Most of the things we repeatedly spend money on cost about the same amount every time we buy them. That small package of blueberries we buy every week is usually about $3.99. One week it may be $2.99, or maybe $4.99 on a different week, but it’s usually anywhere from $3 to $6. When we put that package of blueberries in our cart, we don’t really register the price in our brains because a $2 or $3 difference in price from week to week is relatively immaterial. If you found out that the price of blueberries dropped from $3.99 to $2.99, a 25% drop, the day after you bought them, would you go back to the grocery store to get a store credit for the $1.00 difference? Me neither. If you make $50,000 per year, and you spend an average of $4 per week on blueberries, you will spend 0.416% of your income on blueberries. And if you spend $6 per week on blueberries, a 50% increase, you will spend 0.624% of your income on blueberries. Not really cracking a massive dent in the overall finances.

In the United States we just kind of accept this reality that most goods and services cost about the same amount most of the time we buy them, which is a privileged position to be in. There is a little bit of variability here and there, but it’s not extreme for most things we buy. Over time, inflation makes prices rise, but the effect of inflation usually takes place over decades and is not something we are going to notice from day to day and week to week. In other words, you don’t expect to walk into the grocery store one week and see the cost of that small package of blueberries go from $3.99 up to $14.99. If they did cost that much, you would probably be taken aback and likely think twice about your purchase.

While I won’t go into an economics lesson about the mechanics behind why blueberries cost about the same amount every week, for the purposes of this post we can chalk this up to the following: supply and demand dynamics for blueberries are very well understood by all market participants, thus the market for blueberries is very efficient.

However, when it comes to the price of airfare, we can throw all of this out the window. Prices of flights vary MASSIVELY. Quite literally, the exact same roundtrip ticket on the exact same date from New York to Dallas on the exact same airline can cost $100 one day and $375 the next day. And we all just kind of accept this to be “the way it works”. My question for you is this: Why are you okay with this? This is the percentage equivalent of you walking into a grocery store one day to see the price of blueberries at $3.99 and the next day at $14.99. If you found out that the price of your airline ticket dropped from $375 to $280, a $95 drop the day after you bought it, would you want to go back to the airline to get a store credit for the $95 difference? YES, ME TOO. Here’s the good news: you can and you should.

Historically, airlines made it next to impossible to get any kind of a refund or credit for any reason whatsoever. Furthermore, they used to charge egregious fees just to change an existing reservation to a different day or time. Ever since the pandemic however, airlines have overhauled their policies around cancellation fees and change fees to allow passengers much more flexibility. I’d argue this has been a positive thing for both airlines and consumers. Most of the US based airlines will now let you cancel most reservations for any reason and credit you back the amount you paid for a future flight credit. This mechanism has opened up an incredible opportunity for astute travelers. If I book a flight for $300, and I notice that the price drops to $200 after I book it, I can simply cancel my reservation and rebook the exact same flight for $200, thus crediting the $100 difference toward use for a future flight on that airline. There are a few caveats to this, such as if you book a “basic economy” fare, or if you book certain types of international routes on US airlines originating outside the US, but this opportunity applies to the vast majority of US airline tickets that are sold every day.

Here’s what boggles my mind: most travelers don’t even know they can do this. I can’t tell you how many websites and articles I have come across that focus on trying to get travelers “the best deal” on flights before you book your flight. Take this headline for example: “New survey shows that booking flights on a Tuesday at midnight offers 20% savings”. Sound familiar? Or how about this one: “We found you a deal to travel from Dallas to Cancun next week on Thursday at 10am, book this low price now!” For the love of mercy, I can’t go to Cancun next week, nor do I want to.

Like most people, my current lifestyle and schedule does not lend well to me upping and going to Cancun next Tuesday at 10am just because the price is low. I have a wife and a job. Most of the time, I want to travel around specific dates and around specific times. No, I don’t want to sleep on an airport floor to save $50 either. Respect to those of you who do though.

Thus, I have never really found those websites and services helpful. What I did find extremely helpful though was something that dawned on me when I was looking at one of my own flights. The price was lower than what I paid for it. What if I could ensure that I booked the lowest possible price for a flight that I wanted to be on? Said another way, what if I knew that I could pay the lowest price for my seat that the airline sold a ticket for on that flight? Sign me up!

As discussed above, if I know that flight prices vary massively, then what are the odds that I am getting a good price when I decide to book my flight? I’ll tell you what the data shows: Not good.

More specifically, the data shows that there’s almost a 50% chance that the next flight you book will go down in price after you book it.

Now obviously you’re not going to quit your job and instead watch the price of your next flight as a profession just to save a couple hundred dollars, but what if someone else could in the background while you were living your life?

This is why I created The Sky Key. If the price of a flight I pay $375 for drops to $280 the next day or the next week, I would want to be alerted immediately so that I could pocket the difference as a future flight credit toward my next trip.

The Sky Key helps my dollars go as far as they possibly can on the flights that I want to fly on, and it can help you do the same.

Because The Sky Key has now put thousands of dollars worth of travel all over the world back in my pocket, let me tell you how it has helped upgrade my life.

I am able to take more direct flights instead of booking cheaper, connecting flights. I am able to travel more often. I am able to travel in more premium cabins. I am able to fly at the times I want to fly instead of at 5am or on the midnight red-eye.

I invite you to track your next flight at theskykey.com and see what you think. And if it makes a difference for you, please don’t hesitate to tell a friend. Thank you for reading.

Jacob Goldberg

Co-Founder @ The Sky Key