Cheap flights aren’t always easy to find. You want to get the best deal possible and with a plethora of tools at your fingertips, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Subscription services, travel agencies, they’re all fine and dandy but what about Google Flights? It’s a free service that just takes a little time and research. It’s become our go-to flight tool as we travel the world while teaching English online. After reading our quick guide be sure to head over to Google Flights and start searching for that cheap deal!
If you’ve found that cheap flight but are dreading the time in the air, read our post on how to survive a long flight.
Set Your Price Range
This is a newly released feature of Google Flights and we say it’s about time! You can now search with a price range filter and look for a cheap flight with that budget in mind.
Flexible Dates
Do you know how long your trip will be but not sure of the exact dates? Google Flights offers a flexible date search. For example, Google Flights allows you to search for a 2 week trip to Europe from New York within a 6 month period. This is very helpful for those looking to pin down an exact date for their travels!
Search by Continent or Region
Looking to go to Europe next fall? What about Asia in the spring? Well, Google Flights offers a user-friendly way to search an entire continent or region.
For instance, try looking at flights from New York City to all of Europe. You’ll see all flight destinations and can play around with smaller cities by zooming in on the map. This can be a deciding factor on planning your trip abroad.
Searching by continent on Google Flights helped us find a cheap flight to Europe from Taiwan. Vienna was dirt cheap so that became our point of entry and our European travels began from there.
Looking for multiple cities on your trip? Google Flights lets you do that as well.
The Handy Dandy Calendar
Probably our favorite tool on Google Flights, the calendar is just awesome. Input your destinations, # of travelers, all the details, and then start scanning the calendar. Prices will be highlighted in green if they’re cheaper than average for that date.
Super Awesome Customization
Instead of listing all of these individually, it’s simpler (and easier to read) to just say that Google Flights has amazing customization and at times seems effortless. You can choose to search by only non-stop flights, by flight carrier if there’s an airline you prefer, by the # of carry-ons, the list goes on.
Words Worth Mentioning
Some people prefer Skyscanner to Google Flights. While we have used both in the past, we really only use Google Flights now. But just so you’re aware, there are other tools out there like Google Flights. They’re just not as awesome 🙂
One big con to Google Flights, especially for those flying domestically in the US, is that Google Flights doesn’t show Southwest flight prices. We love flying Southwest. So if we’re flying in the US we always check their website because Southwest is the best.
Summary of Finding Cheap Flights on Google Flights
If you’re trying to find cheap flights then we highly recommend just hopping on Google Flights and playing around. If the customization seems too much then try simply searching by continent to get a general idea of how much it’s going to cost you. Cheap flights are sometimes difficult to find, but your odds of finding that sweet deal will increase if you use Google Flights! As always, double check on another sites to make sure you’re getting the cheapest flight (although Google has never let us down).
For more info on other tools to find cheap flights, check out our post on the best ways to find cheap flights. We mention Google Flights there too but not as in depth.
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