Apps that track flight prices after you book, compared
Most flight-price tools watch fares before you buy. A smaller set watches the flight you already paid for and tells you when it drops. Here is who does what, what each one costs, and whether you get cash or credit.
| Tool | Cost | What it watches | You get | Who rebooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Going Price Drop | Free with Going Premium ($49/yr) or Elite | Flights: roundtrip cash fares | Airline credit (Going says members average about $150 a flight, their figure) | You; Going does not rebook, cancel or change reservations |
| TripIt Fare Tracker | TripIt Pro, $49/yr | Flights: U.S. itineraries, economy non-refundable fares, listed airlines; starts 100 days before departure | Alert about a potential credit or refund | You |
| Autopilot | Keeps 25% of what it recovers; nothing otherwise | Flights: cash fares booked directly with Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, United | Credit, claimed for you on drops of $20 or more | Autopilot |
| Thrifty Traveler FareTracker | Free | Flights: Delta, American, United, Southwest, Alaska | Email when the fare drops $20 or more; credit | You |
| Skyback | $49.99/yr | Flights: forward your receipt | Alerts | You |
| Google Flights price guarantee | Free | Flights Google marks with the guarantee, booked through Google | Google pays the difference, up to a cap | Nobody needs to |
| AI Calendar Deal Alert | Part of Individual ($79/yr) and Household ($99/yr) | Flights, hotels and rental cars already on your calendar | Refund inside 24 hours, credit later, lower refundable room or pay-at-pickup car rate; a running total | You, with the exact steps for your booking |
Prices, airline lists and policies were read from each company's site on October 14, 2026 and will change. Treat the table as a starting point, not a quote.
How to choose
- You fly a lot on one or two airlines and nothing else. Thrifty Traveler's free tracker or Going's Price Drop (if you already pay for Going's deal alerts) covers you.
- You never want to think about it. Autopilot does the rebooking for a quarter of the recovery.
- You want the whole trip watched. Only Deal Alert watches the hotel and the rental car as well as the flights, and hotels and cars are where a drop most often turns into a clean rebooking rather than a credit. It also lives in the calendar that already has the bookings, so there is nothing to forward twice.
When the others are enough
If your trips are flights only, booked on an airline these tools support, and you do not need a family calendar, a free tracker does the job and AI Calendar is more than you need. If you use TripIt Pro already, its Fare Tracker is included. The case for AI Calendar is a family that books flights, rooms and cars for the same trip and wants one place for the confirmation numbers, the drive to the airport and the price watch.
See Deal Alert on the demo family’s Hawaii trip
The demo family has school, three college schedules, a Hawaii trip from two airports, a wedding, a concert and a game, all this month. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- Do any of these get me cash instead of credit?
- Only within the first 24 hours after booking (cancel and rebook), or on a booking covered by a portal’s price guarantee. Otherwise a drop becomes airline credit.
- Does Deal Alert need my airline login?
- No. It reads the confirmation you forwarded and checks public fares for the same flights. You make the change on the airline’s site with the steps it gives you.