01 2023 was a great year for travel.

If there’s one thing 2020 and 2021 taught us, it’s to never take our freedom of movement for granted. Americans are lucky to have a powerful passport that allows access to more than 180 countries without a visa (and even when a visa is required, it’s generally pretty easy to obtain). In 2020 and well into 2021, the power of that passport was useless against Covid and we mostly stayed home to keep ourselves and people around the world safe.

By 2022, “revenge travel” was in full swing, with people making up lost time—and that trend continued in 2023 as many people took their first international trips since before March 2020.

TSA trends highlight this, with the agency recording its busiest day ever on June 30, 2023.

Nearly half of all respondents (45%, up from 42% last year) took more trips in 2023 than they initially expected, with only 20% (down from 25%) taking fewer trips than planned and 32% taking as many trips as they expected.

Expectations aside, only 17% said they traveled as much as they wanted. Of the 83% who would have liked to travel more, roughly one-third cited lack of money, and one-third cited lack of time as reasons they couldn’t travel more. Only 1% cited Covid as a concern—down from 15% last year.

02 And travel may be even bigger in 2024.

More than half (54%) of people plan to take more international trips in 2024 than they did last year, and more than one-third (35%) plan to take more domestic trips. The vast majority of respondents plan to take at least two domestic and two international trips in 2024.

01 Despite rising fares, we’re still in a Golden Age of Cheap Flights.

In our very first report, we declared that we are—and had been for a few years—in a Golden Age of Cheap Flights. For example, in 1948, a roundtrip ticket from NYC to Rome cost $848—the equivalent of nearly $10,000 today (up from $9,000 last year). But Going regularly finds our members flights (on full-service airlines) to Rome from all over the US for under $400 roundtrip.

When we look at the average price of all the deals we find for Going members and slice it by destination region, we see some regions, like the Caribbean, have gotten cheaper over the last few years, dropping from an average roundtrip fare of $548 in 2018 to $289 this year.

In other regions, fares have increased slightly. For example, due to a lack of competition (few budget airlines, fewer flights, and routes), flights to Asia have increased from an average of $516 in 2018 to $808 this year—though we still sent members plenty of fares in the $600 range.

But overall, we’re still seeing prices in the same range, give or take $50-$100, as we did in 2018 and 2019. And, perhaps most importantly, we’ve actually seen some “lowest price ever” fares on several routes, including our cheapest fares ever from Houston to Guatemala City ($111 roundtrip), NYC to Paris ($230 roundtrip), San Francisco to Santiago ($130 roundtrip), and Houston to London ($252 roundtrip).

02 Cheaper premium class tickets are also more common.

In 2021 and 2022, business travel was way down, and airlines slashed fares on the big seats up front—in many cases lowering them into the range of what most people (those who aren’t members of Going, anyway) pay for economy class. We’re talking $1,800 in business class or $800 in premium economy to Europe.

Now business travel has begun to resume, with 65% of respondents saying they will travel for work by plane this year, and 34% of those people saying they expect to travel more for work this year than they did in 2023 (54% said they’d travel the same amount). The majority (75%) of respondents said they expect to take 1-2 business trips in 2024.

With the increase in business travel, we’re seeing tickets in premium classes begin to creep back up. However, even when business class prices aren’t quite as low as they were in 2021 and 2022, fares found by Going still save an average of $2,000 per international trip in business class vs typical fares.

We even found an amazing Mistake Fare from NYC, Newark, or San Francisco to Mumbai in Air India’s first class for $2,400 roundtrip—a fare that typically costs about $10,000.

Average price of deals found by Going

Note: Premium economy is not always offered on routes within North America and the Caribbean. Domestic business class reflects a range between short-haul and transcontinental flights.

03 Award flights are available—but you may have to act fast!

With rising travel demand post-Covid, the conventional wisdom has been you can no longer find a good deal on a flight with your points. Why would airlines give away seats for nearly free when people are willing to pay? 

The data from our points deals in 2023 tells another story: There are still plenty of award seats available where you can squeeze out a good points redemption. That’s especially true for economy seats. We may not be in a “Golden Age” of points, but there are plenty of economy seats available to redeem with your points. 

But you may have to act fast when you see a deal. The window to book award seats is usually tight.

Going with Points deals we sent in 2023

Note: We estimated the redemption value of a points ticket at 1.5 cents per point. This actual value may vary based on the airline's frequent flyer program and your departing airport.

01 Most points users are going for the value of economy.

Since we launched Going with Points in July 2023, members have told us how they’ve been putting their points to work, with 86% of respondents reporting that they do earn and redeem points or miles.

Of those, 60% of respondents use those points to book flights 1-2 times per year. But economy seats reigned for redemptions. While those incredible business class experiences are great for the ‘gram, most people just want to get where they are going for free. More than half of respondents said they use their points for economy flights. Only 6% book business class.

What people use their points for

02 Among travel credit cards, Chase takes the lead.

Two-thirds of respondents said that they have a Chase credit card in their wallet. Nearly half have an American Express or Capital One card. (If you’re looking for a new card to add to your collection, we have opinions on the best travel credit cards available now.)

Cards people have