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

FAQs

How to get the best prices on 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.

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.

Prices are likely to increase: You may also find a tip that “prices are likely to increase” by a certain amount in the coming days, which is shown when Google Flights is able to predict with a high degree of confidence that prices will increase and by approximately what amount.

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 However, in rare instances, Google Flights prices are wrong, or more accurately, the price info is outdated.

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.

Final thoughts on Google Flights price alerts

Google Flights trackers are best used when you've narrowed your flight options and have a specific route or flight time in mind. Setting these alerts with one click is easy and the flight tracking tool does all the work.

“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.

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.

Flight Alert lets you watch a flight you are interested in and sends you a notification if the price goes down. You can watch as many flights as you wish and check the price history of each flight from the time you start watching until the day of the flight.

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.

Booking directly from an airline can be beneficial in that you have direct access to the airline's customer service team and any changes or cancellations can be made quickly. Additionally, if there are any issues with your flight, such as delays or cancellations, you will receive information directly from the airline.

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

Google Flights is a powerful and fast way to quickly identify cheaper fares for your flight itinerary. Even if you don't have a specific destination in mind, its “Explore” feature can help you find a trip that's within your budget. Use the techniques above to upgrade your Google Flight search skills and save money.

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.

How can I get cheaper flight prices? ›

Be flexible with destinations and dates

Travel experts often advise checking to see if flying a day earlier or later or from a nearby airport—options that are now offered on most online search sites—might result in cheaper fares. But for bigger savings, consider extending your flexibility to the destination as well.

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.

If you've been scheduling your flights to take off and land on the weekend, you're doing it all wrong. According to a recent Google study, flying during the middle of the week will get you the best deal. On those days, tickets are roughly 12% to 20% cheaper than flying on a weekend day.