Google introduced a money-saving feature to book cheaper flights. Here's how does it work
Google Flights has disclosed a new characteristic that provides travellers with insights into the optimal timing for buying flight tickets.
Good news for travellers! Google Flights has presented a new feature that intends to save money on airfare this holiday season. The tech travellers declared the new feature in a blog post on Monday. It suggests advice to travellers about the most budget-friendly time for booking flight tickets.
“For searches with reliable trend data, you’ll now see when prices have typically been lowest to book your chosen dates and destination,” Google said in the blog post.
How does the Google Flights feature work?
The new insights could tell you that the cheapest time to book similar trips is usually two months before departure, and currently, you are in that sweet spot. Or else, the traveller might understand that prices have usually dropped closer to takeoff so that he or she can decide to wait before booking, the blog posts read.
It says that price tracking can do most of the heavy lifting for travellers who want to wait for lower fares before booking. Once you enable price tracking, the traveller will be automatically notified if the flight prices drop significantly.
“You can set up tracking for specific dates, like your best friend’s destination wedding in February. Or, if you’re more flexible, you can turn on “Any dates” price tracking to receive emails about deals anytime in the next three to six months. To enable this feature, make sure you’re logged into your Google account,” it said.
Google says that the best time to book flights for Christmas is around early October. “Average prices tend to be lowest 71 days before departure — a big change from our 2022 insights, which found that average prices were lowest just 22 days before departure. And the typical low price range is now 54-78 days before takeoff.”
On some flight results, you’ll see a colourful price guarantee badge, which means we’re especially confident the fare you see today won’t get any lower before departure. When you book one of these flights, we’ll monitor the price every day before takeoff, and if the price does go down, we’ll pay you back the difference via Google Pay,” the blog post notes. Google makes change to its privacy policy; every post will now be used to boost AI
