Maksy

I've found one website that obviously seems to have managed this task: https://go2.travel-dealz.de/. A search there creates automatically the correct Google Flight hyperlink.

Since my knowledge in this field is very limited, I am only interested in a solution to create such links by using Google Spreadsheet. For a Oneway-flight this would mean: Enter departure, destination and date in cells A1, A2 and A3, and then get the encoded link in A4.

mc510

What's up with all of the shady-seeming sites that Google Flights offers as places to purchase your ticket, typically at a price lower than directly through the airline's own site? If I saw this occasionally on a just a few routings from just a couple of online travel agents, then I might think that they're operating on the old bucket shop model ... but I see it on every single routing, and there's always a dozen or so sites to choose from. Are they legit? How are they able to undercut prices directly from the airline?

therossinator

I think I discovered the solution to #4. If you search a specific route through the flights tab, apply the filters that you want such as specific airline, then change the destination to something broad, like "Europe", the explorer map will come up and all the filters you had just set will remain in place while you explore the map.

Not only does this allow you to set a specific airline, you can also set layover airports (the map won't reflect this but when you click on a city, the results in the left side panel will) and when you start exploring the map, you can change it to flexible date search.

therossinator

My mother did this recently on an Allegiant flight. Apparently booking through the Allegiant link on Google brought the price up more than she expected with all their "bundles" that Allegiant tacked on without her realizing, so she booked on the cheapest option, eDreams (about $15 less than directly from Allegiant). She didn't get a confirmation from them and their customer support is garbage so we called Allegiant and confirmed that she did indeed have a reservation. Everything went off without a hitch. I'd assume that if there were any changes or irops, that's where these undercutting OTAs would be able to make up for their ow up front costs. It certainly wasn't a scam, but it isn't something I'd want to take the risk on to save a few bucks.

SocialAdept

They aren't really, the reason you might see a better price is either because:

1) Currency conversion

2) Gogle offers for example in economy the standard option. Many airlines have 2-3 tiers even in economy these days and some sites will only pick out the airlines economy-light option (no checked baggage, no points earnings etc)

hoipolloi

so, the Google Flights price change email notifications are far from real time, right ? Any better alternatives for closer to real time price change notifications ?

MaxVO

I got the lowest price on a flight of interest by checking fares a couple of times a week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are often popular for lower fares. If you require notifications that help you, you'll have to program them yourself. Can't expect Google Flights to undermine their own paying advertising customers (airlines).

hoipolloi

one of the alternatives I found is using ExpertFlyer to watch for when lower level/price fare buckets become available. Although not real time, it seems to me that EF performs checks for programmed alerts pretty frequently (multiple times per day)

any pitfalls with that technique ?

JALsnipe

I've been seeing some weird behavior with Air Canada fares on Google Flights. For example, I've been watching this EWR-YYZ fare.
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...p4cLJgXwDp1Qw7



Google Flights says I can buy it for $87 though Air Canada. But when I click through, I get the following error on the Air Canada site:

Aselwyn

yep i have been seeing the same with some 1 day returns going to LAX/SFO seems to constantly error no matter what day. was looking at it for a mileage run but no luck booking the price i see

JALsnipe

More UA/AC weirdness. GF seems to think I can get the following HNL-EWR-YUL fare on separate tickets for $971:
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...7JCscgRXqrzR87






None of the separate tickets buttons work and I get the console shows the following error when I click on either of the "Continue" buttons

luist

Hi all,

After some help with GF pricing.

I'm trying to put together a similar itinerary to this. Problem is, I cannot get the price originally displayed when I select the flights. It always changes once I've selected one or more flights (and often I'll get to the last leg and it won't find anything remotely in the range). This example starts at Euro 13,000 (4 pax) but ends up at Euro 50,000 by the time I've selected flights.

I vaguely remember reading something about this a long time ago but can't seem to find the cause or any workaround now.

Anyone have any advice on this?

Thanks!

LT

lsquare

Whenever I use Google Flights on my phone, the country and currency settings will be based on the country that I'm connecting from. Since I'm already logged into my Google account, I'm surprised that the settings aren't saved permanently. Is there a way to set it to USA and currency to USD permanently?

MaxVO

Have you tried to deny location access to Google Flights?

Zorak

I suspect they'll still do IP-address-based geolocation.

VPN is one workaround (IME also influences whether your Google searches happen on the US site or local version)