Is Dollar Flight Club worth the subscription price? Check out my review to find out!
*This post contains affiliate links. That just means that if you happen to click on one of those links and end up making a purchase, I make a small commission (and you will have made my day!)
Dollar Flight Club: Is it Worth it?
Anyone who does any amount of traveling knows the biggest cost barrier is often the plane ticket. Once you’ve arrived wherever you’re going, it’s easy to do things on a budget: camp or stay in hostels to save on lodging, cook more of your own meals rather than eating out all the time. But sometimes there’s no getting around expensive flights, especially if you’re planning an overseas trip.
Fortunately, there are a million different flight alert companies out there attempting to save us all money on flights. So it can be hard to sort through which companies are the real deal (pun intended) when it comes to finding cheap flights.
One of the more recognizable ones is Dollar Flight Club. You’ve likely seen the ads: “Save $500 dollars on flights by joining Dollar Flight Club!” And if you’re like me, your reaction is probably along the lines of “Wow!! $500?! You know how much more traveling I could do with an extra $500?!”
So I decided to give Dollar Flight Club a whirl and see if a membership is worth it.
What is Dollar Flight Club?
Dollar Flight Club (DFC) is a flight alert service that notifies you of flight deals via your email inbox. You pick your preferred departure airport, and the DFC team curates deals based on that. Essentially, DFC does all of the painstaking hunting for cheap flights so that you don’t have to – that way, you can spend more time planning the more fun parts of your trip!
They collect flight data from the big flight providers and use technology, historical data, and a team of expert flight finders, to find flight deals. When they find a new deal, they send you an alert via email or app alert so you never miss out on a deal.
But they don’t fill up your inbox with flights that are only slightly cheaper than they normally are (because who needs more junk mail? Not me!). Dollar Flight Club will only send you an alert if they find a flight that is at least 50% less than it typically is.
How Does it Work?
It’s super simple to get started. Their most basic membership is free (hello, who doesn’t love free?!), so once you sign up with your email address and set your preferred departure airport, they’ll start sending you deals.
The deal alert emails look like this (and yes, this is a real deal that I received in my inbox! Look at that price!!)
In the email, Dollar Flight Club also includes instructions on how to book the flight, which Is usually through Google Flights or Skyscanner.
What Kind of Deals Can you Expect?
Since I have a premium membership, I receive about 5-7 deals per week to destinations all over the world. I’ve been planning a trip to Croatia, and I know that summer flights there are typically between $800-$1000 from the USA. So I was amazed when I got a DFC alert about an August flight to Dubrovnik for just $500 from Washington Dulles, one of my preferred airports.
Since I live on the United States’ east coast, the most common deals that pop up are to the Caribbean for about $200-250, and to Europe, which are often between $250-400. But I have also seen amazing prices to Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, and South America. One that recently popped into my inbox was to the Maldives for just $598 (screenshot in the section above).
Membership Options
As mentioned, the Dollar Flight Club base membership is free. Free members receive:
- 1 preferred departure airport
- 3 deals per week max
- International flight deals only, no domestic
- The email alerts include ads
For the casual traveler who takes just one or two big international trips a year, the free membership might be plenty. But for someone who travels frequently, both domestic and international, the premium membership would be worth it.
For only $69 per year, premium members get:
- Up to 4 preferred departure airports
- Up to 7 deals a week per airport
- Notification of deal alerts before free members get them
- No ads, just straight flight deal alerts
- Product and service partner perks and discounts
- There are dozens of discount offers, but some examples are: 50% a Babbel membership, 1-month free access to Lonely Planet, 20% Fat Tire Tours, free 60-day trial of Scribd, 50% any classic trip from Acanela
Then for those who are in the air more than on the ground, there’s the Premium plus subscription at $99 a year. In addition to everything that comes with a Premium membership, Plus members get:
- Business and first-class deals
- 20% off an annual membership to Mobile Passport
How to Sign Up
All you have to do to become a Dollar Flight club member is join their email list here. Then if after being a free member you decide you want to upgrade, it’s easy to go into your account and upgrade your membership.
Cancelling is also simple: you simply go into your account settings and click “cancel account.” No need to talk to anyone on the phone!
Is Dollar Flight Club Worth It?
Like I said, there are a million different flight alert companies out, and I’ve tested out several including Next Vacay and Scott’s Cheap Flights). So what sets Dollar Flight Club apart from the rest?
- The member portal is very to use – there’s no having to fumble around for your account settings.
- DFC offers text alert notifications so that you don’t miss a deal even if you don’t check your email regularly.
- DFC is no-frills and they’re very transparent about what customers can expect from them.
- Customer service is top-knotch and personalized – every time I’ve communicated with them, they’ve been very responsive and efficient.
- You can choose your favorite airlines.
Are there any drawbacks?
- You can’t customize the free plan much. You’ll miss out on tons of deals with only one preferred airport and only 3 deal alerts per week.
- There’s no built-in search engine on the website or the app – you can’t search for deals to specific locations.
Honestly, those drawbacks are just minor quibbles though. So is Dollar Flight Club worth it? If you travel enough to pay for a subscription service like this, then yes, it is. Dollar Flight Club is my favorite of the services I’ve used. Since they offer both a free membership and a 14-day trial of their premium, why don’t you test them out for yourself?
*While I was compensated for this review, all opinions are my own.
Looking for other ways to save money? Check out my review on Groupon Getaways!
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I think I’d try the free base membership to see what sort of deals I coud get. It sounds too good to be true.
I’ve never heard of this membership. If it was available to Canadians I think I would try the base membership first to see if there was much value and how many notifications I get.
I’ve never heard of this and it definitely doesn’t hurt to try the free subscription. I would have to first test it out to see if it’s worth paying the fee, but for a yearly subscription, the price isn’t that bad at all.
Are these flight patterns usually decent or are they red eyes with multiple stop overs? I have never had much like in actually booking deals like these as I am maybe a bit too rigid in times, and connections but maybe I’ll try out the free account.
They’re usually pretty decent, surprisingly! None of those 24-hour travel times with 3 or 4 layovers. The deals don’t last long though, sometimes they are gone within hours of the alert going out.
This is my first time hearing of this. Thanks for the share! It is very interesting, considering they offer a free version too (understandably with limitations). I do have reservations when booking via 3rd party booking sites like Skyscanners. Not that I had bad experience, but I prefer the convenience and assurance of booking with airline companies. But, I guess if the deal is right (at least 50% cheaper), it is worth considering the risks (and inconvenience)! Will definitely check it out!
I’ve never heard of Dollar Flight Club before so thank you for the review. They sound like a good service. I’m going to check them out for the future.
I hadn’t heard anything about Dollar Flight Club before, so this is very intriguing! I would love to be able to spend less and travel more often. I’ll have to check it out!
I think that if you plan on flying a lot and doing a lot of travelling abroad that the cost of joining the club is definitely a big benefit to you with all of the money you’re saving on flights!
Wow, I look forward to seeing what kind of deals are in my future!
I think I have free plan but would probably upgrade in the future. I think everyone should use this program or a similar one if they travel often but want to save money. Thanks for your detailed review.
I’ve never heard of Dollar flight club before! Thank you for letting me find out more info about them lovely!
Such a helpful post! I have the free plan and have always considered the paid one. I may upgrade now!
Are you tickets coming directly from the airlines or 3rd party? What happens when flights are canceled? What happens if you have to cancel and rebook? Who notify you on flight changes once you have booked a flight?
Directly from the airline. Cancellation policies vary by airline. Dollar Flight Club just finds the cheapest prices and notifies you when they find particularly good deals, but you don’t book through them. You book through the airline or a booking site like you normally would. So whoever you book through would notify you of any changes or cancellations.