despite its controversy, head east and hike up Stone Mountain, and take the train around it:
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/stone-mountain-carving-a-symbol-of-white-supremacy-which-should-be-removed/
Near the airport, visit the Delta Flight Museum:
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/delta-flight-museum-photographs-inside-hangar-1-of-the-official-venue-of-the-2015-freddie-awards/
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/delta-flight-museum-photographs-inside-hangar-2-of-the-official-venue-of-the-2015-freddie-awards/
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/delta-flight-museum-outside-photographs-of-the-official-venue-of-the-2015-freddie-awards/
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/the-2015-freddie-awards-hangar-2-of-the-delta-flight-museum-and-the-spirit-of-delta/
That should be plenty to do in a few days without breaking your budget.
If you have any other questions, just ask.
Thanks so much for the detailed ideas, Brian!! The Flight Museum, Aquarium, and World of Coca Cola are on the list. We’ll see how much ground we are able to cover and if we are able to make it out to Stone Mountain. Not currently planning on renting a car, but could be persuaded if there are a few things to see and rates are really good.
Are you renting a car? They boot cars like crazy over there. I got booted without having done anything wrong and had to pay $75 to get it removed.
Nope. We’ll be staying in the city center and using mass transit during our stay.
Great that you were able to get in on the deal!
CityPASS for Atlanta is a good deal and covers major downtown attractions.
Take a trip to the rooftop of Ponce City Market. There’s some games, food, drink, etc and great views of the city. Explore Piedmont Park and the Beltline Eastside trail. Bicycle rentals around the beltline seem to be a popular activity with out of towners. Atlanta is a pretty car centric city, but you could get by for a few days if you don’t mind Uber/Lyft when public transit isn’t convenient.