How To Book Cheap Flights Like A Pro Using Google Flights [A Quick Comprehensive Guide 2021]

Posted on Tuesday, September 28th, 2021 by Malvika Varma

Hello GlobeTrotter! Travel – is the most exquisite feeling for passionate travelers. The thought of hopping on a plane and jetting off to the dream destination itself elevates the mood. But that happiness instantly shatters once we sit down to book the flights. For some, flight booking is the most anxiety-inducing experience of planning the trip. Google Flights has emerged as a savior for many users as it saves time, stress, and sometimes some hard-earned money! In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process of how to use Google Flights to find cheap flights like a pro, including some bonus tips.

More on Google flights below..

But first, let’s answer a quick question. What factor bothers us the most while planning a trip? You guessed it right; it is flight pricing. Affordable airfare is exactly what we look for while booking the airline ticket. As a traveler, who would mind having to pay as little as possible for every flight? Flights cost a fortune! Flight pricing is tough to predict, and many people can relate to it. Finalizing a flight that doesn’t come with hidden baggage fees can be daunting and downright exhausting. And yes, it is rocket science for a few!

With the quest to find the perfect cheap flight, we spend hours slogging through different websites and search engines. Each website has a unique feature that we do not want to miss. While one website displays fares for an entire month, the other booking engine shows attractive offers and deals. To book cheap flights we want both of these features and many more. Google Flights is indeed an incredible meta search engine that is loaded with all the sought-after features. 

So let us get started!

Table Of Content

The 411 On Google Flights

According to a recent survey, Google Flights has been used nearly three times more than plenty of other online travel agencies (OTAs). It indicates it is appealing to the users in a way no other flight search engine on the internet. 

First, Google Flights is not a platform or OTA where you can actually buy your flight, hotel, cruise, or any other travel directly. It is a platform where different airlines and OTAs publish the airfare followed by the link to make the purchase. With a handful of travel-related features, Google Flights is much like Google itself. It is a robust website that helps search, plan, and book flight tickets, saving you a ton of time with its valuable features. Its user-friendly, simple, and polished interface truly justifies the phrase ‘the less is more’.

In 2010, Google announced an agreement to acquire a flight information software company named ITA Softwares and launched it in 2011. The rest is history. Since then, Google Flights has taken the travel industry by storm. This global distribution platform has become massively popular among users to check out the airfares even using standard language. Google Flights is a powerful tool to search for the cheapest airfare or other flight booking criteria as it allows for complex queries and returns with a wide range of customized results.  With Google Flights search, users get access to a customizable list of flights so that they can fly on a budget to anywhere in the world.

Merits Of Using Google Flights

Google Flights has some notable advantages over other flight engines. We have listed a few of them below:

• Super fast: Within lighting seconds, Google Flights presents fares for upcoming months. With a handful of information in a blink of an eye, Google Flights is the one-stop solution to booking flights.
• Direct booking: Google Flights enables you to book tickets directly with the airlines. It eliminates any third party or some small online travel agency. You can directly get in touch with customer executives of the airlines to get all the travel-related details.
• Search based on map: One of the unique features of Google Flights is the Explore option which lets you browse through the entire map to check out the cheapest flight to fly from your airport. 
• The calendar based airfare view: If you are looking for cheap flights, Google Flights is definitely a tool meant for smart travelers. It allows the user to get an overview of flight prices of the entire month! Another great feature is that Google Flights gives alerts if shifting your travel dates by a day or two could save you a few bucks. This helps the user to find the best day to book flights for.
• Multiple origins and destination search: You can easily find multi-city google flights and even multiple airports to find the cheapest flight. In fact, it can show search results from seven origins to seven destinations at the airport. By booking a flight that departs from a comparatively cheaper airport, you can save a significant amount of money from the travel budget. 
• Distinct features: With a multitude of functionalities and features to filter the search results, Google Flights makes airfare hunting easier. Google Flights enables the users to finalize the best affordable flight for their travel plan easily.

Drawbacks of Google Flights

While Google Flights offers amazing features, there are few points that need to be improved. 

• Google Flights relies on airfares listed directly from the airlines. So, users may miss flight deals that OTAs such as Superfares cut with airline carriers. The discounted or cheap flights offered by Superfares or other OTAs are not visible while booking through Google Flights.
• Google Flights occasionally displays the outdated pricing of flights, although it is frequently updated. So, at times, it is possible that you may end up finding a higher price tag once you click through.
• A few of the airlines are currently not providing their airfares on the Google Flights search engine, and so, some of the deals are not available on Google Flights. To make sure that you do not miss exclusive deals such as flights under $100 or last minute flights by Superfares, do visit its website.

Nonetheless, Google Flights is way ahead of its competitors to find cheap flights. The competitive landscape of flight search has been transformed since Google Flights ventured into the travel industry. 

After this brief, let us get straight to the ‘how to’ part.

How To Use Google Flights To Book Air Tickets

Start your search to book air tickets by visiting the official site of Google Flights at https://www.google.com/flights. You can visit the website from your desktop or smartphone browser as there is no app for Google Flights. After clicking on the URL, you will be redirected to the landing page. The Google Flights homepage is a fairly simple interface. You can find the basic search options at the screen. The user-friendliness and effectiveness of using Google Flights is much appreciated. It makes the overall flight search process very hassle-free.

The Menu option (three dashes) in the top left corner gives the following shortcuts.

• Travel-search for flights, hotels, and more.
• Explore-this option shows the world map along with travel options. You can fill the travel details accordingly. We will discuss more about this feature later in this blog post.

• Things To Do– shows top insights and places to visit in a particular country/city.
• Flights– we will discuss more on this later.
• Hotels– insert the city and number of occupants; display the list of hotels available in the city and price.
• Vacation Rentals– fill in the details to get the list with the price. Tracked Flight Prices- shows the history of tracked flights.

Lastly, this is also where the user can change the country, language, and currency – a crucial feature.

Google Flights Search Tutorial

Now let us understand how to use Google Flights to find cheap flights like a pro. To start your flight search, enter the information, such as where you want to fly from and where you want to fly with the preferred travel dates in the middle of the homepage. You can provide any of the following:

• Departure Airport: You can choose up to seven departing locations to find cheap flights by clicking on the ‘+’ option to select more than one departure airport. This option allows us to see the multi city google flights in one glance.  

• Destination: Similarly, you can choose up to seven locations to fly to by clicking on the ‘+’ option. This option helps in multi city google flights search very easily. This allows you to get details of multiple entries.
• Dates of Travel: Choose the Departure and Arrival dates by clicking the calendar to select your flight dates. You’ll see the lowest total price to fly for each day, and if you are flexible with travel dates, you can choose the dates with the cheapest airfare. In this calendar view, the dates in green are the cheapest, which helps you to identify the best deal. 

• Type of Trip: Select the type of trip- Round trip, One way, or Multi-City
• Numbers of Passengers: Adults, children, infants in seats, and infants in laps
• Airline Class: Choose the airline class Economy, Premium Economy, Business Class & First Class. 

Google Flights has some of the powerful filters which allow the user to narrow down the search results. Here are all the filters you can use while searching for a specific flight.

• Stops: If you want to reach your destination directly, select the option of ‘nonstop flights’. Or, if you’re willing to make stops during your trip – select the number of stops.

• Airlines: Using the airline filter, you can choose a specific airline. This feature is particularly useful if you have airline loyalty and you want to avail that offer. So if you want to fly with a specific airline, you’d only check off that airline. Likewise if you want to avoid a specific set of airlines, you could do that too.

• Bags: Using this feature, you can see flight prices that include the cost of carry-on bags. This allows us to compare prices so that there are no surprise fees at the airport. The Checked Bag option allows Google Flights to include the checked baggage fee in the search results to display the all-in pricing.

• Price: Budget travelers can utilize this Google Flights feature to easily set the maximum price of an air ticket you’re willing to pay for a flight.

• Times: With the help of this filter, you can filter to identify the arrival and departure times according to your schedule. You can choose a morning flight, late-night flight and so on which suits you the best.

• Connecting Airports: This shows the connecting airports so that you can plan your layover stay.

• Duration: Using this feature, you can set the maximum time you’re willing to be on a plane.

How To Find Cheapest Days To Fly

• The calendar view- This allows the user to select the cheapest day to fly, as discussed above. Moreover, Google Flights gives quick pop-up alerts if by shifting your travel dates to a few days could save a few bucks.
• The Date-Grid view- Click the date grid, and Google Flights displays an easy-to-understand, color-coded chart that shows the cheapest dates to fly according to departure and return dates.

• The Price-Graph view– This feature helps to keep track of airfare for the week or month.

After setting the filters as per your requirements, you get the most suitable list of flights.

You can directly book the ticket with the airline as at the final page, Google Flights directs you to the airline website. 

How To Track Flight Prices On Google Flights?

As you scroll through the page after selecting a flight, it will show the chart in the color-coded bar with the usual price in green color, the average price in yellow, or higher than usual airfare by red color. So, Google Flights shows when flights are abnormally expensive so that you can shift your travel dates if you are flexible with dates but have a restricted budget.

Another feature which ensures that you can monitor the changes to the airfare by turning on the toggle button of ‘Track prices’. To get alerts, the user must have a Gmail account to receive e-mails from Google Flights to keep you updated with fluctuating airfare right in your inbox.  

Now click on the ‘Select’ option to be redirected to the airline website.

Get the payment done, and ta..da..you just booked your flight using Google Flights.

It would be an understatement to say Google Flights is a metasearch engine. It is a tech giant and is way ahead of the rest of its competitors due to its unique features and user-friendly interface. 

Not sure where to go? Google Flights Explore is totally for you. 

Google Flights Explore is the best available search option when you want to travel but are unsure of the destination and on a tight budget.

Here are the steps on how to use Google Flights Explore:

• Enter the travel dates or select flexible date guidelines. You can change the travel dates to see the fluctuating pricing. If you are not specific about the travel dates, you can search for flights in the next six months and finalize the travel date with cheap flights. Furthermore, you can move the world map around to view several new destinations along with their prices.
• Finalize a destination that you would like to explore further. Click on the name of the city, and then on ‘View Flights’. It will display the flight options and additional details. The lowest airfare days are in the color green.

Conclusion

Google Flights dominates the SERPs. Google Flights is an excellent flight tool for travelers due to its distinct features. As you know how to use Google Flights to find cheap flights like a pro, all you have to do pack your bags and save some bucks for the next trip.

Do let us know your experience with Google Flights in the comment section below.

Till then, happy flight booking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How to book a flight on Google Flights?

A: A: Google Flights is a one-stop solution for looking best flights. Following is the process. Go to Google Flights at https://www.google.com/flights Enter your departure city or airport and destination Select the ticket type: one-way, roundtrip, or multi-city Select the number of passengers and cabin class Choose your flight dates by clicking on the calender Choose a flight that suits your specifications and schedule Book the plane ticket.

Q: How to add flight information to Google Calendar?

A: A: 1. Log in to Google Calendar at https://calendar.google.com 2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner. 3. From the drop-down menu, click on ‘Settings’ option. 4. In the toolbar on the left-hand side of the page, click on ‘Events from Gmail’. 5. Check the box ‘Automatically add events from Gmail to my calendar’.

Q: How to get flight details on Google now?

A: A: 1. Open Google Now app on your android or iOS app. Ensure your Gmail account is linked with Google Now app. 2. At the top left, tap on Menu. From the drop-down menu, click on ‘Settings’. 3. Click on Google Now cards and then manage your Gmail cards. Once you receive the confirmation of your flights, it will appear on the Google Now flight card. It displays various flight and personal details which will be easy to track.

Q: Does Google Flights show all the airlines?

A: A: No, not all airlines are on Google Flights. Some major airlines do not list their prices on Google Flights. You can check out Superfares website to choose the best flights for your trip.

Q: Is Google Flights accurate?

A: A: Google Flights is very accurate as it fetches data directly from the airline website. If you find any error, it might be from the airline’s end as the airfare keeps changing.

Q: How to turn on Google Flights alerts?

A: A: 1. Go to Google Flights 2. From the ‘Menu’ in the top left corner, select ‘Tracked Prices’. 3. Once you switch on the toggle menu, you will get email notifications on your synced email account.