The Current powered by Kim Komando

How to get cheap flights

42 min
Jan 6, 20263 months ago
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Summary

Clark Howard joins Kim Komando to discuss insider strategies for saving money on airfare, covering domestic and international flight booking tactics, airline pricing models, and alternative airlines. The episode explores how to time purchases, use fare comparison tools, leverage airline miles effectively, and navigate ancillary fees charged by major carriers.

Insights
  • Domestic flights should be booked one-way per direction rather than round-trip to avoid airline fare restrictions and overpayment, with optimal booking window around 6 weeks in advance
  • International fares benefit significantly from fare calendar tools and strategic reshop timing at 8 weeks and 4 weeks before departure, potentially saving hundreds to thousands of dollars without change fees
  • Airline miles redemption value varies dramatically by carrier and route; premium cabin redemptions on major carriers often provide poor value compared to cash-back credit cards or partner airline bookings
  • Regional and alternative airports (Midway vs O'Hare, Mesa vs Phoenix Sky Harbor) and emerging airlines (Breeze, Avelo, Allegiant, JSX) offer substantial savings for price-sensitive travelers willing to sacrifice convenience
  • Major carriers use low base fares as loss leaders while profiting heavily from ancillary fees (seats, baggage, boarding), making Southwest and low-cost carriers more transparent in total pricing
Trends
Shift from fixed airline mileage charts to dynamic demand pricing for award redemptions, reducing predictability and value for frequent flyer programsGrowth of ultra-low-cost carriers and regional airlines (Breeze, Avelo, JSX) disrupting traditional hub-and-spoke models and forcing price competitionElimination of airline change fees post-COVID enabling fare shopping strategies and ticket rebooking for better prices without penaltiesIncreased ancillary revenue focus by major carriers (American, United, Delta) as primary profit driver, separating base fares from seat selection, baggage, and boardingRegulatory pressure and lobbying by major carriers against emerging premium alternatives like JSX that offer superior service at competitive pricesRise of multi-airline credit cards and flexible loyalty programs as superior value compared to single-airline branded cardsExpansion of airport butler and premium ground services as differentiators for premium travel experiences, particularly on international routes
Topics
Companies
Southwest Airlines
Discussed as transparent pricing alternative to major carriers with no ancillary fees and free checked baggage model
American Airlines
Referenced as major carrier with ancillary fee model; host Kim Komando's preferred airline despite higher total costs
United Airlines
Mentioned as full-service carrier using ancillary revenue model and dynamic pricing for award redemptions
Delta Air Lines
Identified as major carrier with ancillary fee focus and dynamic pricing for frequent flyer redemptions
Google Flights
Recommended fare comparison tool with lowest price guarantee feature and expanded Southwest fare visibility
Hopper
Mentioned as fare prediction tool providing alternative timing recommendations to Google for optimal booking windows
Ryanair
Identified as Europe's largest and most reliable low-cost carrier despite customer perception issues
Spirit Airlines
Discussed as struggling ultra-low-cost carrier with operational reliability issues and uncertain future viability
Allegiant Air
Named as regional ultra-low-cost carrier flying to small out-of-the-way airports with significant savings potential
Breeze Airways
Emerging ultra-low-cost carrier flying regional routes; Clark Howard cited example of fares one-fourth of competitors
Avelo Airlines
Lesser-known ultra-low-cost carrier focusing on small regional airports with low operating costs
JSX
Premium charter alternative flying from regional airports (Scottsdale, Burbank, Carlsbad) with superior service facin...
Japan Airlines
International carrier referenced for exceptional service during connecting flight emergency in San Francisco
American Express
Mentioned for travel booking services, airport butler perks, and lounge access benefits for cardholders
Clark.com
Clark Howard's personal website offering tools for cell phone plan comparison and money-saving resources
People
Clark Howard
Money-saving expert and radio/podcast host specializing in consumer finance and travel cost optimization strategies
Kim Komando
Podcast host of The Current; frequent international traveler prioritizing flight convenience over cost savings
Craig Kitchen
Mutual friend of Kim and Clark; successful businessman known for impeccable style and universal likability
Barry
Kim Komando's husband; Southwest Airlines companion pass holder and American Airlines credit card user
Ian
Kim and Barry's son; experienced connecting flight challenge requiring airport butler assistance in San Francisco
Quotes
"Never, never, not ever do a domestic fare search round trip because what happens is first you'll see the screen that shows the fares on all the different airlines for your flight. and you'll pick one. So let's say you pick, since you fly a lot out of Phoenix, let's say you pick American Airlines and then you're picking your return flight. Well, now it's going to limit you to searches of American flights coming back and you're going to be guaranteed to overpay almost every time"
Clark HowardDomestic booking strategy section
"The fare is just the opening whistle really about what you're going to pay. I know. It's like, you know, no, I'm going to sit on the wing."
Clark Howard and Kim KomandoAncillary fees discussion
"I have the companion pass on Southwest and she flies free with me all year long domestic. And she doesn't like the experience, you know, the lining up and all that Southwest is going away from the lining up, but it's not her thing. Right. But the deal I made with her is we go business class when we go international in return, cause we don't do that many international trips"
Clark HowardLoyalty program strategy
"Recently we were going to Japan and when I re shopped it, our fair fell by more than half for our business class, which was over $4,000 a ticket. The fair. Wow. And I rebooked. That is crazy. I rebooked two and a half weeks before we went and cut the fare by more than half."
Clark HowardInternational reshop example
"They know it's a better product than they offer in every way better service than they offer and better prices than they offer for premium seats and they hate it hate it hate it and i would if i were a betting person with the extreme power that american united and delta combined have in washington i will be surprised if jsx is still allowed to operate"
Clark HowardJSX regulatory pressure discussion
Full Transcript
Sign up for my free daily newsletter, The Current, at GetKim.com. Hey, thanks for tapping into this episode of The Current. Today, we've got a really fun throwback episode of this podcast. You don't want to miss this. And while you're at it, if you could help us out and leave a great five-star rating and review, I would so appreciate that. All righty then, let's get to it. Enjoy this podcast. Hey, today we have, oh my gosh, he's such an amazing person. I mean, if you've ever thought like, you know, I'm wasting money, I need to save money, then of course, you probably tuned into Clark Howard's fantastic radio show or amazing podcast. And so I called Clark because I'm like, you know what? So many people want to know, like, what are the insider secrets to really saving money on airfare? Because the best day of the week is a Wednesday and it's between like 21 days and 58 days. And then Google comes out and says, no, it's 71 days before departure. And of course, you know, I travel all the time. I mean, I counted up. I've been to 36 different countries. And I admit that I'm not really the best person at, say, saving money on airfare. Because I'm like, you know what? Just get me to Tokyo and then or get me to Paris or wherever it is, you know, on the shortest flight. That's always my thing, the shortest duration. So anyway, so joining us is Clark. Clark, you look fabulous. fabulous. It's so nice to see you. Well, it's so good to see you. And, you know, we've tried to get together over the years and I always mess it up, don't I? No, you don't always mess it up. Not at all. Not at all. So, so, so by the way, what you just said, my wife is with you a hundred percent. She can't stand that all routers, who knows how to get wherever to save money. And she's like you, I want to go nonstop. And I'm like, no, you miss all the adventure when you go nonstop. Oh, no, Clark. No, don't tell me about adventure. When you're sitting there and they're like, I just want to let you know everybody at date 78, the flight has been canceled. I mean, you're like, oh, no. Or they come out and they say, you know what? We'll give you a thousand dollars in vouchers if you don't get on this plane right now. And I'm like, no, not me. I am on that plane. I am on that plane. A hundred percent. And my wife knew from very early, just when we were dating, that when they'd call for volunteers, I was at the counter. Because there's always another flight. There's always another day you can go. And so, I mean, you and I are opposite poles. I am all about the price. And convenience, I don't care about. Really? Yeah. Oh, see, because you know what? I mean, so when we went to Tokyo. Isn't it great, by the way? Oh, my gosh. Everybody needs to go to Tokyo. What was your favorite thing about Tokyo? Pretty much everything. And by the way, I got to tell you, I'm not an adventurous eater. And I just went with it. And the food was so fantastic. It's so safe. It's so clean. And for you, if you went to Osaka also, all the electronic shops must have just been, you must have been in heaven with all those places. Oh, it was crazy. But my favorite part was Nara, where the deer bowed to you, which I just, that was just like crazy to me. But it's pretty special being in Nara. Yeah. It is. But, you know, the city is clean. It's like you mentioned the word safe. and because of the time difference is that it was 10 o'clock at night in Tokyo. But of course, you know, it was like one in the afternoon in Phoenix or whatever it was. And so I decided, you know what, I need to go for a run because I got off that plane. I'm like, I need to get some exercise. And so I said to my husband, Barry, you know, he said, what are you doing? You're putting on your running shoes. I said, you know, I'm going for a run. He's like, you can't go for a run. It's 10 o'clock at night in Tokyo. And so I said, you know, let's call down to the concierge. Maybe, you know, maybe it's not safe. And so they said, where are you going to go? I said, I'm just going to go from the hotel to the Imperial Palace and back. And they said, how is, and they said, it's about five miles. I said, that's perfect. And then my husband was like, is she going to be safe? And they're like, 1,000%. She's going to be all right. So I went on a run and there were people walking. Anyways, lovely. So let's talk about airfare. Okay. Yeah. Okay, aside from making eight stops between Los Angeles or Atlanta to get me to Berlin or to Chicago, what is like the secret sauce? I mean, is it like the day of the week? Is it how maybe you buy your ticket like 24 hours before the flight or you buy it, I don't know, seven weeks before the flight? Right. So it's completely different international and domestic. Most people, most of their travel is domestic. So let me start with domestic. Rule number one for domestic, biggest mistake people make is they do their domestic flight searches round trip. Never, never, not ever do a domestic fare search round trip because what happens is first you'll see the screen that shows the fares on all the different airlines for your flight. and you'll pick one. So let's say you pick, since you fly a lot out of Phoenix, let's say you pick American Airlines and then you're picking your return flight. Well, now it's going to limit you to searches of American flights coming back and you're going to be guaranteed to overpay almost every time when you do searches for domestic flights round trip because domestic fares are set as one way. So you want to do your search each direction where you put in your going flight. You see all the choices on all the airlines. You do a multi-fair search. You mentioned Hopper. Google Flights is excellent. And you see what everybody's got now, by the way, not on Hopper yet, but on Google, you'll actually see the fares on Southwest, which you never used to see and southwest flies more passengers in the united states than any other airline so you want to see the southwest stuff too and so you do the search one way as far as time you know you were talking about the debate where google says this far in advance and hopper says that one of the most important things with domestic is it's got to be at least 21 days in advance to get a good fare. Almost always you go less than 21 days and the airlines kill you. They just destroy your wallet. So I would say that somewhere around, if I were to compromise between what Hopper said and Google, about six weeks out seems to be a pretty good sweet spot Because the airline's predictive analysis has a real good feel based on historical averages, how likely their loads are going to be, whatever, on that travel date about six weeks out. And if they're going to cut prices, that's a good window when I find you're going to see them. Now, when you do buy tickets on American, and I guess it's the same for Delta. I fly a lot of American because they come in and out of Phoenix a lot. So you get that fare and then they take you to the next screen. It's like, oh, do you want a seat too? And you're like, yeah, I want a seat. And then you can have this seat for 25 bucks, this seat for 75 bucks, or this seat for 50 bucks, or you don't pick a seat. And then you're like, okay, well, so what's the deal with that? So the whole idea is they use the fare as a loss leader. and then they got you in their building they got you in in the hunt and they're going to try to sell you every possible extra option they can and baggage is the obvious one but it's everything else including seat assignment early boarding a variety of different things because the money is made in the ancillaries and the ancillaries the extras aren't subject to the federal tax so there's a lot of financial incentives for the airlines to offer a lower fare and then charge you so much for all the extras and so the only way you avoid that since you fly so much out of phoenix you're killing me that you're flying the wrong airline out of terminal four you should be on southwest because day in and day out you're going to save so much money because they're not going to have all the extras. And so American United, Delta, the three full-fair airlines, everything about their business model is sell up, sell up, sell up. So the fare is just the opening whistle really about what you're going to pay. I know. It's like, you know, no, I'm going to sit on the wing. Okay. I want to see. I mean, I, you know, Ryanair, which is the biggest airline in Europe, tried to get approval to have standing seats because they could shove a lot more people in It would be an option on the plane If it was a flight up to two hours you could stand And I was like all for that because I would stand for the two hours to save money but I there on the price spectrum. Most people aren't anywhere close to where I am as cheap as I am. Of course. I mean, like, you know, you and I would never travel together. I'm just on your lap right now because the reason why, let me just tell you, to get from Phoenix to Santa Barbara, okay, on American Airlines, you go to Terminal 4, you get on the plane, and you go from Phoenix to Santa Barbara. Now, let's talk about Southwest. Okay. And that flight, by the way, is like an hour and 15 minutes. Okay. So now I want to go to Santa Barbara from Phoenix on the Southwest. I have to go from Phoenix to Las Vegas, and I got to sit there and play the slot machines. And it's going to cost me more money because I'm going to lose money while I'm sitting there. Okay. For about two hours, and then I have to get on another plate. So the whole trip, instead of being like an hour and a half, it's like four hours. Right. I mean, you're completely right. I mean, I don't have any guilt about spending money on that nonstop. That's just fine. So international, the fares are generally round-trip fares. So your search has to be completely different. Most important thing with international, because you're dealing with bigger stakes, bigger dollars, is you've got to use a fair calendar where you can see based on different days of the week going different days of the week returning what the best deals are going to be and these fair calendars are your friend you can use them for domestic too but people have more flexibility about that usually if they're going to Asia going to Australia New Zealand going to Europe South America so you can use the calendar as your friend or enemy and the the price differences especially for people often international people are using points the the benefit of the price calendar on points for international travel is huge and the international fares you tend to people tend to look way farther out but i want to tell you something about the international you book an international ticket let's say you book it four months out six months out because people you know they plan they're excited they're going to go on this trip sure and they set it and forget it they bought the fare they think they're done but today on most tickets you don't pay a change fee so i want you to reshop that international fare and particular windows i want you to reshop it eight weeks out and I want you to reshop it four weeks out. And you'll find that most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time, you're going to get a lower fare when you reshop that ticket. Now, the beauty is like you being an American Airlines loyalist. So let's say you bought an American Airlines ticket to Asia, you bought one to Europe or wherever, and you find the cheaper fare later. Whatever class of service you're going in, coach, premium economy, business class, whatever. You find that cheaper fare later, you take it, and then you have a credit you can use at no cost, no fees for future travel. And the reshop on international, I cannot stress enough how important those two things are, using the calendar as your friend and reshopping the fares later. you know i've never heard that and i've never done that i mean how much money are you talking you can save so um let's say you're going um and coach you could cut the fare by hundreds of dollars in business class you can cut the fare by thousands of dollars now i need to confess something what's that my wife and i have a deal that we've had since 2006 i have the i fly so much i have the companion pass on Southwest and she flies free with me all year long domestic. And she doesn't like the experience, you know, the lining up and all that Southwest is going away from the lining up, but it's not her thing. Right. But the deal I made with her is we go business class when we go international in return, cause we don't do that many international trips and we go, um, in domestic, we go Southwest and G fly is free every flight all year long. So that's a fair trade because I'm also getting a live flat bed too. Right. So recently we were going to Japan and when I re shopped it, our fair fell by more than half for our business class, which was over $4,000 a ticket. The fair. Wow. And I rebooked. That is crazy. I rebooked two and a half weeks before we went and cut the fare by more than half. Gosh, now I feel like I've been wasting a lot of money. Well, I mean, this is what I do. My whole brain is wired that way. I've had my car broken into six times in my life because I park in bad neighborhoods to have free parking. I mean, I am that cheap. You know, we have a mutual friend. His name's Craig. kitchen. And so I'm talking to him today and he's like, so what do you have on tab? I said, I'm talking to Clark. He goes, that man saves so much money. He's like, oh. And Craig is also the best dresser either of us have ever met. I know. And it's just so polished. Such a gentleman, a hundred percent all the time. And he's one of these people, folks, I know where it's kind of like an insider talk about mutual friend, but nobody has anything ever bad to say about Craig. I mean, there's- Isn't that great for someone to be that successful and everybody likes him? Yes. Everybody loves him. I mean, he's just a fabulous person. Getting back to price. So Google has this now with Google Fly, it's the lowest price guarantee. And now, so is that something to tap into? Absolutely, but it's not as important as it used to be for the point I made that happened post-COVID is none of the airlines have gotten greedy yet, was starting to charge the change fees and the change fee was the villain. It was the enemy of being able to reshop fares. So manually you can wait for Google to say, okay, this fare went down automatically, I mean, and Google says they're going to give you the money. But the important thing often is when the cheaper fare comes along, it may not be on the same airline you originally booked. In your case, you're only going to want that cheaper fare on American, and then the Google offer becomes valuable. But if you're truly a free agent like I am, where I reshop, and I'm reshopping everybody, and that cheaper fare comes along, I'm going to have to find it myself. And that's why the calendar of putting on there, oh, I'm going in six weeks. I need to check that fare again. I'm going in three weeks. I need to check that fare again. And just, it doesn't take long. It just takes a minute to do a search on Hopper or Google or whatever search engine you like. Is there, let's talk about using mileage for flights Because it used to be a pain in the neck. I mean, it used to be such a hassle. But my husband has an American Airlines credit card. So we rack up a ton of points on that. So we were always using those points. But it's really simple. You just go to the website and you say, I want to pay with miles. And it's really easy. Is there like an insider secret about using mileage? So it's not an insider secret, but it's a fact. the airlines have gone to dynamic demand pricing on their points so it used to be if you were redeeming a free trip to wherever you were going to have a mileage chart and it would show you know coach is this many points and premium economies this many if it's an international flight business classes this many of its domestic first classes this many more now it's all dynamic demand so you never know if the use of points is a good deal or a bad deal unless you calculate how many points you're having to use and what's the value of those points. A lot of times when you redeem points on an airline, you're only getting seven tenths of a cent of value. And that's a ripoff because you could just have a cash back card now that pays two cents on everything. And the airlines are generally only giving you one third of that. So the trigger point of when you know when it's good to use points or whether it's good to use money is if you're getting good value for your points. And I use the baseline that you want 2%. You want to, if you can just with a simple cash back card, get 2% cash back. You want the same value at least from using points. A lot of times on American United and Delta particularly if you want to go front of the plane you going to get lousy value for your points But if you use one of their international partners which all three have or if you have a multi-airline card, you fly on one of the Asian airlines or you fly on one of the European airlines, or it could be Qatar, Emirates, or Etihad, you'll pay much less equivalent in points than you would with American United and Delta. Boy, that's really fascinating. Now, see, Barry justifies the American airline card because it gets him into the lounge whenever we fly American. Yeah. And so, and I'm telling him, like, you know, we kind of get that perk with American Express anyway, because American Express now has their own lounges. Which, you know, brings me to another question. Are you better off doing your own flights or calling somebody like American Express and saying, here, just find me a ticket? So if you fly regularly, you're fine doing your own. If you fly infrequently, you might find there's going to be an advantage using a booking outlet like using American Express to book or a traditional travel agent. You may have to pay fees, but if you are an infrequent traveler, and particularly if you're doing a more complicated itinerary, you um it would be like you know they say uh you know with doctors you don't want to be your own doctor when you're booking travel you don't want to book your own travel if you're not an experienced person and that's when if it again if it's complicated if you're just going from you know chicago to baltimore you can book your travel you don't need a travel agent if you're booking Chicago to Beijing and you don't routinely travel internationally, especially to Asia, you want an agent. You know, the American Express has a perk of an airport butler. And I kind of sat there and I was like, you know, what exactly does an airport butler do? Okay. So on our last trip, we landed, Barry and I landed in San Francisco at 1030 a.m. for a 1245 departure to Haneda. And Ian was traveling, our son, was traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco. His flight was supposed to land at 11 a.m. Notice I said supposed to. Right. Okay. Okay, so his flight, he calls me, he's like, you know, he said, I'm screwed. I mean, we haven't even taken off, and it looks like, you know, we're not going to land until 11.45. Okay, so 11.45 turns into 12. Now, keep in mind, we're at 12.45, we're leaving for Tokyo. Okay. So at 1215, I said, you know what? We have this airport butler. So all of a sudden, and then about five minutes later, the airport butler shows up. We were flying on Air Japan. And she says, I explain everything that's going on. She goes over to the ticket agent at Japan Airlines and explains the whole situation. and now Ian's plane is not going to land until 1230. So Barry and I go over to the gate and I explain to the woman, you know, kind of what's going on, the gate agent, who's very nice. And the airport butler's there and luckily she speaks Japanese. And they're going back and forth, back and forth. And the gate agent says to me, you and your husband need to get on the plane. And I said, no, I'm not getting on the plane without my son because there's no flight until tomorrow afternoon. Bottom line is that by using the airport butler, we were able to, Japan Airlines sent a car on the tarmac to get Ian at the gate at 1245. walked him through with the airport butler through getting from a domestic terminal to the international terminal in San Francisco. Getting him through TSA, because he has a new passport with two pictures, that they said that this was a fake passport. Then Japan Airlines sends another car to get him through at TSA with the airport butler. Brings him over to the gate and at 1 20 we get on the plane and everybody on that plane gave us the dirtiest looks i bet they did like like oh you three are the reason but what was interesting about this is that while we were standing there you know basically on the ramp waiting for em uh before the jetway And I looked down and I saw like 12 people standing at the nose of the plane just with their hands folded at their waist. And I said to the gate agent, I said, what are they doing? And she said, just watch. She said, when you're on the plane, I want you to watch. And so we get on the plane and I look. And as we are going away from the gate in San Francisco, all 12 people bowed to the plane. And I said to the flight person, you know, the flight attendant, whatever you want to call him now. And I said, what's that? She goes, oh, they're wishing us a safe journey. And I was like, and she said, when you land in Haneda, you will see the same thing. And I was just astounded by that. But anyway, so if you can, if you have an airport butler and you have a problem, I'm just saying, you know. I don't have an airport butler. Oh, come on, Clark. No airport butler. Not for you? All right. Southwest doesn't offer airport butlers. They don't have airport butlers? How about Ryanair? How about Spirit? Does Spirit Airlines have an air? We flew Ryanair recently in Europe, and it was actually a great experience. Was it? Where'd you go? It was cheap. We were flying within a domestic flight within Italy. We went to Brindisi, Italy, if you know where that is. I don't know where that is. The heel of the boot on the Adria. Oh, got it. Got it. So how much cheaper was Ryanair? I think we paid 22 euro for the flight, which was like $24. So it was more than I like to pay. $24. Oh, my gosh. All right. So is Spirit Airlines any good in the United States? No. No? No. No, no. And they are, they unfortunately, uh, have been very important price competition, but they're in a heap of trouble and there's a good chance they're not going to survive. Oh, okay. That's not a secret. Um, they, they have, they have not run a good operation. You know, the difference is, you know, our deep discounters in the United States have not grown in market share like deep discounters have elsewhere in the world. Cause you want to know the most reliable airline is in europe ryanair no the biggest airline is in europe ryanair who's the cheapest airline to fly in europe ryanair uh people may hate them but they know they're reliable and they fly them if the if if spirit had been really really a well-run airline they'd be huge and make a money hand over fist you gotta give people the basics you gotta run on time. You got to be safe. You got to be reliable. And they've been safe, but they've not been on time. They've not been reliable. And they're not very friendly. No. I have a friend of mine who flew them and they were like, they were just nasty, mean. And then they charge you for like, to bring a bag online or a bag on the plane and another bag. And if you want to use the bathroom, it's five dollars i mean or not not no no you don't pay for the bathroom okay but but it is pretty bad um all right one last question yeah is when you just when you start looking at domestic uh can you really save money like for example by going to midway versus chicago o'hare i mean is it worth looking at like community airports you're asking one of the most important questions for people that are price sensitive because there's more and more emphasis on airlines flying to smaller regional airports. It's the whole business model of an airline most people haven't heard of called Avelo and another airline most people haven't heard of called Breeze and then a third airline more people are aware of it's been around a long time called Allegiant. these three airlines what they do is they fly to small out-of-the-way airports easy to get into them easy to get out of them parking's cheap or free they don't have the air traffic control delays like your son had at LAX waiting in a long line to ever be able to take off and so looking regionally for fares is really important and if you really really price sensitive you want to look up where do Allegiant where to Breeze and where do Avalo fly and see these out airports they fly to And you may find a flight combination that you had no idea could save you so much money. I was flying from Florida to New York City last year, and I took Breeze because they fly into white planes that I would not have normally looked at, but the fare was a fourth of what it was on anybody else. Wow. So your question about Midway versus O'Hare or, you know, Love Field versus DFW or in the Phoenix metro area between Phoenix Mesa and flying out of Sky Harbor, these things really matter and they'll save you big money if you look at things you don't automatically think of. And now we also have some other airlines that have popped up. And I don't want to say, well, not really airlines as much as they're flying under the charter regulations and getting around. JSX. Yes, JSX. Where JSX, for me, it flies from Scottsdale Airport to Burbank or to Carlsbad. On the East Coast, they go from Fort Lauderdale to the Hamptons. and of course you're going to pay from Scottsdale to Burbank it's $600 round trip versus Southwest that could be $100 but there's no TSA but but not only is there no TSA Kim the other thing is the service on JSX it is better than domestic first on the three full fare airlines on American United and Delta and American United and Delta are using every bit of lobbying power they have in Washington with both elected officials and the FAA to try to get JSX shut down because they don't want JSX to exist because they know it's a better product than they offer in every way better service than they offer and better prices than they offer for premium seats and they hate it hate it hate it and i would if i were a betting person with the extreme power that american united and delta combined have in washington i will be surprised if jsx is still allowed to operate but they are a superior product. And anybody who lives anywhere where you can fly JSX, if you're a premium seat passenger in domestic travel, you want to fly JSX. I fly it. It's phenomenal. It is. I mean, I've gotten there. I think the flight from Scottsdale to Burbank was, I think, like left at like 730 in the morning. I slid into that gate at like 715 because I overslept. And they're like, you're a little late. I'm like, sorry. And they're like, oh, no problem. No problem. Here, let us take your bag. And there's always on the left seat or the right seat, there's always an older captain, probably early retirement from one of the major airlines. And then you have like a younger co-pilot and everybody is just lovely. There's like you mentioned. And, you know, do you want a cocktail? Do you want Pete? You want something? And you're not a cocktail at 715 in the morning. Really? No, I don't want a cocktail, but they did offer it. You know, I'm not a day drinker. I have a lot of friends who are day drinkers and I'm I, you know, because like we'll be out on the boat or whatever. And I'm like, you know what, I just, you know, it's like I'll have my lemon drop martini, but it has to be like towards sunset. You know, I'm not just one of those people. I can't do that. Well, Clark, it's such a pleasure to finally sit down with you and talk to you. And, you know, we are different in the airfare category. But I'm certain that, you know, what I'd like to talk to you about are credit cards at some point. You know, what are the best credit cards? And because, you know, that also gets really confusing. I mean, you know, is it worth like getting the airline credit card and different type of credit card? Almost always. It's not worth it having the airline card. So that's a tease when we talk about credit cards. And, you know, the big thing with credit cards, the people who solicit you for a card are usually who you don't want a card. Oh, there we go. It's kind of like when you were younger, you were dating the person that, you know, that wanted to go out with you. You're like, oh, I don't want to go out with you. but the person who you didn't want to go out with or they didn't want to go out with you, you're like, I want that person. Right. That's the one I want to go out with. All right. So Clark.com, tell us what we can find there. Clark.com is all about your wallet. Everything we do, podcasts, social media, what I do on TV, what I do on radio, everything is about ways that you can be empowered so you spend less money day to day. A lot of stuff in life is so confusing. You should see our cell phone comparison plan guide, you know, instead of just by rote paying Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, whatever they're charging you. I've got this tool we put a lot of effort into where you can put in how many lines you need in your family, how you use your phone and all that. And we'll show you the choices, every one of them, precisely for you or your exact situation or your family's situation. And you'll save tons of money. I mean, not a little bit of money, tons of money by knowing the deals that you're not being told about. Yeah. And that's it. I mean, unless you're really focused on tracking this stuff down, which obviously you are, and it's such an honor and pleasure. God, you are so cheap. I'm going to tell Craig, he's so right. God, Clark is like the cheapest guy I've ever been. Craig does really have a hard time understanding me. Okay. So let me, one question. Okay. You're out to dinner. Okay. Yeah. It's your anniversary. Right. It's a big number. It's a 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, whatever it may be. Right. And there's the $50 bottle of champagne. There's the $25 bottle of champagne. Okay, maybe not 25. Okay, there's a $50 split bottle of champagne. So you're going to get one or two glasses out of the thing. Or you got a $150 bottle of champagne. This is a big one. So you're going to spend like 250 bucks on a bottle of champagne. Which one are you getting? None of the above. What are you thinking? We're not spending that money. My goodness. No. If we want to have something to drink, we have it before we go to the restaurant. If we go to the restaurant, my wife might have one glass of wine. I won't even order at a restaurant. I don't drink alcohol usually. I won't even order like a Coke Zero, which is my favorite drink, if it costs too much. I'll just drink tap water at the restaurant. I mean, come on. And the Bermuda Triangle of restaurants? Dessert. Oh, man, the profit margins that restaurants make on dessert? No way. We'll go have dessert somewhere else later if we're going to have dessert. so case i i completely i can tell you you and i uh you know you could go with your husband i go with my wife to the same restaurant and then we could compare bills later and you'd be like how did he do that i you know what although i will tell you last night uh we went out to dinner and they said are you celebrating anything and i said oh it's his birthday so you got your free dessert. I love it. Once again, Clark, thanks for being here. Everybody, you need to check out Clark.com. Look at all the tools that he's got hanging out there. Make sure that you sign up for his free newsletter, follow his show, sign up for his podcast, his YouTube channel. Because I guarantee you, I'm going to start paying more attention, Clark, because I think I need to start saving some money. Well, it's got to be what you're inspired by not feel guilty about. Always with money. It's got to be, you know, I really want to do this. Not like, oh, I just felt bad that I spent all that money. No, it's got to be, it's got to be inspirational and fun and positive. People look at, like you ever say to somebody, you know, you should have a budget. That's mean. That's like cold. That's whatever. It's got to be, it's got to be a mentality that you want to have. So your life's working for you just like you're doing it. Keep doing what you're doing. I am. I'm not flying coach. Just not flying coach. That's where you'll find me. Hey, thanks for tuning in. It's been a blast. And I'll be right here waiting to share more with you very soon.