In praise of Google flights

[peregrina2000]

I mentioned google flights on another thread recently, and though many of you may already know all about it, I am a newbie to the google flights website. I have only one option for flying from my home, since American is the only airline that flies into my town. I know that I don’t want to book on expedia, orbitz or another 3rd party site, having seen first hand how those who book directly with the airline get much better treatment in case of a mix-up, delay, mechanical, etc. So I have only been using American’s website for years now.

A friend said I should take a look at google flights, and I couldn’t imagine what the advantage could be. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see a ticket from my town to Lisbon and back that was substantially cheaper than what the American Airlines website was showing. I clicked on the google link to American, bought my ticket on the American website, but then called Customer Service just to make sure I had a legitimate American ticket.

The rep told me it was a perfectly good ticket, so I asked how it could possibly be that google flights was showing a ticket that was several thousand cheaper than the American website. It turns out that it’s because google flights had found a codeshare flight that was much cheaper. So for one of my legs, Madrid to Chicago, though I am on the Iberia flight, the flight shows up as a FinnAir flight! This is not a problem for the ticket or for my flight, but google flights found a Finn Air sale that American didn’t alert me to.

I am going in about a month, so I will definitely report back if there are any snafus, but I’m expecting that all will go well.

p.s. Friends also tell me that Kayak also operates in the same fashion, but I’m perfectly happy with google flights and will use it from now on, even though I will always be flying on American!

 

[Marbe2]

I mentioned google flights on another thread recently, and though many of you may already know this, I am a newbie to this website. I have only one option for flying from my home, since American is the only airline that flies into my town. I know that I don’t want to book on expedia, orbitz or another 3rd party site, having seen first hand how those who book directly with the airline get much better treatment in case of a mix-up, delay, mechanical, etc. So I have only been using American’s website for years now.

A friend said I should take a look at google flights, and I couldn’t imagine what the advantage could be. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see a ticket from my town to Lisbon and back that was substantially cheaper than what the American Airlines website was showing. I clicked on the google link to American, bought my ticket on the American website, but then called Customer Service just to make sure I had a legitimate American ticket.

The rep told me it was a perfectly good ticket, so I asked how it could possibly be that google flights was showing a ticket that was several thousand cheaper than the American website. It turns out that it’s because google flights had found a codeshare flight that was much cheaper. So for one of my legs, Madrid to Chicago, though I am on the Iberia flight, the flight shows up as a FinnAir flight! This is not a problem for the ticket or for my flight, but google flights found a Finn Air sale that American didn’t alert me to.

I am going in about a month, so I will definitely report back if there are any snafus, but I’m expecting that all will go well.

p.s. Friends also tell me that Kayak also operates in the same fashion, but I’m perfectly happy with google flights and will us it from now on, even though I will always be flying on American!

I, too, regularly compare google, Kayak and Skyscanner. Even on Skyscanner, sometimes they list a flight, cheaper than when I look directly on United, same flight, same airline.

 

[Bradypus]

p.s. Friends also tell me that Kayak also operates in the same fashion, but I’m perfectly happy with google flights and will us it from now on, even though I will always be flying on American!

I use Kayak to search for options but then book direct with the airline concerned. I find the Kayak user interface is very straightforward and intuitive.

 

[peregrina2000]

I, too, regularly compare google, Kayak and Skyscanner. Even on Skyscanner, sometimes they list a flight, cheaper than when I look directly on United, same flight, same airline.

I use Kayak to search for options but then book direct with the airline concerned. I find the Kayak user interface is very straightforward and intuitive.

So why did it take me 20 years to learn this?!

 

[C clearly]

So why did it take me 20 years to learn this?!

Because you have been occupied with doing and learning other things!

 

[Old Bamboo]

I've used Google Flights for years, my 1st stop when ticket searching

 

[Marbe2]

So why did it take me 20 years to learn this?!

Because you have been a selfless pioneer woman focusing on the trails, opening up possibilities of various Camino routes to many of us. Thank You Laurie!

 

[Kiwi-family]

So why did it take me 20 years to learn this?!

Because it's only been around for 13! You're almost an early adopter;-)

 

[peregrina2000]

I also will defend my lapse by pointing out that since I only have one airline available, I never imagined that someone else’s search engine could give me better prices than the airline itself, and still have it be an official ticket purchased directly through the airline. I think I need to start traveling more to make up for lost time and save more money!

 

[KFH]

I mentioned google flights on another thread recently, and though many of you may already know this, I am a newbie to this website. I have only one option for flying from my home, since American is the only airline that flies into my town. I know that I don’t want to book on expedia, orbitz or another 3rd party site, having seen first hand how those who book directly with the airline get much better treatment in case of a mix-up, delay, mechanical, etc. So I have only been using American’s website for years now.

A friend said I should take a look at google flights, and I couldn’t imagine what the advantage could be. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see a ticket from my town to Lisbon and back that was substantially cheaper than what the American Airlines website was showing. I clicked on the google link to American, bought my ticket on the American website, but then called Customer Service just to make sure I had a legitimate American ticket.

The rep told me it was a perfectly good ticket, so I asked how it could possibly be that google flights was showing a ticket that was several thousand cheaper than the American website. It turns out that it’s because google flights had found a codeshare flight that was much cheaper. So for one of my legs, Madrid to Chicago, though I am on the Iberia flight, the flight shows up as a FinnAir flight! This is not a problem for the ticket or for my flight, but google flights found a Finn Air sale that American didn’t alert me to.

I am going in about a month, so I will definitely report back if there are any snafus, but I’m expecting that all will go well.

p.s. Friends also tell me that Kayak also operates in the same fashion, but I’m perfectly happy with google flights and will us it from now on, even though I will always be flying on American!

They do pretty well on that codeshare stuff. Don't feel too bad-- they haven't been as good as they are now for all that time. Not sure when they got better at it. Several years ago when I first tried it, I didn't get anything I couldn't get a dozen other places, and so ignored it. But a couple years ago I went back and they are much better than before, which probably means they bought some company out in order to get better and capture the market.

 

[trecile]

Before Google Flights there was ITA Matrix by Google, which has a lot more in depth options, but it doesn't give you a direct link to the airline to book. It gives you all of the airfare codes that you can give to a travel agent.

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search

Google Flights is much simpler to use!

 

[peregrina2000]

Before Google Flights there was ITA Matrix by Google. It gives you all of the airfare codes that you can give to a travel agent.

Google Flights is much simpler to use!

Especially since a live travel agent hasn’t been spotted in my town for at least a decade!

 

[andycohn]

So why did it take me 20 years to learn this?!

Undoubtedly, some time in the 21st century you also discovered that case law is online. Some day you may even give up on those complicated gyrations you go through to find tracks on Wikilocs.

Otherwise, I echo Marbe2's comments in post #7.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I use Kayak to search for options but then book direct with the airline concerned. I find the Kayak user interface is very straightforward and intuitive.

Me too, but I may "check"on google flights, just to see if there is a difference.

 

[C clearly]

Some day you may even give up on those complicated gyrations you go through to find tracks on Wikilocs.

That'll be the day!

 

[peregrina2000]

Some day you may even give up on those complicated gyrations you go through to find tracks on Wikilocs

That'll be the day!

This is unfortunately not the time nor place for me to launch an impassioned defense of wikiloc.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have just checked google flights comparing to kayak and the flight I am looking at is at least $50+ more on google flights....just saying.

 

[trecile]

I have just checked google flights comparing to kayak and the flight I am looking at is at least $50+ more on google flights....just saying.

Is that comparing apples to apples? Do both searches link you to the airline website to book?

 

[Lindsay53]

I had not heard of Google Flights. After reading these posts, as an experiment I put the same departure and return dates I have already booked into Google Flights and got a result almost $1000 cheaper. Same airline and same travel time, although different flights. I will certainly look at this for next time.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Is that comparing apples to apples? Do both searches link you to the airline website to book?

Nope, I haven't compared that yet, only the quick generic search between the two.

 

[Marbe2]

I have just checked google flights comparing to kayak and the flight I am looking at is at least $50+ more on google flights....just saying.

Yes,there are variations! Sometimes one may see a slight differences, ups & downs in dollars, between the fares of Kayak, Google, or Skyscanner. But all are great tools to use.

 

[dougfitz]

Because you have been occupied with doing and learning other things!

Love it! May I use this with my grandchildren?

 

[Hiker9]

I, too, regularly compare google, Kayak and Skyscanner. Even on Skyscanner, sometimes they list a flight, cheaper than when I look directly on United, same flight, same airline.

Have found the same with skyscanner

 

[JoshuaJames26]

I mentioned google flights on another thread recently, and though many of you may already know this, I am a newbie to this website. I have only one option for flying from my home, since American is the only airline that flies into my town. I know that I don’t want to book on expedia, orbitz or another 3rd party site, having seen first hand how those who book directly with the airline get much better treatment in case of a mix-up, delay, mechanical, etc. So I have only been using American’s website for years now.

A friend said I should take a look at google flights, and I couldn’t imagine what the advantage could be. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see a ticket from my town to Lisbon and back that was substantially cheaper than what the American Airlines website was showing. I clicked on the google link to American, bought my ticket on the American website, but then called Customer Service just to make sure I had a legitimate American ticket.

The rep told me it was a perfectly good ticket, so I asked how it could possibly be that google flights was showing a ticket that was several thousand cheaper than the American website. It turns out that it’s because google flights had found a codeshare flight that was much cheaper. So for one of my legs, Madrid to Chicago, though I am on the Iberia flight, the flight shows up as a FinnAir flight! This is not a problem for the ticket or for my flight, but google flights found a Finn Air sale that American didn’t alert me to.

I am going in about a month, so I will definitely report back if there are any snafus, but I’m expecting that all will go well.

p.s. Friends also tell me that Kayak also operates in the same fashion, but I’m perfectly happy with google flights and will us it from now on, even though I will always be flying on American!

Never new that!

Useful tip, thanks

 

[LesBrass]

Hello folks... can I throw in another tool which you may find useful?

We use flightsfrom for longhaul journeys. It will tell you which flights go to your destination. Sometimes it's cheaper to book the long flights individually. For example, for our flight to NZ we'll look and see how we can break our journey, tracing the flights into our NZ aiport.

It's a bit long winded and it doesn't always save money but it can... and it's useful for seeing how flies into a more obscure airport too.

google fights is always my first starting point and they have a similar option under their Explore button but I like FlightsFrom too as another tool in our travel armoury

 

[Lokitrz]

This is unfortunately not the time nor place for me to launch an impassioned defense of wikiloc.

Great!! Now I'm just learning of Wikiloc??? WtH??

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Great!! Now I'm just learning of Wikiloc??? WtH??

@islandwalker wrote a resource page on Wikiloc for the forum. Visit this page and click the download button.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/using-wikiloc.855/

 

[DTCamino]

I use Kayak to search for options but then book direct with the airline concerned. I find the Kayak user interface is very straightforward and intuitive.

I do the same.
I worked in the airline industry for 20 years and if you buy your ticket through someone else such as Google, Expedia, Kayak etc and have a problem, they will often defer you back to whoever you bought your ticket from. Additionally there can be restrictions on the ticket that are not clearly expressed or advised that an airline purchased ticket doesn’t have. That can get interesting when you’re in another country. Lastly if for some reason you need to fly with another airline due to cancellations etc, the new airline often won’t take the ticket as it wasn’t issued by the carrier on the ticket. It can be expensive and frustrating.
On the plus side if nothing goes wrong you get a heck of a bargain.
If I buy a ticket from other than the airline directly, I always spend a little of the savings on travel insurance that covers flight problems…

 

[peregrina2000]

I worked in the airline industry for 20 years and if you buy your ticket through someone else such as Google, Expedia, Kayak etc and have a problem, they will often defer you back to whoever you bought your ticket from.

This is true for third party brokers, like Expedia, Orbitz, and Priceline, but Google and Kayak (and maybe others) send you back to the actual airline website to buy your ticket. I bought a ticket on American this way, because the price on google flights was MUCH cheaper than on the American website. I called customer service to ask the very question you posed. She assured me that I had bought my ticket from American. That is also confirmed by my credit card, which shows American, Fort Worth TX as the payee, so I am pretty confident that I have a “real” American ticket and not a third party ticket.

That was the point of my original post, to alert people to the fact that some external search engines come up with a cheaper price and then send you over to the official airline site to pay for it. That means you are buying your ticket from the airlines but getting a price that the airlines website hasn’t pulled up for you.

 

[Marbe2]

I believe, Skyscanner and Kayak, offer you the choice of where to purchase the flight from. It can be a third part or the airline directly. I look for the cheapest price in the class I am searching for with direct airline booking. Then, these websites will take you directly to the airline. Then you are booking directly with the airline.

 

[KFH]

Especially since a live travel agent hasn’t been spotted in my town for at least a decade!

Heh-- If it wasn't for Amazing Race, I wouldn't even know they still existed.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

So why did it take me 20 years to learn this?!

Too busy tramping the Camino?

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Caveat emptor!

The thing to be careful of when purchasing anything - flight, accommodation, car hire - through a third party is that your contract is with them and not the service provider.

Suppose you book a flight with "supercheapairdeals.com" from Athens to Rome on "Pegasus Airlines" and then from Rome to New York with AA.

The Pegasus flight from Athens is delayed and you miss your connection in Rome causing you to buy another, much more expensive, ticket - don't try claiming from Pegasus or even AA. Your contract is with "supercheapairdeals.com" and good luck with pursuing them!.

Sometimes cheap isn't always cheerful

Cheap flights?

 

[JustOneGuy]

I always imagine going to the regular supermarket to buy groceries. Except one day I discover that if I go in through the back door of a nearby auto parts store (and look at one of their "calendars" on the walls...), apples cost 13.24% less, while oranges cost slightly more.

Walking around the supermarket the next day, however, I discover that if I enter through the bathroom window, there's still some discounted watermelon left, while if I enter through the front door, they're out of it. Not to mention that bananas cost €2.99 per kilo, but you pay €1.23 for the tray of bananas at the checkout, plus €1.04 if you don't peel them before leaving the shop. And unfortunately, these were the prices the first time I entered the supermarket. When I entered the supermarket a second time minutes later, after going to the toilet, they increased by a lot! And by the way: if you find that the banana has gone bad, you must complain to the auto parts store, not the supermarket.

The market for airline tickets is like that. And always has been.

 

[peregrina2000]

Caveat emptor!

The thing to be careful of when purchasing anything - flight, accommodation, car hire - through a third party is that your contract is with them and not the service provider.

Maybe this doesn’t need to be said yet again, but the point of this thread is to show forum members that there are some non-airline websites, like Kayak and Google Flights (and maybe Skyskanner?), which are NOT third party brokers. They do not sell you the flights directly, they show you the cheapest flights and link you to the airline websites where those fares will be shown and you purchase directly with the airlines.

Bottom line — not all non-airline websites are alike. Expedia, orbitz, priceline, cheap flights, etc etc are third parties that contract with you directly. Kayak and Google flights are search engines that lead you to the airline website, so that the ticket you purchase IS issued directly by the airline and avoids all the third party nightmares.

 

[Charles Ross]

Also, re: Google Flights, you can track a flight plan and receive periodic updates about pricing. We did this with a round trip proposed flight Portland, Oregon to Lisbon, Portugal earlier this year. Prices started out @ $700 round trip, went up to $850 and then dropped all the way down to $489 and that's the fare we booked! Pay attention to length of flight, # of transfers and time they give you to get to next flight. There are certain airlines that get 'hot' for a period of time from your home airport. Right now, from Portland, Oregon, that airline is Westjet. I've seen one way fares from PDX - BCN and PDX - NICE, Fr. for about $210 recently! One way is good because there's a very good chance that once you spend a few days in Nice, you will not want to come back anyway!!

 

[Sirage]

I just checked flights from Melbourne (Aus !!) to Madrid. Google has a flight by JAL to Japan and then Iberian to Madrid all booked on the JAL website. Very attractive and total crow-kilometres not much different.

 

[KevinWilcox]

I always try at least two or three sites to see the options and any major price differences. I then usually check the price with the airline as well, not out of self protection but because it can be cheaper. I have no favourites, as I have never found any site to be better than another and who offers the best deal varies from trip to trip (and day to day). The only big name site I never bother with is Expedia as that always seems to be more expensive.

 

[WGroleau]

Friends also tell me that Kayak also operates in the same fashion, but I’m perfectly happy with google flights

Google flights is based on what they purchased from itasoftware.com
They have not deleted the original version at https://matrix.itasoftware.com which I personally prefer.
I always compare Kayak with what I can get there. And once I find the lowest-priced acceptable flight on those, I check the airline because once in a while the airline’s own website has a better price!

 

[trecile]

The only big name site I never bother with is Expedia as that always seems to be more expensive.

There is a huge difference between searching on Google Flights and sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and the like. Google Flights is a search engine for flights that will find flight itineraries that you can then book directly on the airline site. Expedia is a third party booking service and you can only book through them.