Long distance relationships are hard on the wallet. We've been lucky enough to visit each other numerous times and a lot of it has to do with the subscribing to websites and apps that offer us good deals. Here our are favourite ones (based on flights between New Zealand and USA):
Grabaseat by Air New Zealand is especially good for those traveling from NZ to other countries. This is probably our favourite as it's literally saved us hundreds over the years. Priscilla has probably snagged several flights from Auckland to San Francisco for $600-$700NZD return. That's about $390 - $480USD give or take! Normally it would cost around $1200-$1400NZD if not more.
When they have deals as good as this, there are usually limited seats so you really need to get in there quick and like most deals they have a specific travel period.
It's pretty cool because they show how many seats are available. I've even seen promotions where only 10 seats are available, they literally go in minutes.
If you want to get the best deals I suggest you download the app and receive push notifications and set up a watchlist.
I've noticed that they usually send out 'one-way' notifications before they send the 'return' notifications. So if you receive a something like 'Auckland to San Francisco for $384 one-way'. There is probably going to be a return flight for around $700 available, but those notifications don't go out till maybe a few minutes later, so I suggest you look as soon as you get the one way notification!
We've been following Scott's Cheap Flights for a number of years now. I remember when the website was a little more bare but now it's grown into this full thing and it's great! It's more for those living in the United States.
Basically you input the departure airports you would like to get notifications for and they will send you deals via email!
I believe it's free to sign up but we pay $49USD a year for the premium subscription (note: none of this is sponsored in any way at all).
Yes it's $49, but we get access to more exclusive deals and even mistake fares. $49 is really nothing in comparison to hundreds of dollars saved on flights.
They also give advice on how to book these deals.
If you would like to try out Scott's Cheap Flights you can get a 20% discount using our referral coupon code: http://fbuy.me/og8k-
Another one worth mentioning is The Flight Deal
We don't use this one as much but we subscribe to the emails because every now and then they send something that we are interested in! This one is more catered to those living in the United States as well.
Here is a screenshot to show you an example of what you can expect to see. Unlike the other two, it doesn't really cater to the specific cities you choose. Rather it sends you a deal once a day for multiple cities.
We hope that these subscription services and apps could potentially help or save you guys some moolah as well. And just a reminder none of these are sponsored at all. This is just what we use!
If you have any other suggestions we'd love to hear!
