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Why new routes matter
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Airlines announce new routes on a pretty regular basis. A couple months ago, American announced their new flights for 2025, including Philadelphia to Edinburgh and Charlotte to Athens. Shortly after, Delta matched American’s energy with a slew of new Europe routes, like NYC to Sicily and Minneapolis to Copenhagen. Just a few weeks ago, United announced new flights from Newark to Greenland and DC to Senegal. Then Zipair said they’d be connecting Houston to Tokyo.
If you’re thinking, “Well, good for them, but I don’t live in one of those cities, and I’m not planning to visit Edinburgh, Sicily, Senegal, or Tokyo,” bear with us for just a moment. We’d like to explain why new routes matter—even if they’re between two places you’re not going.
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New routes and new flavors
Just as airlines are adding new routes to help you travel, LMNT is adding a new Chocolate Medley to help you hydrate this fall. As the weather cools down, their Chocolate Mint, Chai, and Raspberry hot drinks can hydrate you and heat you up!
LMNT is an electrolyte drink mix that gives you everything your body needs and nothing it doesn't! Their perfect science-backed ratio of 1000mg sodium, 200mg potassium, and 60mg magnesium mixes in with any drink to give you the electrolytes you need to get properly hydrated with amazing flavors that taste great. Plus, it comes in individual packs so you can travel with them easily on whatever route you're on.
Learn how Going readers can get a special offer of a Free Sample Pack with any purchase!
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More competition on a route generally lowers fares
The number one factor for pricing on a particular route—and even to a particular region—is how many airlines and flights go there. That’s why we see more deals out of LAX than ATL, for example. If you want to get to Europe from LAX you can choose from about two dozen different airlines, while from Atlanta there are only a half dozen.
More competition between the airlines gives more options to travelers and drives down fares.
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More routes means more opportunities to use the Greek Islands Trick
If you’ve been around for a minute, you’ve heard us extol the benefits of this hack, which means getting to your continent of choice as cheaply as possible, then taking another short flight or alternate mode of transportation to get you the rest of the way to your destination.
With new routes, in practice this could look like nabbing a cheap flight from your home airport to a city serviced by a new route, then connecting to your final destination on a cheap regional flight. More routes means more ways you can make this work.
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New routes
Like we said, airlines are adding, reinstating, and expanding routes all the time. These are a few of the recent announcements that caught our eye:
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Don't miss this rare, limited-time travel card
If you've been on the fence about getting a travel card but are eager to plan more trips, this could be the perfect card for you.
With unlimited rewards and a generous welcome bonus, all paired with low annual fees, this card stands out as a top choice for travelers.
Earn a rare welcome bonus to put toward your next adventure with this incredible limited-time offer. Don’t wait too long—this promotion is ending soon!
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Ask a flight expert
"There are often cheap flights from my city (DC) to Colombia, but that’s not the first country in South America I’d choose to visit. Should I head to Colombia first using the Greek Islands Trick, or should I fly directly from DC to Peru or Argentina? And which other places are best for using the trick?"
- Member Zoe M.
As mentioned above, the Greek Islands Trick means getting to your destination as cheaply as possible. You book the cheapest flight you can find near your final destination, then pair it with a cheap flight (or other mode of transportation) to your final destination.
South America is a tricky one, and one we don’t typically highlight when it comes to the Greek Islands Trick. Why? Because cheap flights between countries in South America usually aren’t as easy to come by as they are within places like Europe or Asia. In fact, you may end up spending more than you would if you just flew straight from DC to your desired South American country.
Alternatively, you could reposition yourself domestically (to say Miami) and get a better deal to Peru or Argentina than you would from DC, but even then, the savings would probably only come out to about $50–$100 (for DC specifically—savings would range depending on your home airport).
For reference, using the Greek Islands Trick when traveling to the actual Greek Islands can get you a discount of $400+, so a savings of $50–$100 may not be worth the time and effort for some travelers.
A few other “Greek Island” possibilities around the world:
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Most European cities: Cheap fares on European budget airlines are frequent. If you can get to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, or any other major city on the continent cheaply, you can also probably find a cheap connecting flight on a local carrier to get you the rest of the way there.
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Dubai: For quieter Middle Eastern destinations (e.g. Oman) or islands in the Indian Ocean (e.g. the Maldives).
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New Delhi and Mumbai: For the Maldives, the Himalayan region, and Nepal.
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Honolulu, Sydney, and Fiji: For Pacific Island chains (e.g. Micronesia, Kiribati). Fiji, in particular, is great if you live in a Texas or California city with nonstop service to Nadi.
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Tokyo: For East Asia, particularly if you live near LA, San Francisco, Seattle, or Houston, where Zipair service is available.
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"I want to fly to Europe in business class. Should I buy an economy ticket and then use miles to upgrade, or should I buy a business class ticket directly with miles?"
- Member Jeff S.
Our flight experts suggest locking in your business class seat with miles right out of the gate. You can get a roundtrip ticket across the Atlantic for as low as 100K points with Air France Flying Blue. The good thing about Flying Blue: All major credit card points transfer to Flying Blue 1:1, meaning 1,000 credit card points become 1,000 Flying Blue miles. And if you have American Express points, you can take advantage of a 20% transfer bonus to Flying Blue through 11/10/24.
Upgrading an economy ticket with points depends on your own value system, fare class, and availability/inventory. One reservation about buying an economy ticket and upgrading with points is that upgrades are nonrefundable, so if your plans change, you’re out of luck. Depending on the airline, you can contact customer service and request to put it back on your account. This article can help you learn a bit more before upgrading with miles.
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Travel tip of the week
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It’s advised to book your flight at least 21 days in advance, as many airlines require a 21-day advance purchase requirement for the lowest fares. If you book 20 days before the flight, the previous cheapest fare will expire, and the new lowest fare could be $100 to $200 higher. The 21-day deadlines for the holidays are:
- Thanksgiving: November 7, 2024 (this Thursday!)
- Christmas: December 4, 2024
- New Year’s Eve: December 10, 2024
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