NCA

I'm booking one way flights from TUP to CMH for tomorrow June 3, 2023. When searching on Google flights, it shows a minimum of two stops. However, I know (and ultimately booked) LF 3001 TUP to BNA and approx 3 hrs after arrival WN 2318 will depart to complete the journey.

I tried using the multi city feature and still no luck. I have to search each leg individually for this to show up. It's not that it doesn't display SW's price, it just completely will not show up as an option.

I've never experienced Google flights not showing viable options before, even with using multiple airlines. I'm assuming it's a SW thing.

Does Google not show multi leg options where Southwest is only part of it, or is this unique?

moondog

I thought Southwest never permits its flights to display in third party searches?

NCA

The flights show up on a Google flights search but not their prices.

moondog

Sorry, I meant prices. They simply don't want to be comparison shopped.

NCA

Right. My issue was that the flight didn't even show up. I assume this is a related SW issue, just curious about it/how frequently it happens, etc. It's the first time I ran into the issue that I can remember
​Google flights is so powerful/useful and I don't really want to go back to needing to search individual legs on every trip just in case there's a better option which includes a SW leg

moondog

Why don't you read up on Southwest's data use policies?

If that's too much bother, as a practical matter, plan on researching WN flights on southwest.com.

NCA

Sorry, to clarify it showed up if I only searched the one leg. It did not show up when I searched the start to final. So searching on SW website would be an unnecessary step.

I was really just curious if this always happens or not. Not concerned enough to read through their policies. I think Google scrapes the data without SW sharing anyway so I'm not sure reading the policy would clear anything up.

I thought others might have experienced similar things or might have had it show multiple airline trips with SW as one of the leg and this was the best place I could think of to ask.

moondog

I'm sure it is possible to crawl Southwest schedule and price data, and I'm guessing there are hackers and small sites that do this, but Google doesn't want that headache.

TravelinSperry

Its not only Southwest btw. Internationally there are airlines that do not appear on Google Flights. As you say, they are not exhaustive. Good - but not everything is listed there.

moondog

You just need to spend an extra 5 minutes searching.

Google

Ctrip

NCA

It's not about the time spent or finding the price. It's about knowing the limitations of the tools available so that searching can be most effective.

Additionally, your latest post shows that Google acknowledges the existence of the flights you searched, which isn't the issue I was having.

Thank you, @TravelinSperry that is a good point. I have noticed that as well.

TravelinSperry

Yea, I figured it out the hard way years ago. I, like most, initially assumed Google Flights contained all airlines. (which is different than the issue of them showing the airline and not the price). But they do not include all airlines. The ones they don't include are simply omitted and one would never know these airlines even exist.

I use Kayak Direct to find those airlines (https://www.kayak.com/direct) Just type the airport code into the box and the expected month of travel. Kayak's list is more exhaustive and at least shows all the airlines that fly into any airport. Sometimes I see one that is not on Google Flights. I then go directly to their website for booking. As I say, this happens mostly for International legs, not US based ones.