Article: How to Use Google Flights for Cheaper Airfares

[AFF Editor]

How to Use Google Flights for Cheaper Airfares is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/google-flights-guide/

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[SYD]

I need to explore the "explore" feature more!

I'm still a die-hard ITA Matrix searcher (especially searching from multiple starting points and destinations - looking for the best J fares), but I'm finding ITA a bit more temperamental these days. They're probably trying to encourage us to move over to GF.

Something to be wary of using GF looking for whY fares is it'll pick up the cheapest available fare bucket that isn't necessarily the most suitable eg a HLO fare (no checked bag included). I encountered this earlier in week helping a friend find some flights in Europe. He had a BA voucher to use up and the cheapest fare from LON to BCN (return) just happended to be on BA but GF was showing the HLO only fare and it was about £50 extra to check bags there and back (but it was still a reasonable fare). There's probably an advanced feature to preculde certain fare buckets (like ITA Matrix has).

 

[aikman]

I wish the Explore function was available in list format sorted by price. Scrolling through the map at different zoom levels isn't very efficient.

 

[WilsonM]

I need to explore the "explore" feature more!

I'm still a die-hard ITA Matrix searcher (especially searching from multiple starting points and destinations - looking for the best J fares), but I'm finding ITA a bit more temperamental these days. They're probably trying to encourage us to move over to GF.

Something to be wary of using GF looking for whY fares is it'll pick up the cheapest available fare bucket that isn't necessarily the most suitable eg a HLO fare (no checked bag included). I encountered this earlier in week helping a friend find some flights in Europe. He had a BA voucher to use up and the cheapest fare from LON to BCN (return) just happended to be on BA but GF was showing the HLO only fare and it was about £50 extra to check bags there and back (but it was still a reasonable fare). There's probably an advanced feature to preculde certain fare buckets (like ITA Matrix has).

I agree that a HLO filter would be a good addition - I wonder how hard it would be to actually implement considering they have a no overhead locker filter - would imagine that's just a filter of certain fare classes, as you said.

I found ITA would just not complete a search once you added a certain number of airports on both sides, when searching for the calendar. My go-to process is generally GF first, then ITA 2nd so I can narrow down the arrival airports to a couple of destinations. The Explore function is just so handy, being able to search entire regions, for the cheapest flights within a month. That range it covers is just great.

 

[Pushka]

What have been the experiences using some of the booking agents that google flights opens up? I've used edream, but are the others 'safe' to use?

 

[SYD]

What have been the experiences using some of the booking agents that google flights opens up? I've used edream, but are the others 'safe' to use?

I always try booking direct first but if I can't replicate or want to try and avoid FOREX i might try Webjet (or usual suspects). I'm wary of venturing too far into vague OTA land - especially for complicated/expensive J fares.

 

[Melburnian1]

I still like ITA Matrix, which finds me the flights I want.

It's becoming untrue that flights to UK/Europe are 'expensive'. A split booking to Asia, then after an hotel stay (to ensure one connects) another carrier from there to UK, returning from Europe after using trains in between, can considerably reduce the J cost.

While I don't use them, mainland Chinese carriers have begun offering cheap J return fares from Oz to various Asian destinations.

 

[Berlin]

I used to always search first on Google flights but have found recently, that often better J fares can be found that don’t show up at all on Google- I usually check Amex travel first who has a couple of great deals lately (as much as I hate actually booking through them) and even some of my favourite airlines directly. Maybe it’s more useful for cheap Y fares, could very well be.

Especially the flexible date best fare feature I find utterly useless as the cheapest fares are usually on airlines I’m not keen to use.

 

[SYD]

Especially the flexible date best fare feature I find utterly useless as the cheapest fares are usually on airlines I’m not keen to use.

You can filter by Alliance or specific airlines.

 

[Berlin]

You can filter by Alliance or specific airlines.

But can you specifically filter OUT certain ones? Might very well be that I simply don’t know the site well enough…

 

[eastwest101]

But can you specifically filter OUT certain ones? Might very well be that I simply don’t know the site well enough…

I think it's quicker if you filter every airline in, and then reopen the filter and start de-selecting or excluding specific airlines and the results will update, but I get what you mean, it's a bit clunky.

 

[jase05]

I love Google flights but I hate sifting through the prices to get the airline prices as I won’t book through a third party. Would be great if you could filter that out. I also find plenty of prices that when you click on them it says “that price has changed” and it’s increased substantially

 

[Phobic]

How to Use Google Flights for Cheaper Airfares is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/google-flights-guide/

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

The following link https://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-flights:research=SYDLON-LONSYD is the basis behind google flights if anybody is interested in looking

 

[clifford]

I was looking for flights from SHJ to BKK on google/flights today, and it came up with QR in business class for around AUD$2,300 RT, which I thought was quite reasonable in this post-Covid day and age.

However, google said that I'd have to call QR to get the fare, but I thought, why not try it online on QR's website.

Lo and behold, it was able to easily book the flights and ticket the itinerary (SHJ-DOH-BKK-DOH-SHJ) at the quoted price. So don't always believe google re ticketing.

 

[SYD]

The following link https://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-flights:research=SYDLON-LONSYD is the basis behind google flights if anybody is interested in looking

I still prefer the original version…

Matrix - ITA Software by Google

Matrix, ITA's original airfare shopping engine, has yielded years of traveler insights and been the origin for many of our innovative flight shopping features.

oldmatrix.itasoftware.com

 

[marks]

I think the Explore feature is so underrated. Great for planning status runs

 

[WilsonM]

As an FYI, Google flights have introduced a checked bag filter - I haven't tested it, but it does exist. You should be able to find fares that are HLO, or include a checked bag pretty easily