Cheap flights, especially when they're less than $100 roundtrip, are just the best, aren't they?
We search for cheap flights all day, every day for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members and an undeniable trend has emerged lately: Sub-$100 roundtrip flights within the U.S. are back in a big way.
It's a much-needed win for travelers looking to fly somewhere without breaking the bank after more than a year of skyrocketing domestic flight prices. While sub-$100 roundtrip flights never disappeared entirely, we keep seeing more and more cheap flights popping up for destinations across the U.S. for this summer, fall, and into next winter, too.
Why Are Domestic Flights Getting Cheaper?
Domestic airfare has been abnormally high for about a year now, and that's been tough to stomach. In that time, we've been telling travelers to empty their bags of tricks to find the best deal. We've told them to use their credit card points, burn those SkyMiles, and even ditch the idea of domestic travel altogether and look abroad for the best airfare.
So it gives me great pleasure to declare that cheap domestic flights are back. But why is this happening?
Travel demand hit record highs in 2022, and domestic flight prices increased to match it as airlines hope to squeeze everything they can out of Americans eager to travel again. What happened, though, is that those higher prices might have scared away many domestic travelers who closed their Google Flights window and opened a Google Maps window to plan a road trip instead.
But now that the peak summer travel season is coming to a close and many airplane seats are still empty, airlines are suddenly willing to slash prices back to reasonable rates.
The end result? Travel within the U.S. suddenly got crazy cheap this spring and summer. And then we started seeing a lot more of this.
Many of these ultra-low fares have been booked already! Get an alert for the next great domestic deal with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
But it wasn't just the one-off MSP-CHS route. Soon after that, we found exact same cheap fares flying to other airports from Minneapolis. And then some more from Detroit (DTW), too.
By the time we checked the fares again, we realized the sale was even bigger than that, folding in Asheville (AVL), Destin (VPS), Myrtle Beach (MYR), and New Orleans (MSY), too – all under $100 roundtrip.
We heard from a family of 26 people (26!) who all booked this flight deal to book a family vacation to Destin, Florida. Without sub-$100 airfare, taking a family of 26 anywhere is literally impossible. That's how you use your Thrifty Traveler Premium membership!
Those are just a few examples of the renaissance of sub-$100 flights across the U.S. Where else can we get for less than $100?
Roundtrip Flights for Under $100
You don't have to be flying out of Detroit or Minneapolis to find sub-$100 flights within the U.S. In fact, we've had a crazy run of sub-$100 roundtrip domestic fares recently. Let's dig into them.
We found a slew of cheap fares flying to Phoenix, Arizona (PHX) recently, but the highlight of this deal was this $90 (actually $89 and a few pennies but Google Flights rounds up) roundtrip flight from Los Angeles (LAX) and back.
Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Premium to get alerts about cheap U.S. flights like this one!
Another one for our Los Angeles (LAX) subscribers was this shuttle to Las Vegas (LAS) under $100 that came about thanks to a Southwest Airlines sale.
If you have a good night at the blackjack table, you might make money on this trip!
A summer or fall trip to Chicago, Illinois (ORD, MDW) should already be on your list, too. Chicago isn't known for being a beach town, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a better vibe than the beaches of Lake Michigan on a bluebird day in the summer. That's when Chicago is at its best. And it would only cost you $97 roundtrip to get there from Minneapolis (MSP).
The deal included many more cities, too. Normally, flight prices like that would run you $400 or more, but in today's domestic airfare climate, all you need are a few Benjamins to make it happen.
I'm sure people who've been to Miami got a good chuckle at my touting of Chicago's beaches above because the Miami area is famous for its beach scene all year around.
This Nashville (BNA) to Miami (MIA) nonstop went on sale for $97 roundtrip a few weeks ago as did dozens of other fares down to South Florida, but Nashville is a pretty good option for a cheap domestic flight itself.
How about sub-$90!
And finally, sub-$100 fares come in the most handy when you're flying somewhere you need to bring the whole family, like Orlando.
A family of four for less than $400! Sign us up.
Bottom Line
Cheap domestic flights had all but disappeared for many months, but now, you can find a cheap flight to many destinations across the U.S., and for less than $100 roundtrip in some cases!
The airlines overextended themselves with high airfare earlier this year, and now they're playing catch up by offering cheaper domestic flights for this fall. When airlines make mistakes like this, let them! Now's the time to book your next domestic getaway.
I am curious, will some of the notifications include business or first class fares.
Hey John! We do find cheap first/business class fares, though they’re rarer – several times a month, mostly from major US hubs to international hotspots 🙂
Can you find me a cheap flight to PVR?
Hi Linda! We don’t make the deals, we find them 🙂 We see cheap fares to Puerto Vallarta (and other Mexico hubs) every month or two. Don’t miss the next one we find! https://thriftytraveler.com/premium