Google Flights not only allows you to see what days are the cheapest to fly and what site has the cheapest fares but also allows you to purchase the tickets by following the links provided on the site. Learn how to reduce your flight costs with Google Flights.
When following the provided links, you will sometimes purchase directly from the airline, and sometimes it will direct you to sites such as Priceline or Expedia.
So, how do you use the functions of Google Flights to book flights as low as $178 to get from Los Angeles to Europe? If you already know where you would like to go, grab your laptop or jump on your desktop computer. Google Flights does NOT offer all of the advanced functions on the mobile app, mobile browsers, or on most tablets.
Here’s how you do it:
1. Go to Google Flights and type in your desired destination.
2. Click on ‘Round Trip’ in the upper left-hand corner and change it to ‘One Way’.
3. Now click on the date and a calendar will pop up. In a few seconds, the prices of your chosen date will load. Press on the ‘Price Graph’ and each day of two months will show you the cheapest days to leave.
(The arrow on the right side of the graph will allow you to advance the months to future dates).
As I write this, I see that flying from Oslo to Tenerife will cost me NOK 2,423 if I leave on the 6th of September. However, if I wait until the 16th, the flight costs only NOK 1,325, saving me 45 percent.
What if you are not sure where you want to go? Not to worry. What if I told you that you could look at a map of cities with specific airfare indicated next to them in order to help you choose the location of your next adventure? The best way to find cheap flights when you do not know exactly which city you want to visit is to use the map function on Google Flights.
1. Start over on a new page.
2. Ensure that you have clicked ‘One Way’ in the upper left-hand corner.
3. Leave the destination (Where to?) blank and zoom in and out until you find your home country on the map, and you’ll see the cheapest fares to different cities.
4. Zoom out to find the continent you are interested in visiting.
5. When you see a price that appeals to you on the map, click on it to see what date that fare applies.
6. The airline will appear to the left of the map below some suggested attractions.
7. By clicking on that airline, you will find the date of the flight.
8. If you want alternative dates click on the calendar symbol and you will have several choices.
9. When you have selected a month and date click on continue.
Right now using this tool, I see a flight from Oslo to Cape Town for NOK 4,055. For those of you with a stomach for adventure you can travel to Marrakesh for NOK 2,360 or Manila for NOK 3,957. These are just what I see while I casually looking as I write in this text. If I took time to really dig in, I may be able to find even cheaper flights to those destinations.
One great part of traveling is once you have flown into a particular region, the flights are ultra cheap to get to other cities or other countries within the same region (see below for saving money on fares by creating a faux layover.) Once you get to Asia, for example, flights can be as low as NOK 600 from Singapore to Malaysia or NOK 800 from Singapore to the Philippines. Once you get to Europe, flights can be as low as NOK 500 from Paris to Barcelona or from London to Prague. I do not know how airlines can make a profit with such low fares, but I’ll let them worry about that.
One problem people encounter is finding that a particular destination has a daunting fare – even when they use the steps mentioned above. If that is the case, try adding what I call a faux layover. A faux layover is a layover that you create in order to save money. If you take a flight to one of the major airport hubs in the world, you can catch a cheap flight to destinations that may be rare from your home city but more common from a regional airport hub.
Major hubs around the world include London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, and Beijing, to name a few. If the airfare to your desired destination is too expensive, try flying to a major regional airport hub first, then check the prices from the regional hub to your destination.
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Related: Long Flights = Long Holidays. Really?
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I have an American colleague who wanted to visit Prague, but the flights were well over NOK 10,000. So he flew to Norway for NOK 2,000 and caught a flight to Prague for NOK 900, effectively saving over NOK 7,000 … and I could have a meeting with my colleague in Oslo.
If you prefer to get on to your intended destinations as quickly as possible, you can book a flight that departs from the regional hub a few hours after you arrive. This technique requires that you go through customs and pick up your luggage in order to recheck it, so be sure to allow enough time (at least two hours is recommended, but I have done it with less time available). You just created a faux layover and saved hundreds of bucks in doing so.
Some of you may prefer to check out the city that houses the airport of the regional hub for a few hours longer … maybe even overnight. This is a great way to simply experience a local restaurant or a historical landmark or two. If you choose to spend several hours on this layover, you may have time for a quick organized tour before flying to your intended destination. In a later article I’ll explain in more detail how to make the most of a layover.
Reduce Your Flight Costs With Google Flights, written by Tor Kjolberg