Google Flights: Best Tool For Booking Airline Tickets (2024)

Google Flights is probably the single most useful resource for researching and tracking flight prices. Admittedly this isn’t exactly cutting edge, as Google Flights has been around for years, and hopefully most OMAAT readers already use it.

However, I figured I’d share the basics of why I find Google Flights to be valuable, and how I go about using it. It’s one of the tools that I find most useful for travel planning, along with AwardWallet, ExpertFlyer, point.me, Seats.aero, MaxMyPoint, aeroLOPA, and more.

In this post:

Why you should be using Google Flights

Plain and simple, Google Flights should be the first website you visit when you’re starting the process of booking an airline ticket with cash. Google Flights is great because it lets you compare fares across a wide variety of dates, allows fare tracking, and gives you all kinds of options to customize your search, which you won’t find when searching through an online travel agency or airline website.

Note that Google Flights is more of an aggregator of information than anything else. Typically when Google Flights shows you fares, you’ll get a link to either the website of an airline or to an online travel agency to book, as most fares can’t be booked directly with Google Flights. In 99% of cases I recommend booking directly with the airline, as that simplifies flight changes, schedule changes, etc.

Google Flights is best option for comparing airfare

When you go to Google Flights, it doesn’t look that different than most online travel agencies. You can enter your origin, destination, travel date, whether you’re traveling one-way or roundtrip, the number of passengers, and the class of service you want to travel in.

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The first thing that makes Google Flights awesome is that when you get to the results page, you’ll immediately see a pricing calendar that shows you options for two months at a time. You can search an entire year of pricing in a given market in less than a minute.

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While Google Flights will show tons of options, you’ll see that “best flights” are first shown, which is based on price, convenience, and overall value. I appreciate just how much information Google Flights shows with each flight option. If a fare doesn’t include a carry-on, you’ll see that restriction listed.

Beyond that, you’ll see seat pitch on the plane, whether there’s Wi-Fi, whether there’s in seat power and USB outlets, whether there are televisions, etc. Of course keep in mind that in some cases this might not be accurate, but more often than not it is.

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In some cases this information is really useful. For example, if you’re curious if your British Airways business class flight will feature Club Suites, Google Flights shows flights with Club Suites as featuring an “individual suite,” while flights without Club Suites are shown as featuring a “lie flat seat.”

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It gets much better than that, though. Once you execute a search, you’ll see all kinds of filters. You can choose based on the number of stops, the airlines or even alliance, whether a fare includes bags, the price, the flight times, the connecting airports, or the duration. While you can’t filter out basic economy fares as such, you can filter out fares that don’t include a carry-on bag, which would cover the most punitive basic economy fares out there.

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These filters will also be applied to the calendar feature, which is one of my favorite features of Google Flights. In other words, if you want to find the cheapest nonstop flight on a given airline at a particular time of day throughout the year, you can easily do that with Google Flights.

When you select a flight, Google Flights will tell you if your fare is typical, cheap, or expensive, based on historical data. You can make of that what you will, since obviously there are a lot of factors that go into airline pricing. In other words, just because a fare is marked as expensive, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to get any cheaper.

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Using Google Flights with flexible destinations

Do you just want to travel somewhere, but don’t know where? Google Flights can help with that too. Google Flights lets you search airfare from a specific origin, to an entire country, or even continent.

For example, you could enter Tampa as your origin, and the entire country of Germany, or the entire continent of Europe, as your destination. You’ll then be presented with a map that shows you all the possibilities.

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If you have a better sense of where you’re looking to go, but want to choose between a few airports, Google Flights can help with that too. For example, you can enter multiple origin and destination airports, assuming you have that flexibility and are curious to compare.

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Google Flights lets you track flight prices

My single favorite feature of Google Flights is the ability to track the prices of flights:

  • This is useful if you want to book a specific flight, but want to wait for the price to (hopefully) drop
  • This is useful if you’ve already booked your ticket, but are flying with an airline that doesn’t have change fees; that way you could reprice your flight, and get a voucher for the difference

Take a Miami to New York American Airlines first class flight for next spring, for example. While these tickets cost under $400 within a few weeks of departure, right now they price at $700+ several months out. So if you were interested in keeping an eye on these flights, just click the little “track prices” button, and you’ll receive an email if the price of the flight changes.

You can request price tracking for one particular flight, or for an entire day of availability between two city pairs, based on your parameters. You can set as many alerts as you’d like.

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There’s then a dashboard connected to your Google account, which will also keep track of the historical price changes.

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I use the Google Flights price tracking feature constantly, and it saves me a lot of money on flights.

Bottom line

Google Flights is the single most useful resource for booking airline tickets with cash. The website makes it easy to compare the price of airline tickets across months, and customize your search based on endless features, from airline, to departure time, to connecting airport. It can even be useful if you don’t know where you want to go, but want to keep your options open.

Google Flights also provides all kinds of useful details about flight amenities, from legroom, to the availability of Wi-Fi, to the type of business class seat you’ll get.

My single favorite feature of Google Flights, though, is the price tracking capability. This allows you to track how airfare changes for a particular itinerary over time. This can be useful whether you want to wait until a fare drops to book, or if you want to reprice an existing ticket, and get a voucher.

If you use Google Flights, what has your experience been like? Any important features I’m missing?

Google Flights: Best Tool For Booking Airline Tickets (2024)

FAQs

Is there a better flight search than Google Flights? ›

Bottom line: Google Flights and Skyscanner are two of the best sites for searching for flights. Both have some great functionality, but each also has some areas for improvement. That's why we often recommend pairing multiple search sites to ensure you're getting the best deal.

Is it good to book with Google Flights? ›

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. However, in rare instances, Google Flights prices are wrong, or more accurately, the price info is outdated.

How to find the cheapest flights on Google? ›

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.

Is kayak or skyscanner better? ›

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.

How do I get the best out of Google Flights? ›

Know when and where to fly

Dates: You may notice that flight prices fluctuate when you choose a different day of the week. 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.

What is the best tool to find flights? ›

Our three favorite tools to search for flights are Google Flights, Priceline, and Momondo. There are also some more complex ones like the ITA Matrix, SkyScanner, and various plugins, but for most folks, Google Flights, Priceline, and Momondo are plenty.

Which is the best flight search engine? ›

  1. Best cheap flight search engine: Skiplagged. ...
  2. Best search engine for cheapest flights: Agoda. ...
  3. Best mobile app flight search engine: Hopper. ...
  4. Best international flight search engine: Momondo. ...
  5. Best European flight search engine: Skyscanner. ...
  6. Best search engine for flight packages: Kayak.
Sep 29, 2023

What 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.

How to get flight tickets cheaply? ›

Tips to book cheap flight tickets
  1. Be flexible with your Travel Dates. ...
  2. Rely on New Incognito Mode. ...
  3. Avoid Believing in Myths. ...
  4. Track Airlines on Social Media Platforms. ...
  5. Utilise Flight Search Engines. ...
  6. Keep An Eye on Flyer Programs. ...
  7. Consider the Destination. ...
  8. Look Forward to Beneficial Deals.
Apr 16, 2024

How do I find the lowest fare on a flight? ›

ixigo directly searches multiple airline websites for the cheapest fares. Many airlines prefer to sell their cheapest flight tickets on ixigo.

Which travel website is best? ›

Let's start with the top 10 best travel websites 2023 has to offer for great deals:
  • Booking. On this site, you can get discounts on almost anything, including flights, hotel, cars, activities, and more.
  • Expedia. ...
  • Kayak. ...
  • Scott's Cheap Flights. ...
  • Tripadvisor. ...
  • Priceline. ...
  • Hotwire. ...
  • Orbitz.

What website is better than Skyscanner? ›

Momondo is a popular flight search engine that is often compared to Skyscanner. It is a free service that allows users to compare prices from hundreds of airlines and travel agencies. The website has a simple and user-friendly interface that makes it easy to find the best deals on flights.

Which travel agency has the best deals? ›

If you're targeting spontaneous travelers or those seeking last-minute deals, Lastminute.com is the best online travel agency to consider. As the name suggests, it specializes in providing travelers with a wide array of last-minute options, from flights and hotels to car rentals and activities.

Is it good to book flights through Google? ›

Google Flights is one of the best options when booking directly from the airline, although you can also compare prices from third-party booking sites such as Kiwi.com and Trip.com. It's also nice to be able to customize your search instead of receiving curated round-trip packages that dominate the industry.

How to get the best prices on Google Flights? ›

5 tips for finding the cheapest flights on Google Flights
  1. Be flexible on dates and location. One of the biggest keys for travelling economically is flexibility. ...
  2. Use Price Alerts and Trend. ...
  3. Book through airlines directly. ...
  4. Use incognito mode or a private browser. ...
  5. Book one-way flights. ...
  6. Pros and Cons of Google Flights.

How to find the least expensive flight? ›

How do you find cheap flights?
  1. Timing is key: For the best prices, booking domestic flights 6-8 weeks in advance and international flights 3-5 months ahead is recommended. ...
  2. Comparison is crucial: Using aggregator websites like Google Flights and Skyscanner, you can compare airline prices.
Jan 11, 2024

Which flight tracker is more accurate? ›

FlightAware. A comprehensive flight tracking service that provides real-time updates for both private and commercial flights globally.

Which airlines do not 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.

Which website is best for cheap flights? ›

Summary of the Best Flight Booking Websites
Flight Booking WebsiteOverall ScoreStar Rating
Expedia90.144.99
Skiplagged89.394.95
Momondo87.694.85
Google Flights86.684.80
1 more row
May 23, 2024

What are the weaknesses of Skyscanner? ›

Weaknesses of Skyscanner

These weaknesses include: User Interface and Usability Issues: Skyscanner's interface has been found to be less intuitive compared to competitors like Google Flights, potentially leading to longer search times and increased user frustration.

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