Help topic: Price alerts

A price alert watches a route for you. Instead of checking prices every day, you tell Cheaplyfly where and when you want to fly, and we email you when the fare drops. Alerts are free, with or without an account.

Three ways to create an alert

1. From the price alerts page

1. Go to Price alerts.
2. Choose From and To: a city or an airport.
3. Under When, choose a specific date or a whole month (shown as “Any day in” that month).
4. Optionally enter a target price. Leave it on Any drop to hear about meaningful drops at any level.
5. If you are not signed in, enter your email address.
6. Press Create price alert.

2. From a results page

After a search, press Price alert at the top of the results, or Watch price in the box within the list. The route, dates and currency of your search are filled in for you.

3. From a route page

Route pages have a Watch this route box, so you can start an alert while you look at the cheapest months.

With or without an account

• Members: the alert starts straight away and appears in your dashboard under Price alerts, where you can see its latest and lowest prices.
• Guests: we first send a confirmation email. The alert starts only after you press the confirmation button in that email. This makes sure nobody can sign you up for emails you didn’t ask for.

Choosing date or month

A specific date follows the price for that day. A whole month follows the lowest price for any day in that month, which is a good choice when you are flexible. The help article on targets and dates explains how to choose.

What happens next

1. We check the price for your alert on a schedule, several times a day.
2. When the price drops by a meaningful amount, or reaches your target, we email you.
3. Each email has a button to see flights, plus links to pause or stop the alert.

Limits to know about

• You can have one alert per route and date. If you try to add the same one again, we tell you it already exists.
• There is a maximum number of alerts per email address. If you reach it, remove an alert you no longer need.
• Alerts finish on their own once the travel date (or month) has passed.

If this, then that

• If you see “Choose a route”, pick both places from the suggestions, and make sure they are different.
• If the confirmation email doesn’t arrive, check spam and promotions folders. See our troubleshooting article on emails.
• If you want to manage many alerts, create a free account with the same email. Alerts you made as a guest appear in your dashboard.

Our guide flight price alerts explained shows how to use alerts to decide when to book.

Still stuck? Contact us, choose the price alerts topic and tell us the route and the email address the alert uses.

Price alerts are designed to be useful, not noisy. You hear from us when something worth knowing happens, not every time a price wiggles. Here is exactly when an email is sent.

How often we check

Each active alert is checked in the background on a regular schedule, several times a day. We look up the lowest recently found price for your route and dates, in the currency of the alert.

When we email you

You get an email when either of these is true:

• The price dropped by a meaningful amount compared with the last price we checked. Tiny changes don’t trigger an email.
• The price reached your target, if you set one: it is at or below the target price.

To avoid filling your inbox, each alert sends at most one email within a set period, usually a day. If the price keeps falling, you hear about it at the next opportunity.

What the email contains

• The route and travel dates.
• The new price and the price it dropped from.
• A See flights button that opens results for your alert.
• Links to pause or stop the alert with one click.

The email subject usually starts with “Price drop” and names the route and new price.

Members: dashboard notifications

If you have an account, each price drop also appears in your dashboard under Notifications. If you prefer, you can turn off price-drop emails in Profile and rely on the notifications instead.

Why you might not hear from us

No email is usually good news: it means the price hasn’t dropped enough yet. Other reasons:

• The alert is still waiting for you to confirm your email (guests).
• The alert is paused.
• You set a target price that hasn’t been reached.
• We had no recent price for your exact date. A whole-month alert often has more data.
• The travel date has passed and the alert has finished.

Acting on an email

1. Open the email soon. Low fares can sell out.
2. Press See flights to check current results.
3. Press View deal on the flight you want and check the live price on the partner’s site.
4. Once you have booked, stop the alert so you don’t get more emails.

Remember that the price in the email was found recently. The partner shows the live price, which may have changed.

If this, then that

• If you get too many emails, pause alerts you don’t need right now, or set a target price.
• If you get none for a long time, check the alert’s status in your dashboard, or read the troubleshooting article on alerts that don’t send emails.

Still stuck? Contact us, choose the price alerts topic and tell us the route and the email address the alert uses.

You stay in control of every alert. You can pause it while you think, resume it later, or stop it when you have booked. Here is how, depending on whether you have an account.

From an alert email (anyone)

Every alert email has two links at the bottom:

• Pause this alert: the alert stops sending emails until you turn it back on.
• Stop this alert: the alert is removed and won’t send any more emails.

One click is enough. You are taken to the price alerts page with a short message confirming what changed.

From your dashboard (members)

1. Sign in and open My account.
2. Open the Price alerts tab.
3. Find the alert. Each one shows the route, dates, status, the latest price, the lowest price we have seen and your target, if you set one.
4. Use Pause, Resume or Remove. Removing asks you to confirm first.

You can also add new alerts from the same tab.

Alert statuses

• Watching: active and checked on schedule.
• Paused: kept, but not checked and no emails sent.
• Confirm email: an alert created without signing in that hasn’t been confirmed from its email yet.

Guests: resuming a paused alert

The email links can pause or stop an alert, but there is no link to resume one. If you paused a guest alert and want it back, you have two choices:

• Create a new alert for the same route on the price alerts page.
• Create a free account with the same email address. Your existing alerts appear in your dashboard, where you can resume them.

When alerts end on their own

Once the travel date has passed (or, for a month alert, the end of the month), the alert finishes automatically. You don’t need to remove it.

Changing an alert

Alerts can’t be edited. To change the dates, target or currency, remove the old alert and create a new one. You can only have one alert per route and date, so remove the old one first if the dates are the same.

If this, then that

• If a pause or stop link says it is no longer valid, the alert has probably already been changed or removed.
• If you have booked, stop the alert so you don’t get emails about a trip you already have.
• If you reached the maximum number of alerts, remove ones you no longer need, then add the new one.
• If an alert is missing from your dashboard, check that it was created with the same email address as your account.

Still stuck? Contact us, choose the price alerts topic and tell us the route and the email address the alert uses.

A well-set alert tells you about the fares that matter to you and stays quiet the rest of the time. Two choices make the difference: which dates you watch, and whether you set a target price.

A specific date or a whole month?

Choose a specific date when

• You must travel on that day, for example for an event or a fixed holiday.
• You already know your return date too.

Choose a whole month when

• You are flexible and want the cheapest day in that month.
• The route has few recent prices for single days. Month alerts often have more data to work with.

A month alert follows the lowest price for any day in the month. When the email arrives, use the price calendar and nearby dates strip to find the exact day.

To set a target or not

If you leave the target as Any drop, you hear about meaningful drops at any price. If you set a target, you also hear when the price reaches or falls below your number.

How to choose a target

1. Search your route and look at the prices on the calendar and the route page’s cheapest months chart.
2. Note the lowest prices you see for your dates and the months around them.
3. Set a target a little above the lowest you have seen. A target far below anything recent may never be reached.
4. Enter the target in the alert’s currency, shown next to the field.

Examples

• “I’m going in the spring, any week.” Create a month alert for each month you could go, with no target, and compare the drops.
• “We fly on the 14th, whatever happens.” Watch that date with a realistic target, and book when it is reached.
• “I’ll only go if it’s cheap.” Set a firm target and let the alert wait.

Return trips

When you create an alert from a results page for a return trip, the alert follows that return trip. On the price alerts page, the alert follows the departure date or month you choose.

Travelers and currency

• Alert prices are per adult, like the prices in results.
• The alert uses the currency you had when you created it. Changing your currency later doesn’t change existing alerts.

If this, then that

• If you never hear anything, your target may be too low. Remove the alert and set a new one with a higher target or none.
• If you hear too often, add a target so only the prices you care about trigger an email.
• If your plans firm up, replace a month alert with a date alert for the exact day.

Our guide to when to book flights helps you judge whether a price is good, and price alerts explained covers strategy.

Still stuck? Contact us, choose the price alerts topic and tell us the route and the email address the alert uses.

You don’t need an account to use price alerts. A guest alert works just like a member’s, with one extra step at the start and a few differences in how you manage it.

Creating a guest alert

1. Go to Price alerts, or press Price alert on a results page.
2. Choose the route, the date or month and, if you like, a target price.
3. Enter your email address and press Create price alert.
4. Open the email we send you. Its subject usually asks you to confirm your price alert.
5. Press Confirm price alert. You see a message that your alert is on.

Until you confirm, the alert is not checked and no price emails are sent. This double opt-in protects you: nobody else can sign your address up for alerts.

Managing guest alerts

Each price-drop email has links to pause or stop that alert. Keep at least one email from each alert in case you want to stop it later.

Guests don’t have a dashboard, so there is no single page that lists all your alerts and no link that resumes a paused alert.

Moving to an account later

If you start to collect several alerts, a free account makes life easier:

1. Create an account with the same email address you used for your alerts.
2. Confirm your email if asked.
3. Open Price alerts in your dashboard. Your guest alerts are listed there, and you can pause, resume or remove them.

Members’ new alerts start immediately, without a confirmation email.

Limits

• Each email address can have a maximum number of alerts, guest and member together.
• You can’t create the same route and date twice.
• To prevent abuse, there is a limit on how many alerts can be created from one connection in a short time. If you see “Too many alerts created”, wait and try later.
• On some sites, alerts may require an account. If you are asked to sign in, create a free account to continue.

If this, then that

• If the confirmation email doesn’t arrive, check spam and promotions, add our address to your contacts and try again. Our troubleshooting article on emails has more steps.
• If you confirmed but still see nothing, that is normal until the price drops. The confirmation step only starts the alert.
• If you mistyped your email, create the alert again with the right address. The mistyped one will never be confirmed, so it never sends emails.
• If you want to stop everything, use the Stop link in each alert email, or create an account and remove them in one place.

Read our privacy policy to see how we use the email address you give us.

Still stuck? Contact us, choose the price alerts topic and tell us the route and the email address the alert uses.

A price drop email means the fare you are watching has fallen, or reached your target. Low fares don’t always last, so here is a quick, calm way to act on it.

Step 1: Read the email

The email shows the route, your dates, the new price and the price before the drop. The price was found recently in our partner data. It is a strong signal, not a guarantee.

Step 2: Check current results

1. Press See flights. A results page opens with your route and dates.
2. Look at the nearby dates strip. A day next to yours may be even cheaper.
3. Sort by Cheapest to find the low fare, then by Best to see whether a slightly higher fare is much more convenient.

For a whole-month alert, the results open on a day in that month. Use the date picker or the strip to find the cheapest day.

Step 3: Check the live price

Press View deal. The partner’s site shows the live price. If the price has changed since the email, that is because fares move often. Compare it with your target and with what you have seen before.

Step 4: Decide

Book now if

• The live price is at or below what you hoped to pay.
• Your dates are fixed and close.
• The flight times and stops suit you.

Wait if

• Your travel date is far away and you are flexible.
• The drop is small and the price is still above your target.

There is no perfect moment that works on every route. Our guide to when to book flights explains what tends to move prices.

Step 5: Tidy up the alert

• If you booked, press Stop in the email, or remove the alert in your dashboard.
• If you are waiting, keep the alert as it is. You hear again after the next meaningful drop.
• If you want a break, press Pause. Members can resume it from the dashboard.

If this, then that

• If the low fare has gone, try nearby dates, or keep the alert running. Prices often move up and down.
• If the results show a different currency, the alert uses the currency it was created in. Change the currency in the header to compare.
• If you are booking for several people, remember the email price is per adult. The partner shows the total for everyone.
• If the email looks suspicious, don’t click. Go to Cheaplyfly directly and check your alerts there. We never ask you to pay Cheaplyfly for a flight.

Before you pay, use our checklist of what to check on the partner’s site, in the help center.

Still stuck? Contact us, choose the price alerts topic and tell us the route and the email address the alert uses.