How to Use Google Flights: A Complete Guide

When you’re in the points and miles games, you’re always looking for an edge. Well, Google Flights is one of the tools to take your knowledge of how to book flights to the next level. This platform has all of the horsepower you’d expect from a Google platform with an easy to use interface.

One of the things to appreciate about Google Flights is that it’s straightforward to navigate. Simply click around the website, and you can become a Google Flights pro in no time. So, let’s dive into how to impress your fellow award travel friends by showing you the ins and outs of Google Flights.

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How does Google Flights work?

Go to googleflights.com and enter your departure city/airport and destination. Another approach is to find a destination by clicking on the popular destinations list or the world map.

Next, select your airfare type from one-way, roundtrip, or multi-city. Then, select the number of passengers and preferred cabin class. Click the interactive calendar to select your travel dates. Google Flights sorts by the lowest total airfare price to fly for each day. These prices are updated approximately once every 24 hours.

For further optionality, you can filter your results by clicking click the number of stops, preferred airline, or flight time. You can sort your flight results by Best Flights, Price, Duration, and Departure Time.

When you’re ready, choose a flight for each segment of your trip. When you click the flight you want, you’re directed to the airline or travel agency’s website to book the flight. Alternatively, if you choose Book on Google, you do not have to leave Google Flights to book the flight. Separately, you can book separate tickets, a unique feature of the website.

After your flight is booked, contact the airline or travel agency to make any changes to your airfare. And that’s it. You have booked your airfare through Google Flights.

Google Tracked Flights

If you’re not quite ready to pull the trigger on your flight, the tracked flights feature comes to the rescue. Under your origin city, you will see “Tracked prices” with an info button followed by a radio button that you can select. You can run a flight search and select the radio button to track all flights, or you can select an individual flight and then track that flight using the radio button.

On the far right of the tracked flights radio button, you will see “Date grid” and “Price graph”. This makes it easy to sort and filter the flights are looking to book. Simply click either option to more easily see flights in the format of your choice.

Google Flight Alerts

Once you start tracking flights, you receive flight alerts via email. If the price of your flight(s) increases or decreases, you receive Google flight alerts.

You can track any number of flight and route combinations. This makes it easy to keep tabs on flights that you may want to book in the future.

Google Flight Explorer

One of the many fun features of the website is Flight Explorer. This feature acts as a kind of Google Flight maps. Enter your flight details like one-way or round-trip, number of passengers, etc., and Google Flights search anywhere recommends flight options based on your inputs.

Google Flight Explorer is ideal if you do not know exactly where you want to travel, are flexible, and looking for ideas. For example, one-way flights you can book from New Orleans within the next six months include $98 to Jamaica, $84k to Cancun, and $35 to Miami.

Common Questions

What is Google Flights?

Google Flights is a flight booking service launched in 2011 that allows you to purchase airline tickets through third-parties.

Can you book through Google Flights?

If you choose Book on Google, you can complete the transaction without leaving Google.

Conclusion on Google Flights

Google Flights is one of the most powerful search engines in the aviation industry. The website works by following the steps on Find your flights. One of the unique features of the platform is the ability to track your flights. You can also set up flight alerts and/or try the flight explorer feature.

What Google Flights features do you like the most? Please let me know in the comments or by sending me an email on my contact page.

Disclaimer: If you click and/or sign up for a credit card through certain links on this site or any of my related social media platforms, I may make a commission from that click-through.  The editorial content on this page and the user comments are not provided by any of the companies mentioned and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The opinions expressed here are mine alone.