Want the low-down on one of the latest flight alert services to hit the market? Here’s my honest and unaffiliated Next Vacay review.
When I first heard of Next Vacay, I was excited. I love flight alert programs and have been a long-time subscriber to Scott’s Cheap Flights, one of the first programs to arrive in the space.
Since signing up for Scott’s list and being introduced to the magic of flights alerts, I’ve also begun following sites like Travel Pirates and Fly4Free.
RELATED POST: THE REAL PRICE OF WOW AIR’S $99 FLIGHTS TO EUROPE
When Next Vacay came out, I was getting a lot questions from readers.
Are they legitimate? How are they different from Scott’s Cheap Flights? Did I have any experience with Next Vacay?
Naturally, I had to find out more. So I decided to sign up to receive Next Vacay alerts for one month.
I spent 30 days on Next Vacay’s email list. Here’s what you need to know before you join.
What is a flight alert?
Flight alerts are a relatively new concept that have taken off in recent years, with businesses popping up left and right to capitalize off the monthly subscription model and your thirst for bargain flights.
The basic concept behind flight alerts is that the company you’re signed up to receive alerts from will scour the web for the best flight deals and let you know as soon as a good one pops up so you can be among the first to take advantage of it before it disappears.
Types of deals included in flight alerts
Flight alerts typically notify you of price drops in three instances: 1) when there’s a sale; 2) when airlines are competing against each other causing fares to drop, and; 3) when there’s an error fare.
The first instance is self explanatory and you don’t need a flight alert program to find out about sales. In fact, direct email from your favorite airline provider is the quickest way to go if you want to receive notifications of flash sales, like a 48-hour price drop with limited availability. JetBlue does this every few weeks. Flight alerts mostly come in handy in keeping you up to date about airlines and brands you may not have been aware of or used before.
The second instance happens when airlines are trying to fill seats or have excessive flights going to one route. Sometimes, one airline will drop prices and other airlines will follow suit to match.
On a grander scale, this is happening in Hawaii. Previously, Hawaii was an exclusive market until budget airlines (like Southwest) starting traversing the route. Now, traditional airline providers have had to cut their own prices to stay competitive.
Finally, the third instance you would be notified about is an error fare. Error fares are a result of human error in inputting the price into the airline’s database.
Perhaps the flight was $1,400 but an American Airlines employee left off the one, listing it for $400 instead. If you can catch this mistake before the airlines do, you could score a heavily discounted flight.
Error fares aren’t always honored. Check out my book, The Affordable Flight Guide: How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets and See the World on a Budget
, to learn more.
What does Next Vacay offer?
Next Vacay is a standard flight alert program. They search for flights leaving out of all airports and if they find a deal that may be of interest to you, they send you an email with a link and instructions on how to book it.
If you don’t open the email until the next day, it’s possible the deal will be gone by then, so to a certain extent the onus is on you to be vigilant and stay up to date with the alerts.
Different flight alert programs may notify you in different ways, like through text messaging or use of a mobile pop-up when you download the app. I’m attached to my emails as it is, so I like email alerts just fine. These are the sort of alerts that Next Vacay sends.
RELATED POST: HOW I FLEW FROM MIAMI TO NEW ZEALAND FOR $38
How is Next Vacay different from competitors?
Next Vacay differentiates itself by being more selective about the deals they send out. Instead of kitchen sinking you with all the deals out there, they select the ones they think apply to you based on your departure airport and stated preferences.
I found this to be problematic as my airport of choice was Rochester in Upstate NY, which rarely gets deals, so 99% of the deals I got from Next Vacay were departing from NYC. The problem is that NYC is not even the next closest airport — Buffalo, NY or even crossing the border to Canada would take me half the time.
RELATED POST: HOW TO FIND CHEAP FLIGHTS TO EUROPE FROM THE U.S.
Moreover, the deals I did get from Rochester weren’t exactly a bargain. I understand it’s a much more remote airport, but I wouldn’t consider a $900 roundtrip ticket to Europe a “deal.”
They did at one point alert me of a deal I didn’t otherwise get through Scott’s and to that end, it’s always good to be part of as many programs as possible when you’re looking for a specific flight. There’s no guarantee that any one program is going to catch them all, Pokemon style, so you’re better off as a consumer by casting a wide net.
How much does Next Vacay cost?
Next Vacay costs $25 per year, making it one of the more affordable subscription models out there. There’s also a 30-day free trial available before you’re charged.
RELATED POST: 8 COMMON BOOKING MISCONCEPTIONS THAT ARE COSTING YOU MONEY
How do you cancel your Next Vacay subscription?
If you cancel before the end of the free trial period you won’t be charged for the year. Theoretically you’re supposed to be able to cancel just by replying to any email or alert you received, but I had problems with this as well.
Despite multiple attempts to contact someone on the Next Vacay team, it wasn’t until my card didn’t go through for the payment and someone contacted me seeking new billing information that I was able to cancel my subscription.
Is Next Vacay worth it?
Next Vacay is a legitimate service and at just $25, it’s an affordable option for flight alerts (Scott’s Cheap Flights is $49 for the year). They don’t always have the best/quickest turnaround on deals, however, or many deals from smaller airports.
If flight alerts are something that interest you, note that you don’t have to pay anything at all to get started. You can sign up for free trials and follow all of these programs on social media — trust me, they’re itching to share the best deals with their audience and be the first ones to break the news on a big price drop.
The Verdict
With any flight alert program you choose, the goal is to be notified in a timely manner so that you’re best positioned to take advantage of a great deal.
Personally, my preferred program is not Next Vacay but rather Scott’s Cheap Flights. Their customer service is more responsive and deals more widespread. At the end of the day, however, any alert program is better than flying in the dark when it comes to booking airline deals.
If you want to get started researching flight alert programs, I’ve compiled a list of 16 apps and websites that offer alert services, both paid and unpaid. Download it for free below.
CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF 16 APPS AND WEBSITES THAT OFFER FLIGHT ALERTS
Till next time, safe travels!
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Just saw that you dont think $900.00 for a round trip flight to Europe from NYC is a deal. Honey a trip from NYC to Europe normally costs thousands just for one person, how is $900.00 not a deal? Just wondering.
Because budget airlines fly regularly from NYC to all over Europe for about $300-$400 roundtrip (check out the Wow Air or Norwegian homepage). Once you’re in Europe you can connect easily to major cities for $50 or less (I’ve connected to Nice, Barcelona, and Santorini for $25~). And because flight alerts go out all the time featuring Europe deals (gotten several in the past week from DC, Chicago and Boston in the low $300s). Europe used to be expensive to reach but really isn’t anymore.
I wouldn’t even consider $900 roundtrip to be a deal for Africa or New Zealand at this point. I wrote an article for the Washington Post on how I regularly fly around the world for under $400 roundtrip breaking down prices for my 12 trips in 12 months challenge, found here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2017/04/06/how-i-regularly-book-round-trip-international-flights-for-less-than-400/
Hope this helps!
The article said 900 for Rochester to Europe – not NYC to Europe. That is a big difference.
Agreed. You can reach New York by driving or taking a cheap flight but it’s for those reasons that I mentioned deals from Buffalo and Toronto were better options since they’re closer, though those were never sent to me.
Next Vacay does state you can customize your airport list.
Correct, that’s how I ended up getting deals out of Rochester. I prefer not to use this option — I don’t mind flying to Atlanta or Chicago if the price is right on a deal departing from elsewhere.
I’ve taken a direct flight from San Francisco to Rome for $600 round trip (on Norwegian). My boyfriend flew from San Francisco to Rome with one stop in London for $445 round trip. $900 is crazy expensive! I would never pay that to go to Europe and I’ve never had to 🙂 highly recommend checking Norwegian airlines!!
I agree Elizabeth! I love Norwegian, hoping they stay in business for a long time 🙂
We flew to Europe on Delta and then made 2 flights within Europe (Paris to Barcelona then Barcelona to Naples) last summer and paid $3000 for 2 people flights and hotel. So I agree $900 isn’t that great for just a flight.
I travel to Europe at least once a year on WoW airlines. I can get deals for $149 for many European cities such as Paris, London, and Amsterdam. $99 fight to Iceland
HI mary–do you use particular sites to get these deals? if so which ones please. thanks so much.
NYC to Europe for $900 isn’t a deal at all!
Hi. Did you actually book a flight by using Next Vacay? Looks like one can only book by calling the airline. I’m curious as to how accurate the prices Next Vacay gives in the e-mail compare to what the airline says once one calls. Thanks.
I didn’t make a purchase since none of the deals enticed me but all of the links to were to book through Google Flights and from there you can book online with the airline or with a travel aggregator. I very rarely call to make reservations, I find that when you do the price goes up even as you’re waiting on the phone.
I’m in SF Bay area and would like to find deals to Europe. I want to go to Spain in Dec after Christmas. Never been. I would like to go to Barcelona and Italy Dec 2019 for 7 days. Please advise…
Hi Lunell,
There are fares from San Francisco to Barcelona for as low as $149 per person each way. It’s a little early to be booking for December although your instinct to score holiday tickets far in advance are spot on. Budget airlines advertise their low fares about 4 months out, so September would be a great time to start looking at those routes (let’s hope Norwegian is still around by then).
In the meantime, it would be smart to sign up for flight alerts of some sort so you can see what kind of deals are common to these places and possibly track flights (generically, don’t let the search engine know what specific dates you’re looking for to avoid making it seem like there’s high demand) for similar reasons.
I hope this helps!
This is so helpful!! I’m getting married beginning of September in Santorini and one of our biggest stresses is finding good rates since we’re paying for 6 flights ourselves (and also want to give our friends suggestions that won’t break the bank.) Do you have any advice? I know you mentioned the best rates to Europe open up about four months out. Is it worth waiting that long, or would that be a bit risky with needing certain dates and to accommodate so many people? I feel like we’ll finally be able to relax (and have a better idea of how to budget for other things) one the travel is all booked. Thanks for sharing such great info Jen! 🙏🏻❤️
I’m happy to help Chelsea! When it comes to weddings you definitely want to secure your tickets earlier rather than later for the reasons you mentioned — very little flexibility with dates or locations. You can connect to Santorini easily from Athens with RyanAir or other budget European airlines. I would look for deals to Athens, maybe even do some flight tracking (you can do this one year out without entering any specific dates just to see what the prices generally look like). Definitely sign up for flight alerts. For those who aren’t ready to book all at once upon being notified of a sale, buying one-way flights to get to Europe and then to come back could work as a makeshift layaway plan for tickets. Definitely recommend checking budget airlines and when all else fails, travel hacking is a great backup plan to get free award award flights. Congratulations!
P.S. Flights would be from Vegas, if that makes a difference!
Great post! I’ve been following Next Vacay on Facebook and have been wondering if it’s a good investment or not. I’m going to check out your other articles on flight alerts, too. Thanks for the incredibly informative post!
My pleasure! I’m happy to help and definitely recommend you get flight alerts from somewhere. It’s nice to be in the know!
This is an excellent post – thanks for the insight on Next Vacay, and for a level of comfort in using their site. I’m trying to fly my family (6 of us) to either Zagreb or Belgrade this summer (June) and I’m not finding any deals. Is this because of the time of year? Will I find any decent deals during summer travel?? Or am I stuck paying about $1000 – $1200 per seat??
You’re not stuck, but you may need to get flexible. I would aim to get to Europe on your time frame and go from there. Maybe flights to Budapest are available at a fraction of the price, or you can connect from London to Zagreb on a budget airline and get to London for cheap. I’d add in a connection somewhere to save. In the alternative, you can look into opening a credit card to earn bulk miles and points in order to redeem them for an award flight straight to Zagreb, paying just the taxes and fees.
It’s also worth mentioning that many European airlines offer discounted tickets for children, so maybe you get from Chicago to Milan paying for 6 people but can connect from Milan to Zagreb for the price of 4, depending on the age of your children. I would definitely start by signing up for alerts either way and nabbing the first Europe deal you see for summer since your instinct is right that they’re few and far in between.
Hope this helps!
btw, I’m flying out of O’Hare, which should give me more options.
I signed up based on your review. I wish I paid more attention to the cancelling part. My first email from them linked me to Google flights and it wasn’t a deal at all. I replied to cancel and no reply since. This is a con job.
I’m sorry to hear that Jill! I had a similar experience trying to cancel which I wrote about it in the post and also thought they didn’t offer the best deals. I recommend signing up for Scott’s Cheap Flights. I didn’t stick with Next Vacay but have had Scott’s for years and always get a quick reply from their team. You can cancel your card, like I did, and when the payment doesn’t go through someone from Next Vacay will contact you. Generally fight alerts are legitimate but they’re definitely not all created equal.
I just had a look Jet4free
Nothing more annoying than to click on a deal and find it is expired
Which happened 3 times in my short search
For that reason they won’t get my business
I’m sorry to hear that! It’s very frustrating, and timeliness is a big factor in flight alerts. I like Scott’s Cheap Flights for that reason but you have several options. I hope it works out for you soon.
Is nextvacay.com just for trips to Europe? How about flights within the US? Does next vacay include those flights as well?
I got several American destination alerts, including Denver, Chicago and Miami. Hope this helps!
Jen, you are a God-send. I have been spending so much time checking out the airfares for myself and two adult sons, for flights to Barcelona at the highest peak season of July/August. Two of us live in Sacramento and one lives in Tokyo. Your tips are very helpful. And yes, I am finding Norwegian Air’s prices quite reasonable.
We are returning on three different dates, with me staying longer and visiting multiple cities before heading back home in September. Your suggestion of booking a one-way ticket is interesting and I must explore that, as I plan to fly home from Amsterdam. So I should sign up for flight alerts? I hope you can suggest something for my son who lives in Tokyo. The fares to Europe from Japan seem astronomical. Am sharing the cost of his fare.
Hi Marita, happy to help! For flight alerts departing from destinations outside the U.S., I recommend websites like Secret Flying, TicketSpy and iwantthatflight.com.au. You could also look into buying tickets leaving from California on airlines like Norwegian and then getting your son from Tokyo to California, those flights often go on sale for $300 roundtrip. Doesn’t hurt to sign up for alerts!
Thanks for sharing, that’s exactly what I was looking for
Happy to help!
Thanks so much for the info, Jen! I am looking to go to England over Christmas & New Year’s this year, 2019. What’s your advice for when and where to look for the cheapest flights from Atlanta?
Diane
Hi Diane,
Holiday travel is tough because the prices don’t tend to go down. It’s still early so a deal could pop up. I would stay tuned to flight alerts daily for the next few months just in case. Otherwise, 4ish months out you should be able to see availability on budget airlines which sounds like your best bet. Start searching WOW/Norwegian late summer. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the great review. Rochester, NY is my home airport too but I tend to fly out of Toronto for much less!
My pleasure Liz! And absolutely, some great deals out of Toronto!
I’m wanting to go to Ireland in April, but I’m not finding any good deals. I have to leave from Charlotte Douglas airport to Dublin. Any advice? Thank you!
I’m seeing $300 roundtrip Dublin deals leaving out of NYC in April, and you can fly to NYC for $100 or less from Charlotte each way, this could be your best bet!
Jen,
I have a group of people wanting to fly to Munich the first week of October and travel around Germany. We live in Mobile, AL, so the closest international airport is 3 hours away in New Orleans. We would like to fly out of Mobile, but I realize that’s the not the best way. I’ve checked into multi city flights, to one way flights to each city, and a round trip between Mobile and Munich and then one ways everywhere else (turned out the cheapest). Any advice on getting flights that are less than $1600?
Hi Ryan,
It looks like Mobile to Atlanta is about $100 each way and cheaper than Mobile to NOLA. Atlanta has better prices for Europe. It’s still pretty far out to take advantage of error fares or budget airlines, but if you need to secure the fare for multiple people better to do so rather than later. I would fly to Atlanta and then to anywhere in Germany from there, trains in Germany are easy to use and fast so you can reach Munich easily. Hope this helps!
Are there any catches to joining next vacay… Hidden costs or issues… Trying to figure out flight from Detroit to usvi in April and only seeing 600+ for round trip
Hi Jason, I had problems cancelling with them as I mentioned and I didn’t find their deal to be very comprehensive. I would sign up for Scott’s Cheap Flights instead, I’ve seen a lot of deals for USVI lately on that list.
How DO you cancel next vacay? I can’t find a route anywhere.
You’re supposed to email them directly. I tried that with no success so I cancelled the card it was on and they contacted me for new payment information, which is when I confirmed my cancellation.
Hey Jen,
I found your review on next vacay right before deciding to subscribing. Think freaking godness I did. I live in Texas and have decided to travel as much as possible this year to different states and maybe fit in one or two out. What sites would you recommend? I want to travel at least once a month.
Hi Rainey, I’m glad I could help! I recommend signing up for the free list of Scott’s Cheap Flights, that way you can see what kind of deals are available. You can stay on the list indefinitely and upgrade if you think it’s worth it. I can also vouch for their customer service. Hope you find a deal soon!
Hi Jen!!
Thank you so much for your blog as I am seriously considering getting flight alerts. I am wanting to go to London next March and will be flying out of PDX or SEA depending on the cost. When do you recommend would be the best time to start looking for deals??
Also, would it be a huge cost difference to fly into London but fly out of Dublin??
Thank you so much in advance!
Hi LaKeshia! There are lots of deals heading out of that area. Most often towards Asia but Europe is doable on a budget as well! I do recommend signing up for flight alerts, I like Scott’s Cheap flights so you could try the free list as a starting point, and stay on indefinitely without charge. The best deals start coming out a few months ahead of time, so this early in the process you could look into tracking flight prices in general (not for your specific date) so you know what a route costs and can spot a good deal. No big difference flying out of Dublin, prices can be $20 in between the two destinations, you can buy your trip in one-way segments if need be. Lmk if I can help in any other way 🙂
Are any of these services worth it if there is lack of flexibility with respect to transit flights (would prefer mostly direct flights)? I live in Seattle, it is an Alaska/ Delta hub, so there are a lot of direct flights and we drive to Vancouver as well which has an even bigger access to direct flights. However the prices are whatever I get by using Google Flights. I have saved some using Priceline.com packages, but had very bad experience with them recently ( https://medium.com/@TravelNTech/nightmare-experience-with-priceline-com-a8295ddb441a ) so not using OTAs and want to book directly from airlines. With these constraints (booking directly, minimal transits) does any of the services provides useful value?
thanks for the great article . Our son has just been accepted into a study abroad program in Leon, Spain starting in late September. We would like to go a couple weeks ahead and fly into Lisbon and then rent a car and drive him to school. Then we have another week or so and then fly back home to Seattle. Can you advise if having him fly into Lisbon and then home from Madrid makes sense? We don’t want to have him have to travel all the way back to Lisbon in December when the course is over. Are there one way deals offered? Usually a one way ticket is not as good of a deal . I am looking in to signing up for Scott’s flights because of your recommendation. Thank you so much.
Hi Abby, congrats to your son! What a great opportunity. No problem piecing this together one-way. Usually the budget airlines like Norwegian or WOW Air operate on this pricing method anyway, so if you see a sale round-trip it means the individual routes are on sale with them as well. This may not always be the case with other operators, like American or Delta, but Madrid and Seattle are both big enough airports that you should be able to piece together a route for a reasonable price if you are flexible on dates/times of departure. Flight alerts are a great pway to get started, good luck on your search!
Jen, so happy I found your site. It is fabulous. Would you kindly give me your thoughts on the best way to find decent air travel for three from DFW to Rome. We are looking to go in October and would end up with Rome being our first city and Venice our last. Is it most cost effective to book a multi-city flight, book two one way flights, or figure out how to get back to Rome and book a round trip to and from there.
Hi Ginny, I’m glad you found me! The good news is that October is a good time to visit Rome. You’re entering off season and rates should be lower. That said, flight alerts and budget airlines typically have deals 3-4 months out. I would sign up for Scott’s cheap flights and open every email waiting for a Europe sale. I would also do a search for neighboring airports. DFW is pretty big so you should have good availability but just to check and not close yourself off to any options. Nothing wrong with booking two one-way flights! This is common if you’re going with budget airlines like Norwegian. I hope this helps!
Hi Jen thank you so much for the information.
I was literally thinking of signing with next
vacay until I saw your post. You are truly a lifesaver. My daughter and I would like to travel to Europe by mid July. We would like to visit England, Paris, and Italy for 7 days. What should we do? I’ve never been to these places. I just recently retired, and this trip is in my bucket list. I appreciate any advice you can give me.
Thank you in advance,
Marie
Is Scott’s good from Canada or just the US?
Lots of great deals from Canada! Definitely worth signing up.
Hey Jen! It’s been great getting to read your insights on this provider because I keep seeing them pop up on my feed and was curious. I was wondering if you have any recommendations for booking a flight to Australia (from Toronto, to be specific). I desperately want to visit my best friend there. Thanks in advance!
Sign up for flights alerts, Scott’s like sent out a $600 roundtrip Australia deal this week. Keep an eye out for deals from neighboring cities that you can easily fly to like NYC or Chicago. Sounds amazing!
Hi there! I’m so glad I found your site! I was wondering what tips you have for finding cheap flights when you have a flexible timeline. I am walking the Camino de Santiago and can go any time late August to early September. Not sure on return time just yet. It seems overwhelming to search a million airlines for varying dates and varying routes. Also, do you have tips for supplementing air travel with ground travel in a foreign country? What’s the best way to find out what ground transportation options you have? I appreciate your time and experience!
That’s where flight alerts come in. It’s not overwhelming to have someone looking for deals for you and reporting to you when they find it. I’ve gotten several deals this week for Spain. Train travel in Europe is relatively easy and you can book tickets online, just google them and compare prices. Sounds like a great trip!
It would be classified as a PhD.
Any suggestions for flights to Dubai/Maldives from DC around thanksgiving?. I’ve Scott’s cheap flight but I hardly see anything to those destinations.
They’re hard locations to reach for sure! Do you have the premium list for Scott’s Cheap Flights? On the free list you only get a few of the deals. I would also suggest flying anywhere in the area. Once you get to Southeast Asia, for instance, you can fly to the Maldives for relatively cheap. There are also $100 flights from London to Dubai, and London is almost always on sale. Hope this helps!
do have the premium list for Scott’s Cheap Flights, Thank you for your response.
Jen,
I am SO excited to find your blog!!!! I am wanting to start taking my 12 yr old daughter traveling internationally. Last time I tried super budget travel it was with bucket shops in London and Africa on a Shoestring – the book! I’m so glad to find a contemporary version, lol. Thank you for your info. Any suggestions for affordable ( cheap) hotels or similar in NYC?
Happy to hear that! Hotels in NYC are the vain of my existence haha they’re so overpriced and you get like 5 feet of space. There was a full-wall mirror in my last one that I almost walked right into! Aside from comparing with different websites and keeping an eye out for last minute sales you might consider opening a hotel credit card to use the bonus points to get free nights. This would keep you out of pod hotels and curb spending. Hope this helps!
I’m so impressed with all your replies. Wondering what you would recommend for finding cheap flights out if Australia- to the US and Europe and also within Australia?
Hi Nicole! There are websites the specialize in deals for travelers based outside of the United States, including http://www.secretflying.com and http://www.iwantthatflight.com.au. Hope this helps!