I love Google Flights for searching for flights, and that’s why we include sample searches from it in almost every deal we send to our more than 2 million members. But first, I want to tell you a secret that not many people in the travel business are willing to share:
A lot of places offer cheap trips, but there isn’t just one. That’s the reason I like Google Flights so much.
I have spent years and years of my life looking through millions of prices on hundreds of airlines and flight search tools. I can say for sure that they’re all pretty much the same.
That’s good news, not bad. This means that no matter which flight search engine you use, you’ll still get the same deal. And Google Flights is the one that I’ve found to be the easiest and most useful.
(Just in case you were wondering, we don’t get paid, rewarded, praised, or anything else for suggesting this site. At Google, we only book cheap tickets. That’s it.
Good things about Google Flights
Google Flights is great in many ways. These are the things I like best:
More than any other ticket search engine, Google Flights is lightning fast. It shows months’ worth of fares in a fraction of a second.
A calendar-based price view on Google Flights shows you the cheapest fares for the next 12 months. The view is simple and easy to use.
Google Flights lets you look for the best fare between up to seven airports, and adding more than seven airports won’t slow down the search.
Map-based search: The Google Flights Explore map shows you where you can fly from your airport for the least amount of money.
To help you decide, Google Flights will tell you if the price you see is high, low, or normal for the trip. It will also show you how much carbon each flight costs.
This will all help you get a cheap flight, so let me show you how it works.
You live in Philadelphia and want to go to Europe next summer. Most flight search engines will only show you flights that leave from Philadelphia and arrive at a certain European airport, like Paris. You would have to look again if you also want to find out how much it costs to get to Amsterdam.
With Google Flights, you could choose to leave from not only Philadelphia Airport, but also six other airports that are only a short train ride away. Three of these airports are near New York City, and the other three are near Washington, DC. You could choose Paris, Amsterdam, or up to five more airports as your stop. It will then show you the 49 routes where you can get those prices for the least amount of money. Along with that, it will show you findings not only for a certain date but for the whole year.
Google Flights does have some problems. You should be aware of the following problems:
Has the lowest prices sometimes, but not always: To find flights, Google Flights looks at prices from airlines and a few of the best online travel companies (OTAs), like Orbitz and Expedia. Google Flights doesn’t always check smaller OTAs, but sometimes they have slightly lower prices. However, these sites can come with a lot of risks.
Lacks a list of all airlines: You’ll also need to check Southwest Airlines’ website because Google Flights doesn’t show results from that company. (Thank goodness Southwest’s Low Fare Calendar is easy to use.)
Shows expired deals: Once in a while, Google Flights will show you a fare that is available at a certain price. However, when you click to make a reservation, either (a) the price of the fare goes up, or (b) it says you can’t book online and to call the airline instead. (Don’t call; it won’t go through.) This is known as “ghosting,” and it can happen on Google Flights when a fare was available not long ago but is now not.
How to use Google Flights
Google Flights checks prices on the websites of almost all airlines as well as the biggest online ticket sites, such as Orbitz, Expedia, and Priceline. Take a look at this Google Flights guide.
How to tell Google Flights where to depart and arrive to get the most choices
When you get to the home page, type in where you want to fly from, where you want to go, and when you’d like to travel. This is an example:
A look on Google Flights: Three things to keep in mind:
You can name the place as a country or even a whole region. If you want to find the cheapest flight to the Caribbean over the holidays, type “Caribbean” into the search box.
You can put up to seven destinations in each box, with commas between them. Putting “LHR, CDG, AMS, CPH, BCN, FCO, MXP” as your target will help you find the cheapest flight from Chicago to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Rome, or Milan, if you want to take a cheap trip anywhere in Europe.
There are city codes in some places with more than one airport. New York City (NYC) or Washington, DC (WAS) each get three points because NYC = JFK, LGA, EWR and WAS = DCA, IAD, and BWI.
How to use Google Flights to find the cheapest day to fly
To get the best deals on travel times, click the box next to the departure date. After you do that, prices for two months will show up, with the cheapest times in green:
This is an example of a search on Google Flights. Two important points:
When you search for flights on Google, it only looks at prices for the months you tell it to. In the above example, the green dates that are the cheapest are in May and June. However, you might be able to find cheaper dates if you scroll to a different time range.
The cheap green dates are only for the length of trip you chose at the beginning. I first looked for a 7-day trip, but as you can see in the red box above, changing the length of the trip can often lead to very different prices. A helpful hint is that prices often drop a lot when you change your trip from 6 days to 7 days. That’s because the small print on many foreign flights says that the cheapest prices are only good for trips that last at least 7 days.
Look at the calendar of the cheapest flights, then click on the times you want. This will bring up a long list of flights, like this:
Take a look at how Google Flights shows the “Best departing flights” at the top. These flights are chosen based on price, route, and other factors. You might still want to check out the “Other departing flights” to find the best flights for your plan.
Every flight time on Google Flights is shown in your time zone. Google Flights shows that if you see a +1 next to the arrival time, your flight will arrive the next day (or two days later if it says +2).
How to use Google Flights to book a flight
Click on a good flight to leave once you’ve chosen it. Then, if you’re buying a round-trip ticket, you’ll be asked to pick a flight that goes with it. Your screen will look like this:
In this case, all you have to do to change the trip that leaves is click on the word “EWR-ORY” on the left, just above the words “Returning flights.”
Here are three quick things you should know:
- When you use Google Flights, the price you see includes all taxes, but not extra fees like choosing your seat or bags if they’re not included.
- The price that Google Flights shows you will be for the whole roundtrip if you look for a roundtrip itinerary.
- A travel agent (OTA) is not what Google Flights is; it’s a flight search engine. In other words, Google planes does not sell planes. Instead, after you pick a flight, it gives you links to book with either an online travel agent or the airline itself. You may be able to “Book on Google with [airline]” for some flights. This is just a fancy way for Google to send your information and payment to the airline.
When you click on your preferred return flight, you’ll see your booking choices, which look like this:
There are different kinds of economy tickets on a lot of flights. Basic economy and main economy (or names that sound like them) are the two most popular. Searching on Google Flights will tell you about the pros and cons of each type of budget ticket, such as:
What to do when you can’t book a cheap flight on Google Flights (“Ghosting”)
Google Flights will sometimes tell you that a cheap fare is available, but when you try to book the ticket, the fare either goes up in price or can’t be bought at all.
This is known as “ghosting.”
This only happens very rarely because the airline may have just changed the price, and the search results don’t yet show the new price.
Google Flights may tell you that calling the flight is the only way to get the best deal. Don’t do that. The price of the ticket has already changed, so it won’t work. Sad about the great food that got away? Let’s hope the next one goes better.
There are a few ways to make sure that a service that’s “ghosting” is really gone:
Google Flights lets you try different times. There may be new prices for May 2–9, but the cheap fare is still available for May 3–10.
Look at the times of a “ghost fare” and see if you can book it through an online travel site like Priceline or Expedia.
Don’t get too excited, though. Airfares can change quickly, and if a great deal goes away, it’s not likely that it can still be bought.
How to use Google Flights Look at the map view
You’ve been working hard, and now all you can think about is a fruity drink and a small umbrella in the sand. You just want a cheap flight and warm weather, not which beach you go to.
Moreover, ou could look through dozens of Caribbean airports for thirty minutes.
You can also use the Explore map, which is one of the best (and most secret!) parts of Google Flights to quickly look for flights.
The Explore map lets you see prices for specific dates or dates that are open to change across a country or area.
Discover map can be reached in two ways.
When you look for flights on Google Flights, put in a country, region, or continent instead of an airport. Then, hit the blue Explore button like this:
You could also click the Explore button at the top.
Both ways will take you to a map view in Google Flights. You can zoom in on any part of the map to see more prices:
If your plans are flexible, you can find even cheaper tickets by changing your dates to “Flexible dates.”
After that, you can choose which months to travel (or look for any time in the next 6 months) and whether you want a weekend, one week, or two weeks trip.
To get better search results, you can sort the map results in Google Explore. You can sort the results at the top by the number of stops, airlines, travel times, and trip lengths. Moreover, you can also tell it how many bags you have to see prices that include bag fees. You can also move the slider in the Price section to set the highest price you’re ready to pay for a flight. Any options that cost more than that amount will be taken out of the search results.
A Few Cons to be aware of
There’s a good chance you’ll get a lot of emails because flight prices change all the time.
You can’t tell the warning to only go off when the price hits a certain level.
You won’t be told about great deals on flights from your home airport to other places, even ones that are close by. That’s why you go!
How to use Google Flights to book tickets to more than one place
It’s easy to book open-jaw or multi-city flights on Google Flights. Find the word “round trip” on the far left side of the home screen and click on the drop down menu that’s there. Click on “multi-city.”
Now put in your travel dates and places like you normally would. It’s possible to add five planes.
To save money, book an open-jaw multi-city flight instead of several one-way flights if you want to visit more than one place on an international trip. Often, long-haul flights that go one way cost about the same as trips that go both ways or between cities. To see both Paris and Rome for the lowest price, look for a trip that goes from your home airport to Paris and then from Rome back to your home airport. After you book the flights across the ocean, book a different flight from Paris to Rome. If you book this way instead of three one-way trips or one three-leg itinerary, you’ll save hundreds of dollars.
How to know if Google has a good deal for you
Good thing about Google Flights is that it lets you know if the current prices are a good deal.
Between December 2 and 9, you can take a plane from New York to Paris and back again. Google Flights says that the price of $431 is low and that the price of $299 is less than usual. There’s also a graph that shows how prices have changed for that trip in the last few months.
Don’t put too much stock in these findings. When they say how much trips “usually” cost, it can be way off. At the moment, they say that off-peak trips between New York City and Paris should cost $1,050, which is not advice I would give. I would say that $700 is the most “normal” price below this. Instead, think of their price ranges as a rough way to compare prices right now.
How to use “Date grid” to get better deals on flights
Let’s say you want to go to Germany for Oktoberfest and fly from New York. You know that the best way to find the cheapest fare is to look for several German destinations, such as FRA, MUC, BER, DUS, HAM, and more. But Google Flights only shows you flights for the times you picked, like September 20–27.
The “Date grid” is useful in this case. The date grid is better than the calendar of cheap fares because it shows you prices for trips of different lengths. If I fly from September 20th to September 28th instead of September 20th to September 27th, the prices are $221 less.
Just below the flight numbers is where you’ll find the Date grid. If you change your travel plans by just one or two days, Google Flights will often show a small pop-up like the one below when there is a big price drop.
How to get the most out of Google Flights
Tip #1: Look at more than one airport to find the best way to get from one place to another.
You can use up to seven different departure and arrival airport codes to search for flights in Google Flights.
Why would you want to do that? So, let’s say you want to fly from Los Angeles to any place in Japan during plum blossom season, which isn’t as well known as cherry blossom season. With the destination codes for several airports in Japan (NRT, HND, KIX, NGO, FUK, OKA, CTS), you can easily find the cheapest one for your trip from February 17th to 24th. You can start by entering the airport codes for Los Angeles (LAX, SNA, LGB, ONT, BUR, and maybe even SFO and SJC to see if the savings are worth it).
The best deal will be at the top of the list of findings. For this case, it costs $630 to go from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT).
A search for flights on Google Tip #2: Find the cheapest places to stay with open times on the Explore Map.
Let’s say your case is a little different from the one described above. You just want to go somewhere, and you don’t have any set plans. You can also go to https://www.google.com/travel/explore and click on the “Explore” button at the top.
Once you do that, you’ll see a map that shows you the cheapest places to go for a week in the next six months from your home airport. If you want to narrow down your choices, click the date box and pick a trip length (weekend, one week, or two weeks) and/or a month within the next six months.
This choice is great for people who don’t have to be rigid about where and when they travel and just want to get the best price deal possible.
Tip: Keep in mind that ticket prices change all the time! It’s the thing we buy that changes the most. Prices on the Explore map could be very different tomorrow from what they are today.
Let’s say you live in Houston and want to take a trip to Europe in the next six months. The Explore map would quickly show you prices all over Europe.
Tip: Set a price ceiling with the price filter to see all the choices that cost less than, say, $650.
Third tip: You can use the price graph, calendar, and date grid to find the best times to go to a certain place.
Because Google Flights lets you change times a lot once you know where you want to go, you can find the cheapest airfare.
The calendar will appear and show you two months of prices after you enter your dates. The least expensive times will be shown in green. From the calendar view, click the lines to the right to see what’s coming up in the next few months. How to get from Atlanta to Denver in the fall of 2023:
Tip: Any filters you choose will be taken into account by the calendar of the best fares. If you don’t want to fly with discount flights like Frontier and Spirit, unchecking them will change the prices shown in the calendar.
The date grid, on the other hand, will show you the most affordable prices for a range of trip lengths and times. Anything that is less expensive than the flight you chose is shown in green. You can see more times if you click the arrows at the top of the grid.
The price line is the same, but it shows two months’ worth of fares as a bar chart. I’ll tell you the truth: the price line is harder to understand and use than the calendar and date grid. Your mileage may be different!
Tip #4: Get the Chrome add-on “Legroom for Google Flights.”
It’s great that tickets are cheap, but they still need to be good. With the Chrome add-on Legroom for Google Flights, you can see right in the search results how much legroom you’ll have on each route. Most domestic planes in the US have 30 to 31 inches of legroom. This extension will show in green if there’s more legroom and red if there’s less.
When you look for a flight from Boston to Miami, this is what you see:
For $45 more than Spirit, is four extra inches of space worth it? You make the choice!
Getting money back for trips booked on Google trips
Since Google Flights is just a search engine and the flights are booked directly with the airline, return policies vary from airline to airline.
The “24-hour rule” from the US Department of Transportation says that you can cancel your flight and get your money back if you do it within 24 hours of buying the ticket. It doesn’t matter what flight leaves from a US airport as long as the ticket was bought straight from the airline at least 7 days before the flight.
Promises the Best Price
If the price of some flights goes down after you book, Google Flights will pay you the difference. (This is how they show that they are sure the current price won’t go down any further.)
Please see the full terms and conditions for a list of limits. Here are some important ones to keep in mind:
You can only get the price promise if you see a price badge next to the fare, like this:
There’s no need to sign up at all; all you have to do is book the ticket on Google Flights with this information:
Once you book, you don’t need to do anything else. Google checks immediately to see if prices drop and gives you the difference back.
You can get back any difference in price through Google Pay up to 48 hours after your trip.
Which companies does Google Flights show?
Google Flights lists flights from the vast majority of companies, such as
- Air Ligus
- Mexicana Air
- Canada’s Air
- Serb Air
- The Alaska ANA
- American
- The British Airways
- China Southern Delta Ethiopian Etihad
- Emirates
- Island of Hawaii
- Air Iceland
- Air France, KLM, LOT, and Lufthansa
- Delta Air Lines
- SAS
- Flights from Singapore
- Swiss TAP
- The Turkish Airlines
Many more, like United, Westjet, and a lot more
Which companies does Google Flights not list?
In the US, Southwest Airlines trips are the main thing that is missing. Southwest doesn’t want to sell tickets through online booking agencies, so they only do it on their own website.
It’s funny that Google Flights does show you the Southwest trip schedule, but not the price. You will need to go to Southwest.com to see the price.
How to change Google Flights’ currency, language, or home country
Look for the “hamburger” in the upper left area of Google Flights. It’s made up of three horizontal lines to the left of the “Google” logo.
This shows a choice that goes up and down on the left. Change the language, currency, or region you use for Google Flights at the bottom of this page.
How to use Google planes to find planes that put out less carbon dioxide
The carbon impact of most flights is now shown on Google Flights. Most of the time, nonstop trips produce less carbon dioxide than routes with connections. However, even within nonstop routes, the amount of pollution produced can change depending on the type of aircraft used.
You can find out the pollution rate for your flight on Google Flights. It also tells you what the average rate is for that route and lets you know if your rate is higher or lower. Keep in mind that the rate also depends on your fare class. Usually, business class tickets have a higher rate of emissions because there are fewer people in those places, so each seat is responsible for a bigger amount of pollution.
