9 min read
Google Flights is arguably the most powerful free flight search tool available, but most people only use a fraction of what it offers. They type in an origin, a destination, pick dates, and hit search. That is like buying a Swiss Army knife and only using the toothpick.
Underneath the clean interface are features that can save you hundreds of dollars per trip, from a world map that shows the cheapest flights from your airport to a price guarantee that refunds you the difference if fares drop after booking. Flight Alerts pulls its deal data from Google Flights, so learning this tool also helps you understand exactly where our deals come from and how to act on them quickly.
Click "Explore" on the Google Flights homepage (or go directly to google.com/travel/explore) and you will see an interactive map showing flight prices from your origin to destinations around the world. Prices update as you zoom and pan. This is the single best tool for travelers who are flexible on where they go.
The map lets you filter by travel dates, trip length, nonstop only, and budget ceiling. If you just want to see where you can fly for under $200 round trip, set the price filter and the map instantly highlights those destinations. It is the fastest way to discover deals you never thought to search for.
Once you have an origin and destination selected, click the "Date grid" button near the top of the results. This shows a matrix of departure dates along one axis and return dates along the other, with prices in each cell. It is the most efficient way to find the cheapest combination of departure and return dates for any route.
Green-highlighted cells indicate the lowest prices. You can spot patterns immediately, for instance that flying out on a Tuesday and returning the following Monday saves $150 compared to a Friday-to-Friday trip. This feature alone justifies learning Google Flights properly.
Pro tip
Combine the date grid with the "Price graph" view. The graph shows price trends over time for your route, helping you decide whether to book now or wait. If prices are trending down, you might hold off a few days.
On any search result, toggle the "Track prices" switch. Google will email you when the price for that specific route and date combination changes. You can track multiple routes simultaneously, and Google sends notifications for both price drops and price increases.
Price tracking is useful when you have a specific trip in mind but are not ready to book. It gives you confidence in timing your purchase. That said, Google's alerts are limited to the exact dates you searched. For broader deal monitoring across many routes and dates, Flight Alerts covers more ground automatically.
Instead of entering specific dates, select "Flexible dates" in the date picker. You can choose a trip duration (weekend, 1 week, 2 weeks) and a general timeframe (a specific month or "in the next 6 months"). Google then shows you a calendar of the cheapest options for that duration across the entire window.
This is different from the date grid. The date grid works with fixed departure and return dates. Flexible dates lets you say "I want a one-week trip sometime in March" and see the best option. Use both features together for maximum flexibility.
When entering your origin or destination, check the box for "Nearby airports." Google will expand the search to include airports within roughly 125 miles. This surfaces fares from secondary airports that can be significantly cheaper than the primary hub.
This is especially useful for travelers in metro areas with multiple airports. You might find that a flight from a secondary airport saves you $100 or more, easily justifying a longer drive. Our cheap flights guide covers airport strategy in more detail.
Above your search results, look for the sorting tabs: "Best," "Cheapest," and "Fastest." The default is "Best," which balances price, duration, and number of stops. If you are purely price-driven, switch to "Cheapest" and you may see options that the default sort buried further down the list.
The cheapest tab often reveals budget carrier options or itineraries with longer layovers that trade time for a significantly lower fare. If you are a flexible traveler, always check this tab before booking.
If you are visiting multiple cities, do not book separate round trips. Use the "Multi-city" search option to build an itinerary with different origin and destination pairs on each leg. Google prices the entire itinerary together, which is sometimes cheaper than individual bookings.
Multi-city is essential for open-jaw itineraries. For example, flying into London and out of Rome. Without multi-city, you would need to backtrack to your arrival city, paying for an extra flight and wasting time. Digital nomads use this feature constantly when routing through multiple countries.
On some itineraries, you will see a "Price guarantee" badge. This means Google will pay you the difference if the fare drops after you book through Google's booking flow. The refund comes as Google Pay balance. There is a cap per booking and per calendar year, but it is essentially free downside protection.
Not every flight qualifies, and the guarantee only applies when you book directly through Google Travel, not through the airline or a third-party OTA. When it is available though, it removes the anxiety of "should I wait for a lower price."
Pro tip
The price guarantee appears more frequently on domestic US flights and popular international routes. If you see it, it is often a signal that Google considers the current price to be fair and relatively stable.
Click "Bags" in the filter bar and select the number of carry-on and checked bags you plan to bring. Google Flights will recalculate the total price including baggage fees, which completely changes the ranking. A basic economy fare that looked cheap might actually cost more than a standard fare once you add a checked bag.
This is one of the most underused features. Budget carriers like Frontier and Spirit look inexpensive until you account for bags. The filter does the math for you so you are comparing true all-in prices rather than headline fares.
If you collect miles in a specific frequent flyer program, use the airline alliance filter to show only flights operated by airlines in Star Alliance, oneworld, or SkyTeam. This ensures every flight you book earns miles toward your preferred program.
You can also filter by specific airlines. This is useful if you have airline credit or vouchers to use, or if you simply prefer certain carriers for comfort and reliability. Combine alliance filtering with the cheapest tab to find the best deal within your preferred program.
Google Flights displays estimated carbon emissions for each itinerary, with lower-emission options highlighted in green. The estimates factor in aircraft type, seat configuration, route, and typical load factors. If two flights cost the same but one produces significantly less CO2, the badge makes it easy to choose the greener option.
You can also sort or filter by emissions. Nonstop flights almost always produce fewer emissions than connecting itineraries, so this metric often aligns with convenience. It is a useful tiebreaker when prices are similar.
On many routes, Google shows a "Price insights" panel on the right side of results. This tells you whether the current fare is low, typical, or high compared to historical prices for that route. It also shows a price history chart so you can see where fares have been over the past several months.
Price insights is Google's way of helping you decide whether to book now or wait. If the tool says "Prices are currently low for this route," it means fares are below the historical median and booking now is a reasonable decision. Combined with booking window strategies, this data takes a lot of the guesswork out of timing your purchase.
Each of these features is useful on its own, but the real power comes from combining them. A typical power-user workflow looks like this: start with the Explore map to find cheap destinations, switch to the date grid to find the cheapest dates, apply the baggage filter to see true all-in pricing, check price insights to confirm the fare is good, and toggle price tracking as a backup.
Even with all these tools, Google Flights requires you to initiate every search. If you want deals to come to you instead, Flight Alerts monitors Google Flights data continuously and sends you a weekly digest of only the fares worth booking from your home airport, including departure and return dates so you can act immediately.
Flight Alerts monitors Google Flights data from your home airport and sends you only the fares worth booking. Free Chrome extension + weekly email digest.
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