Should have been one sheet with links

Does the book contain something useful? Yes, it does.
But the useful information provided in the book should have been put on a page and distributed as a blogpost or email, not as an 8-hour audiobook.

The first 1/3 of the book is basically yada-yada about the importance of taking breaks, traveling, seeing the world, how little we travel, how we think travel is expensive and this is why we don't travel, and how this book will teach you how to buy cheap tickets.

Then the book talks about how airfare pricing works, or rather says that whatever you knew before is not true. There is no best day to book, there is no best time of the day to book. Things change, so forget whatever you've heard before. The only lesson is that prices change, change unpredictably. And really good deals pop up once in a while. Randomly. That's it.

The whole book boils down to this one truly practical "advice":
Don't try to get an air ticked to a specific destination at a specific travel date. You won't find great deals like it.
Instead, use Google Airfares and similar services that will alert you about super deals to somewhere sometime when those deals pop-up. Never thought about going to Ireland in November? Well, neither did I, but one day a super deal popped up to Ireland in the second week in November, like 1/3 of a normal price, so I took it and it was a great vacation.

That's basically the secret. Be open about the destination and the date, and super deals will pop up from time to time, and when they do, buy them. By law, you'll have 24 hours to return your ticket, so buy and decide a bit later.

That's the book. There is really nothing else of truly practical value beyond this one advice.

So, if you're going to a wedding or a conference and you need a ticket to a specific place at a specific date, the book won't tell you how to get it cheaper. It'll recommend to try to buy separately ticked for the different legs of your trip, and check prices via Expedia etc vs. airlines direct, but the author warns you, you probably won't save much this way anyway, unless you're lucky.

So, that's it. This is the secret revealed in the book. The rest is just empty words to turn this one-pager into a book. Occasionally, the author mentions some mailing lists and websites where you can find these great deals, like his own mailing list, but since it's an audiobook, it's hard to memorize long URLs. But becuase Google Flights kind of does the same anyway, I am not sure if there is much value in these additional services. And you can get those links from the author's webpage.

Other than this, the book is sort of entertaining, and the author is very lickable. Just don't expect some insider secrets or tips "that the airlines don't want you to know". Nothing really beyond "be open about the destination and date, and a super deal will pop-up once in a while"

14 people found this helpful

It was Decent

Listen, I was honestly going to rate this book 2 stars, but the very last chapter bumped it up a full star rating because there were some really excellent tips in there. However, the book could be QUITE repetitive sometimes, which hindered my enjoyment. There’s only so many ways you can communicate the message “prioritize cheap prices over specific destinations,” before it starts getting stale. In addition, there was a long chapter in the middle of the book dedicated to the environmental impacts of tourism. This has nothing to do with how to get cheap flight tickets, and I’m honestly not too sure why the ethical debate was included at all, since it felt very out of place. A lot of this book was spent recapping the points he had made previously in the chapter, or regurgitating tips he’d given in previous chapters. Overall, I think the book could’ve been shortened by about 2-3 hours just by editing out the repetition of points. All that being said, I think most of the tips he did give were useful ones, and I’d say this is worth the read if you’re willing to weed through all the unnecessary parts to get to the nuggets of gold.

5 people found this helpful

great advice for budget and frugal travellers!

I've been following Scott Keyes for years, and I subscribe to his cheap flight alert service. Much of what is in this book has been covered in various online posts, live events, email blasts, etc, but this puts it in a comprehensive form. That said, I learned quite a few new tips from this audiobook and I am looking forward to putting these tricks to use to score even more deals! I enjoyed hearing Scott read this in his own voice. It almost feels like talking to a friend. Safe travels!

3 people found this helpful

Really great resource

Great if you want to make travel accessible and avoid overpaying for flights. I like how it didn't just focus on points and miles as many resources do. I would love if Scott wrote a companion book about cheap lodging!

2 people found this helpful

Loved this book. A must listen.

This was such a great book. Scott is very insightful. This is one of my favorite books I've listened to.

1 person found this helpful

Read this to unlock some great cheap flight tips!

Highly recommend for anyone who dreams to travel the world but doesn’t want to or can’t
pay ridiculous prices. Go Going aka Scott Cheap flights!!

Transformational

So many good tips I needed to buy the paper copy so I can take notes!

thank you

thank you for all the information! besides the whole book and information on cheap flights, i enjoyed the last chapter on points, miles, award flights!! i listened twice!!!

Awesome!

The information Scott shares on this audio-book are very accessible and actionable.
I will begin using the techniques to find cheap tickets!
Thanks for the amazing tips!

fabulous

i bought this edition as well as the print edition. learned much, will use it, and hope for many more notices from Scott.