I’ve been thinking about using the Going app to find cheaper flights, but I’m unsure if it actually lives up to the hype. I’d really appreciate honest reviews from real users—how well does it work for finding genuine flight deals, and are there any hidden downsides or issues I should know about before committing?
Been using Going for about 2.5 years, paid version for most of it. Short version. It works, but only if you treat it as a deal alert tool, not as some magic cheap flights button.
How it works for me
• I set my home airports, a few backup airports I am willing to drive to, and my preferred regions.
• I get email alerts and app push alerts when they find a deal.
• I click through, it sends me to Google Flights or the airline site with dates preloaded.
• I tweak dates and book direct with the airline.
Good parts
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Real deals, not fake “was 1500, now 1499” junk.
Examples from my own bookings:
• BOS to Lisbon, $330 roundtrip on TAP, booked for October shoulder season.
• NYC to Tokyo, $580 roundtrip, ANA, booked 7 months out.
• Chicago to Dublin, $360 roundtrip, Aer Lingus.
All were checked against Google Flights over multiple dates. Prices matched. -
They flag things like:
• “This is an error fare, book fast, do not call the airline.”
• “This is basic economy, no checked bag, seat selection extra.”
• “Peak summer” vs “shoulder season” so you do not expect July prices in March. -
I see more routes than I would on my own.
I often only think of direct flights. They surface 1 stop options on solid airlines where the total price is much lower.
Annoying parts
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You get deals you do not care about.
If you live at a big hub, you get a lot of alerts. Some will be for dates, routes, or cabins you do not want.
I had to tighten my settings. Turned off premium economy, business, etc. -
You still need to do homework.
• Check luggage rules every time.
• Check connection times. Some itineraries have 1 hour connections in big airports.
• Check alternate dates, because the exact date in the alert might be gone. -
It works best if you are flexible.
If you say “I need JFK to Rome, exact dates, nonstop, only Delta,” you will hate it.
If you say “Europe in May from any NYC airport,” you will like it.
Free vs paid
• Free tier. Fewer deals and slower alerts. Good if you want to test it.
• Paid tier. More deals and earlier alerts. I book about 2 international trips a year off it so the fee pays for itself for me.
Refunds or issues
They do not handle tickets. Airline does.
I had one schedule change on TAP, one cancellation on SAS. Both handled through airline, not Going. No drama, but you need to know how to manage your booking.
When it works best
• You have flexible dates, at least a 3 to 5 day window.
• You are open to different destinations.
• You book 3 to 8 months ahead for long haul, not last minute.
When it is almost useless
• You only fly last minute.
• You lock in exact weekends months in advance and refuse to shift.
• You want domestic short hops like “Cleveland to Detroit next Tuesday”. Those are not their strength.
Tips if you try it
• Start with free tier for a month or two.
• Add 2 or 3 nearby airports. Even a 2 hour drive can save hundreds.
• Turn off push alerts for regions you do not care about.
• When you see a good deal, do fast research, then book. Good stuff often dies in a few hours.
So yeah, it lives up to the “find cheap flights” idea for flexible travelers.
If you expect it to find cheap last minute flights to one fixed place every time, you will be dissapointed.
I’m in the “it’s useful, but not magic” camp too, though I see it a bit differently than @vrijheidsvogel.
My take after a little over a year on paid:
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It’s better at inspiration than at “I saved thousands of dollars.”
- I’ve booked a couple solid deals (PHL to Madrid for ~$420 RT, SEA to CDG for ~$480), but most of the time the savings vs just watching Google Flights were like $80–150, not some insane unicorn fare.
- Where it really shines for me is surfacing places I would not have thought to check at all. I’ll get “oh wow, Japan is actually cheap right now” instead of “I saved 90%.”
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The “error fare” stuff is overhyped in general.
- People love to talk about these, but in practice you rarely catch them in time, and even when you do, they get canceled often.
- I treat those alerts as lottery tickets. Fun, not something to rely on.
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The app itself is… fine.
- Nothing special. It’s basically a prettier interface for their alerts, which live in your email anyway.
- I actually disagree with the “push alerts are great” idea. For me they turned into noise really fast. I keep email only and check a couple times a day.
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Verification of “real” deals:
- I always cross check with:
- Google Flights
- Airline site directly
- In my experience, 90% of the time the price they claim is real and bookable. The issue is more that the exact date or time window is gone by the time I click, but a nearby date still works.
- The remaining 10% is “fare’s already jumped, alert is basically stale.” Annoying but not a scam.
- I always cross check with:
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You still need your own strategy:
- If you already:
- Know how to use Google Flights explore
- Are flexible with dates
- Check multiple airports
- Then Going is more like a “helper” than a revelation. It automates some of the browsing you’d do anyway.
- If you don’t like doing that research, you might think Going replaces it, but honestly you still have to learn the basics or you’ll end up with bad connections, wrong cabin, etc.
- If you already:
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When it actually earned its fee for me:
- I had a pretty open window: “somewhere in Europe, May or June, from East Coast.”
- Got an alert for multiple cities in Spain and Portugal in the $400s.
- Picked dates that worked for me, booked within an hour, watched the price go up by ~$200 over the next few days.
- That felt like the ideal use case: flexible destination and semi flexible dates.
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When it annoyed the hell out of me:
- Planning a very fixed trip (wedding) with exact dates, only certain airports possible.
- Going kept sending “deals” that either:
- Didn’t cover my exact dates
- Were on trash red eye routings with terrible connections
- In that situation, old school search tools worked better. Going just cluttered my inbox.
TL;DR version:
Yes, the deals are real most of the time. No, it will not magically find cheap tickets for hyper specific trips. If you like spontaneous-ish travel and are flexible on either date or destination, it’s worth at least trying the free tier. If you want consistent cheap flights to one place on fixed dates, you’ll probably be dissapointed and wonder what the hype is about.