In 2021, travel restrictions post-Covid began to ease. In 2022, the world felt even more open and we all began to dip our collective toes back into the travel pool. Now, in 2023, we can confidently say: Travel is back to normal.
Throughout the year, we sent more than 2,500 emails alerting our members to cheap flights and Mistake Fares around the world, from airports big and small to destinations big and small. Among our best deals you’ll find Miami to Argentina’s winery-studded La Rioja and Upstate New York to Thessaloniki (one of our picks for Where To Go in 2024), as well as super popular routes like Houston to Mexico and Chicago to Dublin.
Our members used our newest features, including Going with Points and Watchlist, to keep an eye on the destinations that strike their fancy and then book the flight with whichever currency works for them. We kept rigorous standards for which deals we sent out, but the best part was that we heard from members every single day about the incredible deals they scored.
Here’s a roundup of the best cheap flights we sent out in 2023. And here’s to many, many more of them in the coming year!
(All prices roundtrip.)
23. All Over Argentina - From $572
Regular price: $1,200
Departure cities: Miami
Travel period: September–November 2023, including Thanksgiving on some routes. Most routes have limited dates in October 2023.
Aerolíneas Argentinas inaugurated its brand-new nonstop services to Buenos Aires' second airport, AEP, with a stunning nonstop price from Miami, which we sent out to members in late June. Routes could get you just about anywhere in Argentina, whether you wanted to see Iguazu Falls, sip wine in Argentine wine country, or go hiking in Patagonia. We hadn’t seen a nonstop price from the US to Argentina this good in over three years, and on many of the routes, it was the first time we'd seen a deal-worthy price ever.
>> See cheap flights to Argentina
22. Canada - From $134
Regular price: $415–$550
Departure cities: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa
Travel period: December 2023–March 2024, including Christmas/New Year’s Eve and June 2024 on some routes
Toronto, Vancouver, and Banff National Park via Calgary—name your price. WestJet, Air Canada, United, American, and Porter went head to head with a handful of amazing fares to top cities throughout Canada, the vast majority of which were available nonstop. Members could have a chill holiday up north, but since the cold isn’t appealing to all, luckily, there were some routes that slipped into early summer as well.
>> See cheap flights to Canada
21. Nonstop US at Christmas - $98
Regular price: $450
Departure cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC
Travel period: All routes included Christmas 2023. Some worked best for 7–10 day itineraries.
To this deal, we said: Merry Chrysler, ya filthy animals! We know we’re preaching to the choir when we say flights around the holidays are downright expensive. But if you heeded our advice to start thinking about domestic flights 1–3 months before you need to take them (and even earlier when the holidays are involved), then you’d have been perfectly positioned to snatch up this deal.
>> See cheap flights to Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, New York City, Seattle, and Washington DC
20. Mexico/Central America - $190 with free bags
Regular price: $750
Departure cities: Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Houston
Travel period: November 2023–March 2024 (scattered dates), excluding most holidays
For 48 hours and 48 hours only in September, Southwest ran a half-off sale throughout its network, connecting travelers to places like Belize, Costa Rica, and Cancún for a fraction of their usual price (and nonstop if you were traveling from Houston). The good news about deals like these is that legacy airlines, like United and JetBlue, often drop prices on their own routes to compete for travelers’ business. But if you wanted to travel with a free checked or carry-on bag, Southwest was going to be your best bet.
>> See cheap flights to Belize, Costa Rica, Cancún, Puerto Vallarta, and San José del Cabo
19. Lisbon - From $1,487 nonstop in business class
Regular price: $4,615
Departure cities: Chicago, Newark, New York City
Travel period: November 2023–October 2024, including Christmas/New Year’s Eve on some routes
We love a sale. Make it a sale in business class, and we’re too stunned to speak! When this network-wide TAP deal landed in mid-November, it’d been a while since we’d seen one from the Portuguese flag carrier, so we quickly rounded up all the sub-$2,000 routes we could find and spread the love. At the lowest rates, members could stick around Lisbon to get their fill of pasteis de nata and azulejos, but if they were willing to have a layover in Lisbon, they could unlock much of the rest of Western Europe for similarly impressive business-class fares.
>> See cheap flights to Lisbon
18. Sydney - $714
Regular price: $1,350
Departure cities: Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix
Travel period: Mid-August 2023–February 2024, including Thanksgiving on some routes but excluding Christmas/New Year’s Eve
It’s no secret that fares to Oceania have been increasing in recent years, but that didn’t stop this Delta deal that we sent to members in late June from rolling in all casual like, and just in time to enjoy high season in the land down under, no less. This just goes to show that, even for destinations with consistently notoriously high rates, there are still gems to be found.
>> See cheap flights to Sydney
17. Dublin - $648 in premium economy
Regular price: $2,000
Departure cities: Chicago
Travel period: January–April 2024; some routes with limited 2023 availability
We see this deal a lot—SAS puts massive discounts on their premium economy tickets to tons of European cities—but the Dublin route really stopped us in our tracks this time around. And if Dublin isn’t your desired final destination, good news: It’s often at the epicenter of 2-in-1 itineraries on these routes, so if you want to travel on to Denmark or Spain or Germany or Norway or Switzerland or Sweden or Italy or France or Estonia (you get the picture), then the option is there.
>> See cheap flights to Dublin
16. Egypt - $453
Regular price: $1,000
Departure cities: Miami
Travel period: September–October 2023 (short layovers on return); additional dates in November 2023, including Thanksgiving, and January 2024 (long layovers on return)
For all those who’d been dreaming of a combo Egypt-Poland trip—a twist no one saw coming—this deal packed a serious punch. It was more than $100 cheaper than any ticket we’d seen on this Miami-Cairo route, but there were also some caveats (bonuses, if you’re a glass-half-full kinda person). To get the cheapest price, it required an 11-hour, daytime layover in Warsaw on the outbound; for even more availability, you could go for the 30-hour layover on the return, which could be stretched to a little over two days by booking a true 2-in-1 trip.
>> See cheap flights to Egypt
15. Tahiti - $499
Regular price: $1,000
Departure cities: Los Angeles
Travel period: January–February 2023
Dear Maria, count me in for this *all-time-low* deal from LAX to Tahiti (that reference was for all of our noughties followers who may or may not still be in their emo phase). At more than $80 cheaper than the previous cheapest deal that we’d sent, it’d’ve been a sin to pass up this last-minute winter getaway.
>> See cheap flights to Pape'ete, Tahiti
14. Ibiza - From $344
Regular price: $950
Departure cities: Boston, Newark, New York City, Washington DC
Travel period: May and September–October 2023. Some routes with additional dates in April; limited early-June availability from IAD only
Let’s just call this one the shoulder-season slash. At about a quarter of its normal price, travelers could jet off to the lively beaches of Ibiza, and while these rates didn’t fall in the typical “on season,” we’d argue that Ibiza is always on. East Coasters really lucked out here: We hadn’t seen a deal this cheap from EWR or JFK to Ibiza since 2019, and we'd only seen one deal ever from IAD to Ibiza, and that came all the way back in 2018.
>> See cheap flights to Ibiza
13. South Africa - From $601
Regular price: $1,250
Departure cities: Baltimore, Newark, New York City, Washington DC
Travel period: February–May 2023 with scattered dates on some routes
These were some of the best prices that we’d seen to Cape Town and Johannesburg in a very long time—the cheapest of these was the JFK-Johannesburg route at more than 50% off its typical rate. Fares were expected to go quickly with this one, making it a perfect case to book now and decide whether you can actually swing it later (as long as it was within that 24-hour window).
>> See cheap flights to South Africa
12. Paris - From 17,000 points with Flying Blue
Regular price: 60,000 points or $950
Departure cities: Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark
Travel period: September 2023–March 2024
Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue loyalty program is one of the easiest to collect points because it’s a transfer partner of all major credit card programs. Each month, they publish a list of their Flying Blue Promo Rewards, which allow you to travel to certain destinations for as much as 25%–50% off the usual award prices. As far as we’re concerned, any sub-20k deal to Europe is a tough one to pass up.
>> See cheap flights to Paris
11. Italy - From $400
Regular price: $850
Departure cities: Baltimore, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Newark, New York City, San Juan, Washington DC, West Palm Beach
Travel period: December 2023–February 2024, including Thanksgiving on some routes, excluding Christmas/New Year’s Eve on all routes. Some routes with availability in November 2023 and March 2024.
Price drops to popular European destinations—think Paris, Madrid, Athens, and Amsterdam—had been rolling in all evening, but this plunging Italy fare really took the cake…or should we say, the cannoli. It also skated right under the wire as far as the Goldilocks Window goes. We typically say you should be looking for international flights 2–8 months in advance of your travels, but with this one, some routes were bookable the very next month.
>> See cheap flights to Italy
10. West Africa - From $1,300 in business class
Regular price: $5,000
Departure cities: New York City
Travel period: March–May and September–October 2023
Minutes before this deal went out, we’d sent members our very first deal of 2023—a Mistake Fare in economy to West Africa for as low as $327. While this business class deal to cities like Dakar and Casablanca didn’t technically hit the Mistake Fare threshold, it was a steal nonetheless. Oddly, Google Flights wasn’t able to source these fares, so they needed to be booked directly with Air Senegal or at a slight discount through an OTA via Skyscanner. (We always say book with the airline anyway.)
>> See cheap flights to Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal
9. Europe - 27,000 points in business class
Regular price: 140,000 points or $4,000
Departure cities: Toronto
Travel period: January–May 2024
Alright, you got us: This deal departed from Toronto, but it was too good not to send. It essentially priced out about the same as economy class does on the same routes; we included pricing to Athens and Zagreb, though many other smaller European airports worked out at the same rate with some experimentation. This deal went out to our members who could score a very, very cheap flight from their home airport to Toronto (mind you, we included routing options for this in our email as well), or could realistically drive to Canada to catch the flight. Considering how rare 27k roundtrip to Europe in business class is, it was really the least that we could do. Here’s hoping it’s not another five years before another Points deal of this caliber rolls around...
>> See cheap flights to Athens and Zagreb
8. All Over Latin America - From $211
Regular price: $550
Departure cities: New York City, San Juan
Travel period: February–November 2023, some routes including July and August
This deal touched some of the hottest corners of Central and South America, with routes to Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Chile, and Brazil, and many with peak summer availability. We’d be remiss not to point out that the cheapest fares, unfortunately, didn’t come with a carry-on, but when you’re probably only packing a swimsuit and sandals, you may be able to just get by with a personal item anyway!
>> See cheap flights to Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Chile, and Brazil
7. Greece - From $433
Regular price: $950
Departure cities: Albany, Allentown, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Norfolk, Portland, Providence, Richmond, Savannah, Syracuse, Tampa, Washington DC
Travel period: November 2023–March 2024. All routes to Athens including Thanksgiving but excluding Christmas/New Year’s Eve. All routes to Thessaloniki excluding holidays.
A great case for international travel over Thanksgiving. US airlines are notorious for discounting flights abroad over turkey day—given the vast majority of Americans are traveling throughout the states, domestic flights are their bread and butter during this time, meaning they tend to be the priciest. This deal also worked well as an open-jaw itinerary on some routes, meaning you could fly into one airport and out of another. While you’d need to find your own transportation between the two, it’s a great way to see several places in one trip.
>> See cheap flights to Athens and Thessaloniki
6. Vietnam - From $583
Regular price: $1,200
Departure cities: Houston, Phoenix
Travel period: March–May and September–November 2023
As airline capacity poured back into Asia in early 2023, fares also began trending downward, evident in these sub-$600 fares to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Tickets were available during Vietnam’s shoulder seasons, and most routes connected in Seoul, where you could finesse your itinerary to schedule a full-day layover in the South Korean capital. Traveling during a destination’s shoulder seasons and taking advantage of long layovers are two incredible ways to get more out of your trip, either by making your budget go further or seeing two places in one plane ticket.
>> See cheap flights to Vietnam
5. Japan - 50,000 Delta points roundtrip in economy
Regular price: 100,000 points or $1,200
Departure cities: Los Angeles and 50+ other US airports
Travel period: August 2023–March 2024
This deal came in conjunction with other Oceania availability (including Sydney, Auckland, and Pape'ete) for up to 94,000 points through a Delta flash sale, but the LAX-Japan route was definitely the most impressive. Even a number of smaller, regional airports had nice access to this Points deal, though award space on those flights may have been more limited for some dates.
>> See cheap flights to Japan
4. New Zealand - 44,000 Delta points roundtrip in economy
Regular price: 100,000 points or $1,500
Departure cities: Los Angeles and 100+ other US airports
Travel period: October 2023–March 2024
Some of our earliest Going with Points users got a hold of this sick deal to Auckland through Delta at the height of New Zealand summer. It differed slightly from our other Points deals in that members needed to book roundtrip—if you tried to do one-way, prices tripled—but we outlined all of these caveats in the email. (Note: Those without Delta loyalty status could’ve still booked through Virgin Atlantic or Air France from 45,000 miles each way. Not nearly the steal that 44,000 roundtrip is but a good deal nonetheless.)
>> See cheap flights to New Zealand
3. Paris - $230
Regular price: $950
Departure cities: New York City
Travel period: September 2023–March 2024, including Thanksgiving but excluding Christmas/New Year’s Eve
According to our calculations, this was one of our most successful Mistake Fares to date, with a huge number of members—namely our Night Owls, as this deal rolled in well after hours—successfully securing the deal. The deal, found through American, lasted 4–5 hours, which, by Mistake Fare standards, may as well have been several weeks. With departures only out of New York City, the deal was a good case for repositioning yourself; even if you aren’t based in NYC, it could’ve been worth it to take another short, cheap flight in order to take advantage of this fare.
>> See cheap flights to Paris
2. South America - From $138
Regular price: $900
Departure cities: Chicago, San Francisco
Travel period: February–December 2023
Often with Mistake Fares, the toughest question is, “To go or not to go?” (We like to think the answer is always to go.) But in this case, Delta and LATAM threw us a curveball. Not only did members have to decide if they wanted to go, they had to decide where they wanted to go. This Mistake Fare went to not one but four major South American cities—Cartagena, Lima, Quito, and Santiago, all for under $210 from San Francisco. While the lowest fares were from San Francisco, people closer to Chicago also lucked out with fares about half their normal cost, in the $300s-$400s.
>> See cheap flights to Cartagena, Lima, Quito, and Santiago
1. London - From $252
Regular price: $1,000
Departure cities: Chicago, Denver, Houston, LA, Newark, San Francisco, Washington DC
Travel period: September 2023–April 2024, including Thanksgiving but excluding Christmas/New Year’s Eve
Members who snagged this Mistake Fare have perhaps never had to move quicker than they did in the moments when booking this deal—it lived for all of about 20 minutes before Lufthansa righted its wrong. Those who were successful are enjoying the holiday markets in the UK. Those who just missed the booking window say they learned a big lesson here: You gotta move fast. Book first, then take advantage of the 24-hour rule if it turns out you can’t go.
>> See cheap flights to London
