Key Takeaways
- Scott’s Cheap Flights is one of the biggest and best deal-finding websites on the internet. I check them regularly when I’m on the hunt for a new trip
- Over the years, Scott and I have become friends because of our mutual love of saving money when we travel. I sat down with him to talk about his book,
- Nomadic Matt: Tell everyone about yourself. How did you get into this? Scott: After I graduated college and began working as an underpaid journalist,
Scott’s Cheap Flights is one of the biggest and best deal-finding websites on the internet. We check them regularly when planning a new trip. They are unmatched in the deals they uncover — especially for travelers in the US market. Its founder, Scott Keyes, recently authored a practical guide sharing his expertise: Take More Vacations: How to Search Better, Book Cheaper, and Travel the World. (Disclosure: Route for Less provided a blurb. It’s an excellent, actionable resource.)
Over the years, Scott and we’ve developed a shared commitment to making travel more accessible through smarter, budget-conscious strategies. We sat down with him to discuss his book, the realities of modern airfare, and how travelers can navigate pricing complexity — whether flying domestically or internationally. (While some insights reflect the US airline ecosystem, many principles apply globally.)
Route for Less: Tell everyone about yourself. How did you get into this? Scott: After graduating college and starting work as an underpaid journalist, I realized that my ability to travel overseas hinged entirely on finding affordable flights. I immersed myself in airfare research — testing hypotheses, analyzing patterns, and decoding why prices fluctuate so dramatically.
It all culminated in 2013 when I found the best fare I’d ever seen: a nonstop roundtrip from NYC to Milan for just $130. Though I hadn’t planned a trip to Italy, that price made it irresistible. There’s literally nowhere in the world I wouldn’t go for $130 roundtrip!
When I returned, friends and coworkers began approaching me with the same request: “Next time you spot a deal like that, will you let me know?” By the eighth person, I knew I couldn’t keep track manually — so I launched a simple email list. That modest start became Scott’s Cheap Flights.
Why did you write this book? There’s a persistent gap between our travel aspirations and reality: most people want to travel more than they actually do.
We often blame time constraints — but data tells a different story. Over half of American workers don’t use all their allotted vacation days, leaving roughly one billion unused days on the table each year.
The real barrier? Cost and confusion around booking flights. Airfare is uniquely volatile and opaque compared to other major purchases. Its unpredictability leads many to overpay — or abandon trips altogether.
Consider this: if you had a universal promo code slashing every future flight to $200 roundtrip, would you travel more? For most people, the answer is yes.
In short, affordable airfare isn’t just a convenience — it’s the essential key that unlocks global travel.
Who will benefit most from Take More Vacations? Anyone who dreams of traveling more but hasn’t taken the leap — and anyone who feels anxious or uncertain during the booking process.
A widespread myth is that cheap flights require inconvenient routing or long layovers. Not true! The flight that launched Scott’s Cheap Flights was a nonstop United service from New York City to Milan — $130 roundtrip, including two checked bags.
Another misconception is that low fares demand total date-and-destination flexibility. While flexibility improves odds, it’s rarely all-or-nothing. In fact, one of the book’s dedicated chapters explores flexibility as a spectrum — not a binary choice. Telling yourself “I have no flexibility” is a self-limiting belief that actively blocks opportunity. Small adjustments — shifting dates by 1–2 days, considering nearby airports, or staying open to alternate destinations — can dramatically improve your chances of securing a great fare.
This book isn’t just for recent graduates planning a summer Europe trip. It’s for families, professionals, retirees — anyone aiming to travel more thoughtfully and affordably.
If we’ve truly been in a Golden Age of Affordable Airfare, why do so many travelers still overpay? First, airfare behaves unlike any other consumer good. Bagel prices stay relatively stable; flight prices swing wildly — sometimes hundreds of dollars within hours. A flight from New York to Des Moines may cost more than one to Barcelona, despite the vast difference in distance.
This volatility, combined with cognitive biases, leads to poor decisions. For instance, most of us employ
