Google Flights Missoula (2024)

FAQs

Is Google Flights the best place to search for flight? ›

Google Flights isn't perfect. Here are the drawbacks to be aware of: Doesn't always have the lowest fares: Google Flights works by searching fares sold directly from the airlines and a handful of the top online travel agencies (OTAs), such as Expedia and Orbitz.

One of the reasons Google shared for shutting down the Google Flights API was dwindling interest amongst travel companies, startups, and consumers.

Google Flights requires a partnership with either the airline itself or a data provider with access to an airline's fares in order to display prices to consumers. Currently, the search engine doesn't have such an arrangement with Southwest.

If you're flexible about where you'd like to fly from and fly to, you can enter multiple airports separated by commas. You can also enter one airport (like BOS) and then click on the location icon to look for nearby airports. Click OK to add your selected airports to your search entry.

Cheapest day of the week to fly

If you're planning to book a flight, you may be trying to find the cheapest option. According to Google, it's cheaper to fly in the middle of the week, rather than on the weekend. Flights that take off between Monday and Wednesday can be between 12% and 20% cheaper than weekend flights.

The Expedia study found that the sweet spot is 28 to 35 days before departure while the Google study found prices bottomed out 44 days before departure. However, both studies agree that you don't want to wait until the last minute. Book at least 21 days before departure.

Google Will No Longer Be a Place to Book Travel as Fewer Travelers Were Using It. Google announced it will shut Book on Google for flights for users outside the U.S. at the end of September, and told Skift it will likewise end the feature in the U.S. sometime after March 31.

Cheap Days: In the U.S., Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday are usually cheapest. For international travel, weekdays are usually cheaper than weekends. Expensive Days: Fridays and Sundays usually cost more, especially in the U.S. Cheap Times of Day: Fly when most people don't want to.

Why can't you see Southwest on Google Flights? ›

Before this change, Southwest intentionally kept its fares off of Google and most other travel sites. Almost the only option for booking Southwest flights was through the airline's own website or app.

Once your origin, destination and dates are entered, you'll be able to scroll through 12 months of flight prices for your itinerary.

You can find cheap flight deals to anywhere in the world on Google Flights. Just enter your departure city, choose Anywhere as the destination, and select Explore. You can pick specific dates or leave departure and return dates blank if your plans are flexible. The cheapest fares to popular destinations will appear.

Demand is outpacing supply

While, yes, airplane production has slowed down, fleet sizes are still increasing—in other words, airlines now have more planes than they did last year. However, demand for travel is still higher in the summer months. High demand + lower supply = higher fares.

Google Flights uses over 300 partners, like airlines, online travel agencies, and aggregators, to display its offers. Not all airlines or available flights are included, as a partnership with Google is required.

After you book, we monitor the price until the first flight in your itinerary departs. We then send you an email to let you know if the price dropped or not. You may also get an email update between booking and departure. If the price dropped, we pay you the difference back in Google Pay.

Know when and where to fly

Dates: You may notice that flight prices fluctuate when you choose a different day of the week. When you click Dates, you can find which travel dates have the best fares. Price graph: If your travel dates are flexible, clicking Price graph lets you explore fare trends by month or week.

Additionally, Google Flights is free to use and quickly filters through the search results. This travel search engine crawls the metadata from the various airlines and OTAs to list the current flight prices and available departure times.