Thrifty Traveler Launches Free FareTracker Tool to Help Travelers Rebook When Prices Drop

Thrifty Traveler Launches Free FareTracker Tool

Thrifty Traveler has launched a new free tool called FareTracker that watches the price of your flight after you book and lets you know when the fare drops.

You enter the flight you already booked, including the airline, route, dates, cabin and price paid. FareTracker then checks the fare every day. If the price drops by at least $20, it sends you an email with step-by-step instructions for rebooking so you can claim the difference as an airline travel credit.

FareTracker currently works with revenue fares booked directly with Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest and United.  The tool is completely free. Free users can track up to five flights at a time, while Thrifty Traveler Premium members can track up to 10. It also doesn’t require airline logins, access to your email inbox, confirmation numbers or frequent flyer account details.

One nice feature is that tracking doesn’t stop after the first price drop. If you rebook at the lower fare, you can update FareTracker with the new price and it will continue monitoring the flight for another drop.

Thrifty Traveler said early users had tracked more than 1,000 flights and claimed at least $5,500 in airline credits, with average savings of nearly $192 per rebooking at the time of launch.

This is especially useful now that most major U.S. airlines allow travelers to change many tickets without a change fee. If the same flight gets cheaper, you can often rebook and receive the difference as a future travel credit rather than simply losing out on the lower fare.

FareTracker doesn’t make any changes to your reservation itself. It simply monitors the price, alerts you when there’s money to save, and gives you airline-specific instructions for rebooking.