How to find the best fares with Google Flights (2024)

FAQs

Does Google Flights show the best prices? ›

Google Flights is not always the best at finding the absolute lowest price for a particular flight, because it doesn't search many of the smaller OTAs. Similarly, many Mistake Fares, which happen when an airline or OTA accidentally discounts a price by up 90% off, don't show up on Google Flights.

You can find cheap flight deals to anywhere in the world on Google Flights. Just enter your departure city, choose Anywhere as the destination and select Explore. You can pick specific dates or leave departure and return dates blank if your plans are flexible. The cheapest fares to popular destinations will appear.

The downside is that Google Flights doesn't search smaller online travel agencies (OTAs), so once you narrow down your dates, go to another website like Kayak (and/or Momondo, Skyscanner, or Priceline) to find the cheapest price.

When you click Dates, you can find which travel dates have the best fares. Price graph: If your travel dates are flexible, clicking Price graph lets you explore fare trends by month or week. In this section, you can also opt in to tracking flights and prices.

Google Flights is a reliable, legitimate, and trustworthy site for flight searching. In general, its prices are accurate and reflect the same prices as you'll find on the airline websites and other OTAs.

Skyscanner has a comparable feature called Explore Anywhere, but it doesn't show a map. While Google Flights allows you to enter up to seven airports or cities or origin, Skyscanner lets you choose only one. Both Google Flights and Skyscanner have calendar views, alerts, and filters.

Traditionally, airlines would announce sales on Monday nights or Tuesday mornings, prompting competing airlines to lower fares on Tuesday. Skyscanner also recommends booking flights around 5am on any given day for your best chance at a cheaper flight, while noting that you should avoid peak times such as 7pm to 10pm.

A: In order to get cheapest air tickets, you should ideally book the tickets 2-3 weeks before the actual date of journey for domestic travel and for international travel, you should book the tickets 4-5 months before the journey to get cheap flight tickets.

Which airlines don't use Google Flights? ›

“Unlike most other airlines, Southwest does not use online travel agencies to market or sell tickets. ” Google Flights requires a partnership with either the airline itself or a data provider with access to an airline's fares in order to display prices to consumers.

Both platforms offer comprehensive support for flights, hotels, car rentals, and more, ensuring a seamless travel experience for users. In conclusion, both Skyscanner and Kayak offer valuable resources for travelers seeking to streamline their trip planning process.

As previously mentioned, booking airfare on Sunday is cheaper than other days of the week, especially Fridays. Be willing to fly mid-week. Since Thursdays tend to be the cheapest day to fly, see if you can tweak your travel plans so you depart and fly home during the week instead of on weekend days. Set price alerts.

Open the Google app or your mobile browser. Search for a specific product, like "Google Pixel 7 Pro" or a product category, like "cellphones." Scroll to view or open a Product card if present. Tap Track price .

After you book, we monitor the price until the first flight in your itinerary departs. We then send you an email to let you know if the price dropped or not. You may also get an email update between booking and departure. If the price dropped, we pay you the difference back in Google Pay.

However, if you're interested in following a specific trip (with set departure and destination and set dates), setting up alerts on Google Flights is a great way to keep track of the prices.

Timing plays an important part. Specifically, plane tickets usually don't get cheaper closer to the departure date or if you book too early—more than five months in advance. Instead, flights tend to be the least expensive when you book between 5.5 and 1.5 months (164 and 46 days) in advance of your departure date.

As previously mentioned, booking airfare on Sunday is cheaper than other days of the week, especially Fridays. Be willing to fly mid-week. Since Thursdays tend to be the cheapest day to fly, see if you can tweak your travel plans so you depart and fly home during the week instead of on weekend days.