For years Google, with Google Flights and the ITA Matrix, have been leading the way with the best travel search engine, yesterday Google Flights added another great feature. The new feature will notify you when the price of your selected flight or route is expected to expire.
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How Does it Work?
After you select a particular flight or route, a notification might appear showing when the current fare is expected to increase and how much money you could save by booking now. Be aware that a notification will not always show as a flight could be at its cheapest. The data is based upon on historical data, so don’t expect it to be 100 percent accurate. Although, any feature that can save you money is worth a look.
Other Great Features of Google Flights
Price Tracker
After selecting a route and preferred flights, you have the option to track the price of your flights. With the price tracker feature, you will receive emails about price changes and valuable travel tips for your journey. Just click on Track Price, log into your Google account, and if there are any updates, you will receive an email.
This feature is also available for all flights that fit within your parameters; the price tracker option will appear before the flight options.
Alternative Travel Dates
When you enter your preferred dates of travel, Google Flights will notify you if it would be cheaper to leave/return before or after your preferred dates. A lot of people’s travel dates are flexible which makes this feature very helpful.
Cheaper Nearby Airports
If you could save money by flying into a nearby airport, Google Flights will alert you when searching for airfare. Sometimes this feature will save you both time and money! For instance, here in Southern California, we have 6 airports to choose from – LAX, Burbank, Long Beach, Orange County (SNA), Ontario, and, for those willing to make a longer drive, San Diego.
This example is great as you save $150 and fly nonstop! If you can save $150 per person for a family of 4 by using an alternate airport, that would be $600 in savings… in this example, driving 45 minutes to Orange Country from Los Angeles doesn’t sound so bad if you can save $600, now does it?
When buying your flights, use the right card
There is stiff competition among banks right now for your travel dollars. Citibank Prestige offers $250 a year in travel credits and the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers $300 annually… both of which can be used to purchase airline tickets. Both of these cards earn 3x points when you purchase flights. American Express just upped the game, however, with 5x points when purchasing flights to go along with their $200 a year airline credits on the personal and small business Platinum cards.
In my opinion, any of these cards could find a worthy spot in your wallet, despite their large annual fee. Not only do you receive great benefits from the card, but they also include lounge club access to make your airport experience so much better.
If you’d like to apply for any of these cards, we appreciate it when you use our referral links for Travel Rewards Credit Cards.
Final Thoughts
Along with Google Flights already great features, the new price expiration tool only solidifies their spot at the top of the travel search engine leaderboard. There are times when other sites have deals that can’t be found with Google Flights, but overall Google Flights is the clear winner.
Who else regularly uses Google Flights for paid flights?
