It's also the gateway to finding the cheapest price on hotels, vacation rentals, and things to do while you're there.
The second feature is the handy calendar tool that shows up once you've selected your destination. It shows the cheapest dates in green and sometimes suggests even cheaper options.
Protip: Set the filters you'd like to have from this page and head back to the mapping tool. Google Flights automatically applies the filters - making your search for great deals a lot easier!
Google Flights' main con is the airline listings - they don't have ALL of them. While you'll see most full-service airlines and budget airlines. A few airlines don't show up or may not list their prices on searches, like Southwest.
When this happens, you may need to go directly to the website or look at what OTAs offer.
OTAs or Online Travel Agencies are the middlemen of the flight world. While a few popular ones are aggregated by Google Flights, you'll find many more on other aggregator sites like Skyscanner and Momondo.
Unfortunately, we've heard many travelers are skeptical of OTAs since they question if it's still safe to book with an online travel agent. But they're definitely worth checking, especially for expensive long-haul flights as their prices can be a lot lower than what airlines offer. To make things easier for you, we've ranked the top OTAs for you, but here's where you can find their deals.
Using Skyscanner is pretty straightforward. Just add in your departure city, destination, travel dates, and you're all set. They also have flight filters, e.g. choosing nonstop flights only, flexible tickets only, and adding nearby airports.
What makes them stand out from other OTA aggregators is their flexibility. For example, you can choose to see the "cheapest month" or "whole month" when selecting dates.
Plus, the "search everywhere tool" shows a list of flight deals around the world, directly answering your questions about how to find cheap flights to anywhere. But, sometimes the prices aren't accurate, so it's best to use it as a starting point.
Next up, Kayak and Momondo. We're talking about them together because they have the same parent company and many similarities. They both pull from large OTA databases, including popular OTAs like Expedia and much lesser-known ones. This is great for finding the lowest fares, but it makes them a little slower.
Momondo has upped their filter game lately. Apart from choosing which OTAs you'd like, you can also select the flight quality. This could mean choosing flights with wifi, hiding red-eye tickets, or mixing & matching fares.
The mix & match fares, also known as “hacker fares”, are a combination of separate airline tickets. This sometimes leads to lower prices but could mean different refund policies.
Not sure if you're getting the cheapest flights? The "Our advice" section at the top corner lets you know if a price is likely to drop in a few days. It works similarly to Google Flights' price graph by calculating recent price data. But sometimes the stickman appears, which is code for "IDK yet."
On the other hand, Kayak takes the best of both worlds from Google Flights and Momondo. The interface is very similar to Google Flights. Plus, they have the flight quality and OTA filters like Momondo.
One unique feature is their fee assistant, which calculates the flight price to include baggage fees. So, let's say you plan to carry a checked bag - simply choose your destination and dates, click on the checked bag icon - bada bing bada boom, no surprises!
Checking for alternative prices on flight search engines is a must to find the cheapest flights available. Even if you have miles/points or are part of a frequent flyer program, it's still worth checking. These airlines ain't loyal, and your wallet shouldn't be either.
Sidenote: To up your chances of getting a great deal, try combining these tools into a single workflow by using a comparison tool. We've released a free browser plugin that converts Google Flights pages to equivalent searches in Skyscanner, Momondo, and Kayak for easy comparison. You can grab it on the Google Chrome Store and Firefox/Mozilla Edge.
Booking via Online Travel Agents (OTAs), instead of buying your ticket directly from the airline, will often make your flight cheaper, but not always!
Cheap FlightsOnline Travel Agents sometimes get 'exclusive' fares from specific airlines, allowing them to sell add-ons like checked bags for far less than the airline sells them, even if the base ticket price is the same. This is especially true for most long-haul flights with traditional full-service airlines like British Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, etc.
European budget airlines, like Ryanair, Easyjet & Wizzair, almost always offer the cheapest fares on their website. On the US side, it's uncommon to find cheaper OTA's for full-service airlines like JetBlue and United Airlines.
While still in the minority, a few full-service carriers like Delta, American, KLM & Air France have decided to buck the trend and offer the cheapest fares only on their website. There are some drawbacks to buying flights with Online Travel Agents, but overall it's generally safe and can make your flight cheaper.
Like we talked about in the myth-busting section, gone are the days when airlines release tickets once a week. They've made it very difficult to predict when any particular destination will go up or down in price.
The good news is that we've noticed some patterns in the times when great flight deals show up. We go more in-depth in the best time to book a flight article, but here's the gist of it:
From our experience, the cheapest months to search flights are usually after the general holiday/high season in January, February, August, and September.
On the flip side - the closer you get to the holiday season in May, June, April, and October, the more it'll cost to book a flight. December is usually the most expensive.
On the flip side - the closer you get to the holiday season in May, June, April, and October, the more it'll cost to book a flight. December is usually the most expensive.
This is all a rule of thumb of course; prices reacting to demand is still a thing. Big world events like the Olympics or even regional events like the Brazilian carnival can greatly impact the fares you'll see.
After choosing the best time to book, the next step is figuring out when is the right season to fly. ”Well, that's an easy one” you may be thinking “just go during the low/off-peak seasons."
That might work for year-round destinations like Iceland, but booking a beach vacation in the Caribbean during the hurricane season isn't such a good idea.
An easy way to find the sweet spot between peak season and cheap international flights for any city is to hop on the Google Flights explore page, click on a destination and scroll down the infobox on the left. You'll find helpful tidbits on the weather and, in some cases, popular holidays and festivals.
Traveling during the shoulder season (the period between the high and low seasons) is often the best of both worlds - good weather, fewer crowds, and deals on more than just the flights. Knowing what to expect during each season will help you decide if it's worth visiting during the off-season.
Low Season: November - March. During the winter, the temperature drops, and in some countries, rainy days increase. December is an exception here - prices go up for ski season, Christmas markets, and Christmas break.
Shoulder Season: Early October for Southern Europe, April - May for Western Europe. During this time, the weather is still comfortable, but the holiday crowds are yet to come.
Low Season: July - October for Southeast Asia. You'd want to avoid going during the Monsoon season when typhoons and tropical storms occur frequently.
Low Season: October - April. The 'top end' or Northern territory is also affected by the Monsoon season. While the rest of Australia varies, the general rule of thumb is June - August, during the winter.
