Maya Ferris Fares are up 20.7% on a year ago, and a third of Americans planning holiday travel are still saving. So I set a $500 flight budget and let real fares pick the trips.
By Maya Ferris, a travel journalist who covers airfares and how people pay less for them.
$177. That’s what a round trip from Los Angeles to Madrid cost when RatePunk flagged it this summer.
That route usually runs $698.
I keep coming back to that number, because a lot of people haven’t booked anything this year.
A recent TPG-YouGov poll found that 34% of Americans planning holiday travel haven’t booked yet because they still need to save.
48% say cost is the top factor when they book a flight.
And fares aren’t helping. US airfares are up 20.7% on a year ago, AltexSoft reports.
So I set myself a simple test. A $500 flight budget, round trip, from a US airport.
The fare picks the trip, not the other way around.
Choosing the place first is why the trip feels out of reach
Most of us start with a place, then look up the price, then close the tab.
That’s backwards when money is tight.
Searching one route on one set of dates shows you whatever that route costs that day. It can’t show you the city you hadn’t thought of, sitting at a third of its usual price.
And good fares don’t wait. Airlines reprice constantly, and unusual fares tend to vanish within hours.
Jordan Reyes, a teacher in Houston, had London on his list for years.
He’d always assumed it was a $900 flight, so it stayed on the list.
This summer he tried it the other way round. He set his home airport, Houston, and let the alerts tell him what was cheap.
One ping read: Houston to London, $268 round trip. It usually runs $815. Rated 96/100.
He booked it with the airline that night.
London had never been out of reach. He’d just never seen the right moment.
A $500 envelope works when the fares come to you
It isn’t luck. It’s who does the watching.
Jordan’s alerts came from RatePunk, the app I used for this test.
It scans 150M fares a day across 100+ providers and watches your home airport around the clock.
Every fare gets an AI Deal Score from 0 to 100. Only fares rated 80+ reach you, as a push notification on your phone.
Each alert shows four things:
• Route – from your own airport
• Dates – the days that fare is for
• Price – and what it usually costs
• Link – straight to the booking page
If you’re flexible, Anywhere, Anytime shows the best-rated fares from your airport to anywhere.
If you have a ceiling, set a custom price alert. It fires when the fare drops below your maximum price.
Here are five round trips under $500, and who each one suits
1. Los Angeles to Madrid: $177 round trip, typically $698 (rated 99/100) · caught 30 July 2026
Late dinners, big museums, a city that never seems to sleep.
2. New York to Lisbon: $170 round trip, typically $548 (rated 96/100) · caught 30 July 2026
A city break of hills, trams and river views.
3. Houston to London: $268 round trip, typically $815 (rated 96/100) · caught 30 July 2026
Jordan’s trip, and the list item that waited years.
4. New York to Amsterdam: $170 round trip, typically $513 (rated 97/100) · caught 30 July 2026
Canals and bikes, a long weekend made for walking.
5. Los Angeles to Rome: $206 round trip, typically $680 (rated 97/100) · caught 30 July 2026
The one you’d save up for, without the saving up.
These are past finds. They show what RatePunk catches and how cheap similar fares can be, not fares you can book today. Fares like these stay open minutes to hours before airlines reprice.
Over 300,000 members already use RatePunk. It’s rated 4.7 on the App Store and 4.6 on Google Play.
RatePunk isn’t a booking site, so you book with the airline or booking site yourself.
It works from your own home airport, or a city-to-city route you set.
And most fares never clear 80, so what reaches you is rare, not noise.
A fixed budget works when you stop choosing the place first
I didn’t find a cheaper way to travel. I found a cheaper way to choose where.
If the trip you want feels out of reach this year, try it the other way round. Set the budget, then let the fares come to you.
| IMPORTANT NOTE: Since this article was published, RatePunk has seen a surge of sign-ups. As a courtesy, readers here can still join with 77% off. |
Sources: Travelbinger (TPG-YouGov poll) • AltexSoft • Deal figures: RatePunk app screenshots, 30 July 2026.
