Top Tips for Finding Cheap Flights With Google Flights
Google Flights is a reliable travel booking tool . You are probably already familiar with its basic features like finding the best airfare and viewing flexible dates that can save you money and time. However, there are other lesser known features to help you squeeze even more out of your travel budget.
Find the cheapest months to fly
Let’s say you know where you want to go but don’t know when . Maybe you want to drink Mai Tais in Hawaii, but you can’t afford to spend $ 800 on a ticket during high season. You can find on average the cheapest months to fly . These estimates are usually pretty accurate, but obviously your actual results may differ when it comes time to actually book your tickets.
Instead, plug in a destination from Google Flights, select flexible dates, and you can view real, current prices by month. The Flexible Dates tab displays a calendar view of rates, but the price chart will give you a more visual and general idea of prices. It’s also a little easier to navigate because you can see a wider and more specific range right away.
Going back to the Hawaii example, you can see prices plummet in July and September, so if you are trying to save some money (and avoid the crowds of tourists) you should skip those months. Instead, you might consider booking your trip in March or May. Plus the weather is just as good, if not less grueling.
View Cheap Travel Options by Month
On the other hand, you may know when you want to travel, but you are open to directions . Let’s say you can only take a vacation in May and you just want to leave for a couple of weeks without going broke.
Google Flights recently released a new tool that allows you to find destinations based on month and duration. Go to the Discover Destinations window, then instead of choosing the exact dates, select the month and general time frame: weekend, 1 week, or 2 weeks.
The tool will populate a list of popular destination cities and prices. You can even filter by region (North America, Asia, Oceania, etc.) or interests (honeymoon, food, adventure, wildlife, etc.). For example, if you want a food-focused vacation in North America, you’ll get a list of affordable cities to eat in all day.
It’s also interesting to explore the map version. To get there, click on any destination, select Show Flights, and you will be taken to the general Google Flight search results screen, as shown below. From here there is a map section where you can select “Explore Destinations”. You get a map of destinations and prices around the world, a kind of Kayak exploration tool. You can then adjust the dates to see how prices fluctuate, and the tool will even give you a general idea of prices.
You can also navigate to the Explore map via the Google Flights homepage. Just click directly on the map or go to the options menu and select Explore Map.
If you’re adventurous, you can enter your city and departure dates, then hit I’m Lucky and Google will pick a destination for you based on your search history and what’s popular.
Receive notifications of price changes for air tickets
Regardless of the trip you are planning, it is wise to start tracking flight prices as early as possible. Prices fluctuate quite a bit and you want to jump in and get the best deal.
According to data from CheapAir.com , the best way to find tickets for the lowest price is in around 54 days . Track your flight ahead of time and then pay close attention to price fluctuations as that deadline approaches. Google Flights makes this easy because you can save your routes.
Browse your flights as usual, select the appropriate departure and return flight, then select Save Route. Google Flight will track all of your saved routes in one place, and you can see how the price changes every day. You can also receive alerts via Google Now when prices change.
I also used this feature to save myself. For example, when I was planning a trip to Japan, I saved several route options that changed depending on the day, flight time, or even the airport. Approximately every week before the trip, I checked how the prices were changing, and then chose the cheapest option.
Explore vacation destinations by region
It is also interesting to explore destinations by region. For example, if you know you want to travel to Asia but don’t know where, just enter “Asia” in the search box, select a month to travel, and Google Flights will list the destinations in that region along with their prices.
It is also useful if you are visiting different cities and looking for the cheapest city to fly. If you are planning a trip to the UK, for example, you can travel to Glasgow, Cardiff and London. It’s easy enough to travel between cities when you’re there, and you can save some money by flying to one city rather than another and simply adjusting your route based on where you landed.
Search for “hidden” cities with stops
One of my favorite ways to use Google Flight is to search for “hidden” cities for connections . In essence, this is a search for a flight with a long transfer in another city. This way, you will enjoy a whole different city on the way to your destination. It’s like a vacation bonus!
To do this, as usual, run a flight search. On the More tab, you will see a list of stopover cities that you can select or deselect. If you want to find all of them, select “Any connection”. Then make sure you have “Any Duration” selected and run a search. This way, the longest stops will appear in the search results.
Once the search results are complete, you can make it easier to see these connecting cities if you sort them by duration, then scroll all the way down to find the longest flights. Longer flights usually equal longer stops.
The stops are not very long (the longest are about 8-9 hours), but this time may be enough to explore the city from your wishlist. I also used this trick on a recent trip to North Carolina to have lunch with my parents in Houston for a few hours. If you are looking for a longer stopover, you are better off using the Multiple Cities option (although they are not really the same thing as you are simply booking separate tickets for different cities).
It’s worth noting that this is basically what Skiplagged and CleverLayover do . However, the flights that Google shows are real connecting flights (not just flights scheduled to land and depart one after another), so if there is a delay or a flight is canceled, you are likely to have more options. Plus, Google makes it easy to book these flights without using its tool.
Optimize your airline miles
If you’re a fan of travel rewards you’ll love this one. Google recently added a tool that makes it easy to search for airline miles. On the Airline tab, you can search for flights of a specific airline or alliance. The Alliance is essentially a reward program that includes many different travel reward programs. Therefore, if you are a United MileagePlus member in the Star Alliance network , you can select Star as your alliance and Google Flight will show you all eligible flights on that network so you can earn (or redeem) points for your flight.
Google’s new Flights update makes it incredibly easy to explore and plan your trip accordingly. While there are a number of handy tools and services to help streamline your trip, it’s helpful to combine some of these fun features in one place.