If you’ve never used Google Flights, you’re missing out. While the service already does a great job at finding the best deal or telling you if you’re paying too much, Google’s latest update has three new features to make flying more affordable. Plus, now goes into greater detail about the best time to book a flight.
This week, Google announced three new features that will quickly help travelers choose the cheapest time to book a flight, along with better price tracking alerts and a price guarantee option. If you’ve used Google Flights in the past, you might know that it pulls data from previous flights and then spits out an “average” price along with a pricing history graph. This helps you understand if you’re getting a deal, paying about average, or spending more than you should. However, now the system goes into far greater detail.
The new Google Flights has upgraded insights that won’t just give you an average price people pay. Instead, it’ll answer the age-old question, “Should I book now or wait a few weeks?” Google Flights now shares a slew of information for any specific date or destination and will suggest when it’s more affordable to book a flight. For example, making a reservation after the warm summer months in September or October will save you money. In that case, wait a bit and book after summer ends.
Google’s blog post explains how its detailed traveling and price insights will help you find cheaper flights. For example, if you’re looking to travel during Christmas, the best time to book a flight will likely be sometime in mid-October. Then, the newly upgraded price tracking feature will do all the heavy lifting for you, and you’ll get an alert when the system finds a deal that’s too good to pass up. You can set price tracking for a specific destination if you’re flexible on dates or choose an exact date for an upcoming trip or wedding and wait for the alerts.
The third change is a price guarantee of sorts. On select flights in certain regions, if Google Flights is confident you’re getting the best deal possible, you’ll see a little price guarantee badge pop-up. Google will monitor the pricing until your departure time, so you don’t have to, and if the price goes down, you’ll get a refund for the difference sent to your Google Pay account. Travelers will also see a new overview of 2023 flight booking trends to help them make the most informed decisions while flying.
Source: Google
