7 Google Flights Hacks For Cheap Flights [2022] | How To Use Google Flights For Cheap Airfare?

For Cheap flights using Google, Follow these simple steps. 

1. Use the incognito mode of the browser to do all the research.
2. Open the map view
3. Instead of a specific destination, enter the country or multiple places
4. Use flexible dates option
5. Scan through the results on the price graph  and select the best as per your need

Easier said than done? Keep reading for step by step guide to saving money on air travel using Google flights

Also, I have shared a hack using which you can use Google Flights Web as Mobile App!!

Hack.1 Google Flights Multi city Airport 

How to select multiple city airports on GoogleFlights?

To search multiple airports in Google Flights,

Navigate to Google flights

Enter the Origin

Note: You can enter multiple locations, 7 to be specific, in Origin and Destinations. 

Type the first destination name, click on the + symbol, type another name, and check the box.

This will get you the best rate if you are flexible about boarding the plane from any origin or landing in any destination airport.

Cheap Flights from Dallas

Hack.2 Google Flights Calendar 

How to use Google Flight Calendar?

Click on the from date, an airfare calendar view will appear showing the cost of tickets on each date of the month selected.

Note: Google Flights Calendar is your first point where you can look for lowest airfare without hitting the enter button.

If you do not find the cheapest ticket, scroll to next month. 

Note: The dates in the search range will be highlighted with the background color.

Click on Done & Google will start searching for flights.

The flights' results page will be displayed where you can apply filters like # stops, Airlines, Bags, prices, etc.

Hack.3 Google Flights Alert

How to get Flights Alerts?

If you turn on the slider beside Track Prices, you will receive an email whenever there is a drastic change in price.

Make the tool work for you while you take care of other stuff!

Also popularly known as Flights Price Tracker, You can use the Flights Tracking option (Google flight watch) in case you want to be alerted when there is a change in the price.

This is an excellent feature in case you want to get the lowest airfare between the Origin & Destination with no date constraints.

Whenever there is a price change, Google will send you an email on your registered mail id.

Do read complete Guide to Google flight price tracker alert

Hack.4 Google Flights Date Grid:

How to use Flights Date Grid view?

You can also click on the Date grid to see the price in a Grid form. This is an excellent view and you can adjust your travel dates accordingly.

Also, you get to see the full month in one shot!

Hack.5 Google flights price graph 

How to use Google Flights price graph?

Eg. If your flight from Houston to Dallas shows as taller bar among the tiny bars,  Just click on the tiniest bar and you just saved some $$!

Once you are done selecting the best price, it will display the Best departing flights. 

Flights are ranked based on the best tradeoff between price and convenience.

Click on the flight that best suits your needs, it will bring up Return flight data in case you have selected a return flight.

Now your flight details will be displayed based on your selection. 

Note: If you want to track this flight combination, slide the Track Price slider to enable the tracking.

You will get two booking options:

Book on Google with the provider

Book with the provider

In both the case, you will be booking with the provider and post-booking, all the support will be provided by the provider.

Enjoy your trip!!

Hack.6 Google Flight Search Anywhere (Map view)

How to Google Flight to anywhere?

You can click on Explore link on the left-hand side of GoogleFlights home page and it will display a Map where you can check the price displayed on the map.

Now enter your origin city and leave destination blank, hit the search button. 

Google flight will display the air fare on the map, starting from location near to your origin.

As you zoom out, it will show the airfare across the globe, that's the beauty of search anywhere!

Hack.7 Google flights flexible dates

How to set flexible dates on Google flight?

The flexible date tool is available on the date control of Map view.

The flight map is also displayed once you enter Origin and dates, click on the Search button. 

The map will display the price from the place you selected in Origin.

Select "Flexible Dates" in case you want to select dates based on flight rates.

Read details of How To Use Google Flights Flexible Dates

What is Flights from Google?

GoogleFlights website is an Online flight search platform (metasearch engine) from Google. 

It does not have a booking facility, it will search the flight rates across the service providers, and based on your choice, it will take you to the respective provider's website for booking.

The providers could be the actual flight operators or Online booking agents.

How To Use Google Flights?

To book air tickets using Google flights, follow these simple steps:

1. Open Google flights
2. Enter Origin i.e the city from you will be taking the flight.
3. Enter Destination i.e the city you plan to visit
4. Enter Dates (in case of single journey, make sure to select one way from the drop down)
5. Press the search button and google will present all the flight options

This is the standard search, but to get cheap airfare Google Flights provide some tips and tricks that are listed above in the form of hacks.

Video Courtesy: TechInsider

Booking Flights through Google

Once you are happy with the flight fare, click on it and Google Flight will give you booking options , it could be 

1. Directly at the airline booking site

2. Book with a travel agent (online).

Why does Google say book with a travel agent?

Googleflight is not a booking portal, its simply an online flight search engine.

Hence it asks you to book with a travel agent or directly at the airline booking site!

Are you getting a good deal from Google Flights?

No matter how much research we do, this question always lingers at back of our mind,

 "Is this the best deal?"

Well, Google Flights try to give you some assurance by displaying the price trend in Booking details section (scroll down after selecting your flights)

This price slider indicates at what level (low or high) you are getting the flight ticket you selected.

This slider is based on the historical price of the flight in the route you selected.

Google Flight booking options

Once you have navigated to Google.com/travel/flights, you will see multiple options to search for the flights. These options are right on top of the booking site.

The table below summarizes it.

Journey Type	#Passengers	Class of Travel
Round Trip	Adult	Economy
One Way	Minors (2-11)	Premium Economy
Multi City	Infants in seat	Business
	Infants on lap	First

   

Google Flights One way

You have the option of searching either return journey tickets or one way ticket.

On the ticket booking screen, the first option (drop down) allows you to select Google Flights One way or return journey ticket.

At times Google Flights One Way tickets cost less but most of the time I have found Google flights return journey to be more budget friendly.

Multi city Flights Google

In case you plan not to return from the same city where you landed, Google flight provides you multi city flights option.

Eg. You started from SFO & land in NYC. From there you go till Chicago by car. Now you want to return back to SFO, here multi city flights will come handy.

Benefits of booking Multi city flights

You don't have to enter same data multiple times.

Cons of booking Multi city flights

You may find round trips or flights from other carrier to be better priced as compared to multi city, but there may be some exceptions.

How to Use Google Flights to book business class flights?

Well, all the steps are same for booking business class or first class or Premium economy. 

Just select the class from the dropdown and Google flights will show you results for that class.

Note: Since Business class and First class flight tickets cost more, you may be better off using your flight points or using credit cards that offer great cashbacks.

Google Flights Tracking

By Google Flights Tracking you mean Tracking the flight arrival/departure status or The flight price change tracker?

Tracking the flight arrival/departure status

In this case, to track your flight, you will have to visit the Airlines website and enter your reference number and other details to track the flight.

Google Flight does not have a Flight Tracker as Google is not an air service provider, its a search engine.

You can always search a flight status and Google search engine will return results that will help you track your flight, but that is not Google Flight tracker, its just Google search result!!

Google Flight Price Tracker

In this case, you will have to navigate to Google flights, click on the 3line on the left top corner and click on Tracked Flight Prices.

In case you have set a price alert, you will find it here.

Does Google Flights have an App?

Google Play store is an ocean of apps but one app missing in it is Google Flights!

This useful tool does not have an App, for any of the mobile platforms namely  Apple or Android or Windows mobile platform.

The only way to access Google flights at the time of writing this post was via a browser.

Hack To Google Flights App

If you frequently use Google Flights on your mobile and find it inconvenient to fire up Google flight every time, there is a hack to avoid such inconvenience.

1. Open Google Chrome on your mobile.

2. Click on the three dots on right hand side and select "Add to Home Screen"

Voila!!  You have Google Flights App on your mobile!!

Well, its not exactly a mobile native app, but who cares as long as work is getting done!!

Google Flights With Lower Carbon Emissions

Google Flights FAQ:

1. What are GoogleFlights Alerts?

It is an option where you can set prices alert. 

If you are tracking flight tickets in a particular route, no need to check it daily. Just set an alert and whenever there is a price change, you will get an email!!

2. How to find the cheapest air tickets on Google Flights?

You can check the 

    Google Flights Price Graph

    Date Grid 

    Flexible Dates

    Google flights matrix

    Price Tracker

    Google Flights search anywhere

to find the cheapest flights.

3. Is Google flights the cheapest?

4. Google Flights Calendar Not Showing Prices

5. How to get Google Flights App?

6. How to do Flexible dates on Google Flights?

Click the Flexible Dates tab, the value is pre-populated with "1-week trip in the next 6 months"

You can modify few things here like select specific months or make your trip duration to 2 weeks or Weekend.

And watch the magic of Google Flights Flexible Dates!! 

Do you like the rates you see there? Go ahead and book your flights!!

Not willing to book at the available rates, no problem. Set Flights Alerts on the dates and let Google do the work for you.

7. How to select flexible dates on Google flights?

Click on Map view

Tap on the date input

You will see two options, Specific and flexible dates

8. Is Google flights available in India?

Yes, Google flights is available across the world, including India.

Unlike many other websites, it does not come with an .in extension, it works with .com itself.

9. GoogleFlights calendar not showing prices

This looks like some issue with your browser cookies . Delete cookies on the browser and restart the browser and check again.

10. Is Google flights explore map gone?

No, the GoogleFlights explore map is not gone, it's under the Explore option from the left-hand side of the Home page.

11. How do I find anywhere on Google flights?

If your intention is to go anywhere in the world that offers the lowest airfare, use the Google Flights Explore Maps option.

Just enter your Origin city and leave destination blank. It will pop up the flights that cost lowest from your city.

Another way is the map view that will show which all flights cost least on the world map.

12. Is Car rental available on Google flights?

No, car rental is not one of the option available on Google travel/flights.

You will find Hotel search option though.

13. What Is Google flights Currency?

Depending on from which country you are accessing GoogleFlights or location setting of your browser, you will get the option of currency applicable for that country.

Eg: If you are browsing from the US, you will get USD as the currency, if from Australia, AUD will be the currency option for you. 

14. How To Change Google flight to USD?

In case you want to change the currency displayed in GoogleFlights, follow these simple steps:

1. Browse to Google Flights
2. Scroll down to the bottom
3. You will see the option to change the currency, select USD from the options.
4. Additionally, you can change the language or location as well.

15. Why Are Google flights Cheaper?

Google Flights is an flight search engine and it displays the flights based on the price made available by the providers.

So technically speaking, Google Flights are not cheaper, but it does find and show you the lowest airfare available if your filter is set to cheapest flights.

16. How To Find Google flights Without Dates?

By default a date is selected in Google flights. Even when booking using flexible dates, google flights restricts it to next 6month.

In short, you cannot find flights without using dates in Google flights.

17. Google flights incognito mode

To access incognito mode in chrome browser, first open chrome browser the press Ctrl+Shift+n / Command+shift+N in Mac and it will open chrome  browser in incognito mode. 

Note: Some browsers call it New InPrivate Window

Other way is click on the three dots (menu) on the top right hand side and select "New Incognito Window"/"New InPrivate Window" depending on your browser.

Now you can search flights incognito. 

18. Is It safe to use Google Flights?

Yes, Google Flights is a legit tool and it suggests trusted service providers and airlines. You can rest assured while using Google flights. 

Full screening is done while registering the business with Google Flights to ensure only genuine providers are listed.

In case you come across fraud, do raise it with Google Travel support team. They will investigate and if needed blacklist the service provider.

19. How Do I Increase My Google Tickets?

Google Flights allows maximum 9 ticket bookings at a time. In case you want to increase your Google tickets, you will have do multiple bookings

How does Google Flights work?

Google acquired ITA Software in order to provide better flight search experience to its users.

In fact the ITA Matrix is being used by many online travel search and booking platforms to provide most economical air tickets.

Long story short, Google Flights Matrix is same as ITA Matrix now.

Pros and Cons of Google Flights

Pros	Cons
Google Flights aggregates data from a large number of travel agencies and airlines	There are few low budget airlines that are not listed on Google Flights
Google Flights can predict delays based on the historical data and few Artificial Intelligence methods	The price displayed during search and at the time of booking may sometimes change
Most of the time you directly book with airline hence avoiding the middleman commission	Google mostly display Airfare listed by airline, at times OTA's are cheaper
Google Flights provide various tools to find the flights best suited to your pocket	For few, too many options may be confusing

Airlines not listed in Google Flights

Many budget air carriers like Southwest airlines, Allegiant, Air China are not available on Google Flights. 

You will have to visit their respective websites or use other Online travel booking sites to see if these airlines offer better rates for your travel.

Skyscanner vs Google Flights

Skyscanner is another great online flight search engine with lots of tools/features using which you can find best airfare.

One of the biggest difference I found between these Online search engine is Skyscanner includes all airlines and small Online Travel Platforms as well in its search results unlike Google that do not show few of the ultra budget, no frill airlines.

Click To read Skyscanner Review

Google flights other options

If you look closely, Google Flights link is like google.com/travel/flights but no one refer to it as Google Travel.

Looks like another case of popularity engulfing the intent like photocopy got engulfed by Xerox!

A Quick recap of GoogleFlights

Here is a quick recap and a shorter version of all the hacks in video format from Project Untethered.

Difference between Google Flights and Google Travel?

Not many use the term Google Travel, its the parent of Google Flights!

Google Travel is Google's foray into the travel industry but it has kept itself as Search Engine for Flights, Hotels, Car rental, Vacations. 

What it means is Google Travel will display the least expensive, most relevant results when you search for it on Google Travel but for booking it will re-direct you to the airline or travel agent booking site as per your decision.

Do check out complete Google Travel Guide

Google Travel Offerings:

Following services are offered by Google Travel:

1. Google Travel: 

The travel link on left hand side of Google Flights will display travel restrictions, things to do, travel related articles for the destination you entre.

2. Google Travel Explore:

Click on Explore icon on the left hand side of Google Travel, enter the city you will be traveling from, enter the city you will be traveling to, select dates and it will pop out flights, hotels options along with the places to visit.

3. Google Travel Things To Do:

At this link you can enter any destination and you will see useful articles related to how to get best of that place.

4. Google Travel Flights Search: 

Google Flights have become the biggest feature of Google Travel, so much so that no one calls it Google Travel but all refer it as Google Flights!!

5. Google Travel Hotels

Just below the most popular option of flights, you will see a link to search for hotels.

Google Hotels is not as powerful as the GoogleFlight but may be google will improve upon it to give the same experience as flight.

6. Google Travel Vacation Rentals:

Normally House and apartments are more budget friendly than Hotels, so this is a good feature from Google but again its very basic but does what its supposed to do!

7. Tracked Flight Prices

To access it, click on the hamburger menu option (three horizontal lines at the right hand side) and there you will see it hiding!! 😃

Google Travel Car Rental

For now, google travel rental cars are not part of Google Travel.

Do check out complete Google Travel Guide

If you want to see for yourself how the google flights hacks work, read this flight booking simulation from SLC with the step to confirm if you got the cheapest airfare for your route!

Conclusion:

My Verdict: Google Flights should definitely be one of the sites to go when you are looking for cheap airfare, let it be economy class or business class.

Google Fly may not have all the budget airlines but it do coverup for that unless you are traveling with almost no luggage! 

Hope these Google Flights Hacks will help you get cheap flights on Google!

Click the link to check more non Google Flight options to Get Cheap Flight Tickets