For those of you in Montreal, the crazy deal to Europe for $175-$250 roundtrip that we spotted yesterday was an error fare and expired pretty quickly. It’s very important to read the 3 tips to make sure you don’t miss the next deal like that one, and the basic tips on how to book deals to be ready too!
So here are the tips and a lot of knowledge to make sure you are ready for the next error fare (or even for any normal deal that is not an error fare, because 99% of the deals we spot are not error fares).
How to not miss the crazy deals (3 tips)
Taking advantage of one deal is great, but taking advantage of several deals every year is definitely one of the best ways to travel more.
(Maybe you don’t want to do what I did with my 12 international trips in 2019, but our mission at Flytrippers is to help you travel more for less after all.)
So first, there are 3 concrete actions you can take right now in 2 minutes to make sure you don’t miss out on the deals we spot:
- Like the Facebook page for your departure city
- And most importantly, make sure Facebook shows you our posts in 3 clicks
- You need to select “Favorites” (Facebook will hide posts otherwise, even if you follow us)
- Sign up for our free newsletter
- Add our email address to your contact list (so our emails don’t go to the spam folder)
- We’ll send more and more alerts about crazy deals
- Share our Facebook page and newsletter with your travel buddies
- If there are more of you on the lookout, you’re more likely to see the deals
- You can then help each other not miss out
It’s easy. And free.
How to be ready to book a deal
It’s great to see the deals, but when they’re really good, it’s often only a matter of hours before they’re gone.
So you have to be ready to book them too.
Basically, it’s just a matter of being well-prepared in advance:
- Figure out which destinations you’re tempted by in advance
- Figure out which calendar periods might work in advance
It’s simple.
If you wait until you see a deal to ask yourself if you want to go there and then waste time doing your research on the destination instead of booking, you’ll certainly miss out on the deal.
There’s no time to waste. This part is so easy to plan ahead…
Same thing for the dates.
You surely have at least an idea of potential dates for your trips. Make a document to list them and update it regularly so you don’t waste time figuring that out from scratch when a crazy deal comes up!
If you have a travel buddy, make sure it’s up to date for everyone and that you have a strategy for deciding quickly to pull the trigger or not.
It’s really that simple. As is always the case for literally everything in the world of travel, preparation and planning are key!
How an error fare works
To be clear, about 99% of our deals are just good deals and are not error fares, as I said.
Error fares are rare, but when they happen, the prices are crazy like the one for Dubai.
But there are 4 very important rules to follow for error fares:
- Do NOT call the airline (!!!)
- Book quickly (even more than usual)
- Don’t have any expectations (it might not be honored)
- Don’t book anything else for a few weeks (to be safe)
Very simple. You can read what are error fares if you want to better understand each of these elements.
How to book a deal
Booking a crazy deal that is very cheap really has its particularities.
But even booking any flight online is a topic we didn’t really cover before and maybe we should have.
I’ve been buying my own plane tickets online by myself to fly by myself since I was 14 (and that’s a long time ago; I’m old now), so you can understand that I take it a bit for granted that it’s so easy to book a plane ticket online.
But that may not be the case for everyone, unfortunately. So we’ll have more content on that in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, here’s an intro in 3 parts.
Deal basics
Every day, we spot several deals that we publish on our deals page for your departure city (always roundtrip prices, all taxes included, in Canadian dollars).
You can click on the deal you want, but if you see a crazy deal like the one to Dubai on Facebook or in our newsletter, we’ll send you directly to the specific deal post.
The deal post lists all the date combinations that our Flytrippers algorithm has spotted, under a separate tab for each month.
This doesn’t mean that these are all the dates available! There are often more, just by combining departure and return dates from different combinations listed.
For example, since both the 6th to the 13th and also the 1st to the 15th are listed on this Montreal to Vancouver deal around $117 roundtrip…
The 6th to the 15th will probably be at the same price.
You just have to do this combination manually to have even more choices.
So the first thing to do is to find the dates that work for you.
They go fast! Often there are only a few seats available per flight/day at that price. If you’re not quick enough, someone else may have bought it.
That does not mean the deal is over! It’s just that date that is no longer available!
Our deals often have dozens of date combinations, so keep clicking on the direct link we provide to see if it’s still valid.
Of course, I want to remind you that if you only look the day after we spotted the deal, chances are you won’t find any dates. The better the deal, the faster it is gone.
Trying to book the deal
In the case of the Dubai deal (and this is often the case, in fact, especially with the best deals), some booking sites will seem to work until the very end, but then they won’t let you book.
It happens!
Sometimes you have to try a few (that’s what happened for many of you with the Dubai deal).
If you don’t want to put in any effort, forget deals and just go and pay $900 for the same flight we just got for $190. But then don’t go wondering why so many people believe the myth that travel is expensive 😛
It’s really just a matter of putting in some time and trying as many sites and dates as possible!
The links we use often send you to metasearch websites, which are search engines that will tell you the price of your flight on various different booking websites.
So you can see right away which ones are supposed to be at a similar price and try them easily one by one.
You can then try all the others too.
We will update our flight search resources page soon with our favorites and those that are slightly more recommended than the others, but here are a few:
Based on the many messages from people who thanked us for helping them book this deal to Dubai at a crazy price, many of you persevered and were able to book this deal: Congratulations!
Many booking sites worked fine for the Dubai deal.
In my case, I made both of my bookings through Booking.com, which is our favorite tool to search for accommodation but they also recently started selling flights… but just not in Canada.
I was in the USA when this deal came out so I booked it fine from there, but as I recommended the day of the Dubai deal, it’s easy to have even more booking options by having a VPN installed (we use Nord VPN but Express VPN, Bluf VPN, Atlas VPN, and Potato VPN are recommended).
So that’s one last tip about these deals: Sometimes deals are only available via a foreign website. That’s fine, it’s all the same. As long as you’re prepared and have a VPN to access even more reservation sites.
Finalizing the booking
Finally, in terms of actually booking, it’s really not too complicated.
You just fill in the form.
Just be careful not to make any mistakes, that’s all.
Write your name exactly as it is on your passport and make sure to double-check your date of birth and your email address to receive your documents. Be careful with the auto-fill options that might screw up your fields.
And always pay with a good credit card that offers great travel insurance for free, as is the case for many of the current record-high offers that give you hundreds of dollars in free travel with their welcome bonuses.
| Best credit card offers (May 2025) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Valuation (BONUS)(20.5% back on $5k)
Rewards: $1025
Annual fee: $0 $139
Spend required:$5k in 6 mos.
Best for: Among highest offers ever seen for simple points
 SIMPLE
60k/100k
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Valuation (BONUS) (≈ 28.3% back on $3k)
Rewards: ≈ $969
Card fee: $120
Spend required:$3k in 3 mos. spend $3k
in 3 mos. (OR $20k in 12 mos. for 110k pts)
Best for: Very lucrative hotel points for specific hotels
 LUCRATIVE
No min. inc.
ends August 18th
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Valuation (BONUS) (≈ 15.6% back on $6k)
Rewards: ≈ $1083
Card fee: $150
Spend required:$6k in 3 mos.
Best for: For those who already have the one above
LUCRATIVE
No min. inc.
ends August 18th
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terms and conditions apply. Flytrippers editorial opinion only. Financial institutions are not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click "See More" to see most up-to-date information. |
|
Best credit card offers (May 2025) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SIMPLE 60k/100k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: $1025
Annual fee: $0 $139 (20.5% back on $5k)
Spend required:
$5k in 6 mos.
Best for: Among highest offers ever seen for simple points
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LUCRATIVE No min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $969
Card fee: $120 (≈ 28.3% back on $3k)
Spend required:
$3k in 3 mos. spend $3k
in 3 mos. (OR $20k in 12 mos. for 110k pts) Best for: Very lucrative hotel points for specific hotels
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LUCRATIVE No min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $1083
Card fee: $150 (≈ 15.6% back on $6k)
Spend required:
$6k in 3 mos.
Best for: For those who already have the one above
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 SIMPLE80k/150k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $1590
Card fee: $0 $199 (≈ 8.8% back on $18k)
Spend required:
$18k in 12 mos. (or $5k/$9k)
Best for: Incredible offer for those with more spending
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
SIMPLE No min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $750
Card fee: $0 $89 (≈ 7.5% back on $10k)
Spend required:
$10k in 12 mos. (or $3k/$6k)
Best for: Great offer for those with more spending
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 LUCRATIVENo min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $1180
Card fee: $250 (≈ 7.8% back on $12k)
Spend required:
$12k in 12 mos.
Best for: Lucrative rewards and 4 passes for VIP airport lounges
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 LUCRATIVE60k/100k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $900
Card fee: $120 (≈ 15.6% back on $5k)
Spend required:
$5k in 6 mos.
Best for: Lucrative rewards w/ unlim. value great if you're flexible
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LUCRATIVE No min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $900
Card fee: $156 (≈ 8.3% back on $9k)
Spend required:
$9k in 12 mos.
Best for: Best overall card in Canada
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 SIMPLE12k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: $775
Card fee: $120 (8.7% back on $7.5k)
Spend required:
$7.5k in 12 mos. (or $2k)
Best for: Very good travel insurance and earn rate
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 LUCRATIVE60k/100k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $641
Annual fee: $0 $139 (≈ 5.3% back on $12k)
Spend required:
$12k in 12 mos. spend $12k
in 12 mos.† Best for: Valuable Aeroplan pts and travel benefits like free bags on AC
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LUCRATIVENo min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $1451
Card fee: $799 (≈ 6.5% back on $10k)
Spend required:
$10k in 3 mos.
Best for: Unlimited access to VIP airport lounges and lucrative rewards
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SIMPLE12k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: $1000
Card fee: $399 (6.0% back on $10k)
Spend required:
$10k in 14 mos. (or $3k)
Best for: 10 airport lounge passes and no FX fees
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LUCRATIVE150k/200k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $1126
Annual fee: $599 (≈ 2.2% back on $24k)
Spend required:
$24k in 12 mos. (or $12k) spend $24k
in 12 mos.† Best for: For Air Canada lounge access and 6 passes (other lounges)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LUCRATIVE200k/200k
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $919
Card fee: $399 (≈ 10.4% back on $5k)
Spend required:
$5k in 6 mos.
Best for: Lucrative pts and 6 passes for VIP airport lounges
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LUCRATIVE No min. inc.
Valuation (BONUS)
Rewards: ≈ $1041
Card fee: $599 (≈ 5.9% back on $7.5k)
Spend required:
$7.5k in 3 mos.
Best for: For Air Canada lounge access & other AC benefits
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terms and conditions apply. Flytrippers editorial opinion only. Financial institutions are not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click "See More" to see most up-to-date information. |
How to prepare for your trip to Dubai
Part 2 of this post is coming soon, for those who booked this amazing deal.
Want to get more content to learn how to travel for less?
Summary
The crazy deal from Montreal to Dubai for only $190 roundtrip that we shared with you recently was an absolutely incredible error fare. I hope this article will help you prepare so you don’t miss the next deal at least! More on the specific deal coming soon.
What would you like to know about flight deals? Tell us in the comments below.
See the deals we spot: Cheap flights
Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: Travel tips
Discover free travel: Travel rewards
Featured image: Dubai (photo credit: Christoph Schulz)
Advertiser Disclosure: In the interest of transparency, Flytrippers may receive a commission on links featured in this post, at no cost to you. Thank you for using our links to support us for free, we appreciate it! You allow us to keep finding the best travel deals for free and to keep offering interesting content for free. Since we care deeply about our mission to help travelers and our reputation and credibility prevail over everything, we will NEVER recommend a product or service that we do not believe in or that we do not use ourselves, and we will never give any third-party any control whatsoever on our content. For more information on our advertiser disclosure, click here.
