Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > Travel Tools
Reload this Page >

Google Flights - Changes, Updates, Glitches and Help [consolidated thread]

Community
Wiki Posts
Search

Google Flights - Changes, Updates, Glitches and Help [consolidated thread]

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Feb 20, 2024 | 2:56 pm
  #361  
10 Countries Visited
20 Countries Visited
30 Countries Visited
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: RDU
Posts: 8,347
Fare tracking? Google flights etc

According to Google, there should be a Fare Tracking option in Google Flights. I just can't find it. Was it removed or is there another website I can use (paid or free) to track flight prices? I do use ITA Matrix but I see no reporting feature.

My husband told me to stop looking at business class flights East Coast, USA to Asia for a trip 10 months away. But I tricked him. I upgraded us to Polaris on our LIS-IAD flight in June, so he'll say "Yes we really do need to travel in business class."
zitsky is offline  
Old Feb 20, 2024 | 7:55 pm
  #362  
Moderator: Hyatt, American Express; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
Active Streak: 30 Days
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, AA EXP, UA Silver, Hyatt Glob, Mlife Noir (=> Marriott Amb), invol FT beta tester
Posts: 21,667
Originally Posted by zitsky
According to Google, there should be a Fare Tracking option in Google Flights. I just can't find it. Was it removed or is there another website I can use (paid or free) to track flight prices? I do use ITA Matrix but I see no reporting feature.
Once you do a search, somewhere on the results page, look for a slider like this:



slide the slider to start tracking fares for that search. You can track overall prices for one-ways and round trips, and also the price for specific flights once you've chosen an itinerary. I vaguely recall you can't track prices for a multi-city search, I think? And on mobile the slider might be in the middle of the page or at the bottom.

You can view current prices (with historical graphs) of all your tracked flights at https://www.google.com/travel/flights/saves (or from flights dot google dot com click the hamburger menu and then Tracked Flight Prices). You'll also get periodic emails when prices move up or down, but these aren't instantaneous.
SPN Lifer likes this.
Zorak is offline  
Old Feb 29, 2024 | 3:59 am
  #363  
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
 
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Madrid
Programs: IB Platino / OWE. Mucci (de Barajas)
Posts: 3,257
Just got a GF notification email "Your tracked flight from AAA to BBB: 12% fare increase likely in 22h", is this x increase in y time a new feature? If only it includes z confidence level.
csycsycsy is online now  
Old Feb 29, 2024 | 9:52 am
  #364  
Moderator: Hyatt, American Express; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
Active Streak: 30 Days
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, AA EXP, UA Silver, Hyatt Glob, Mlife Noir (=> Marriott Amb), invol FT beta tester
Posts: 21,667
Originally Posted by csycsycsy
Just got a GF notification email "Your tracked flight from AAA to BBB: 12% fare increase likely in 22h", is this x increase in y time a new feature? If only it includes z confidence level.
the oldest one I can find in my emails is from October, but I periodically delete GF alert emails. My vague recollection is that it's been a feature much longer than that, but don't quote me on it...
Zorak is offline  
Old Feb 29, 2024 | 10:21 am
  #365  
Moderator, Finnair
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: EB Diamond, AY+ Gold, A3*G, Strawberry Lifetime Platinum, GHA Discovery Titanium, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 15,199
Originally Posted by csycsycsy
... If only it includes z confidence level.
If Google sends n thousands of email telling people to buy now, I'd say z is pretty close to 1...

They don't even need to analyze the underlying stats, they just need to trigger enough purchases to empty the current fare bucket.
intuition is offline  
Old Feb 29, 2024 | 10:30 am
  #366  
Moderator: Hyatt, American Express; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
Active Streak: 30 Days
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, AA EXP, UA Silver, Hyatt Glob, Mlife Noir (=> Marriott Amb), invol FT beta tester
Posts: 21,667
Originally Posted by intuition
If Google sends n thousands of email telling people to buy now, I'd say z is pretty close to 1...

They don't even need to analyze the underlying stats, they just need to trigger enough purchases to empty the current fare bucket.
The saved examples I have are all for specific flights, so probably not thousands of people tracking an individual itinerary but sure, there could be some self-fulfilling effect.

If I had to guess though, the emails are triggered when the "must book by" date of cheaper fare rules is about to expire.
SPN Lifer, intuition and csycsycsy like this.
Zorak is offline  
Old Mar 2, 2024 | 2:22 am
  #367  
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
 
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Madrid
Programs: IB Platino / OWE. Mucci (de Barajas)
Posts: 3,257
Originally Posted by Zorak
The saved examples I have are all for specific flights, so probably not thousands of people tracking an individual itinerary but sure, there could be some self-fulfilling effect.

If I had to guess though, the emails are triggered when the "must book by" date of cheaper fare rules is about to expire.
Ahha! So GF looks into the fare rules and maybe the buckets? If GF bought EF....
The price did go up, by 15% vs the predicted 12% hah.
intuition likes this.
csycsycsy is online now  
Old Mar 2, 2024 | 8:55 am
  #368  
Moderator: Hyatt, American Express; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
Active Streak: 30 Days
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, AA EXP, UA Silver, Hyatt Glob, Mlife Noir (=> Marriott Amb), invol FT beta tester
Posts: 21,667
Originally Posted by csycsycsy
Ahha! So GF looks into the fare rules and maybe the buckets?
To be clear, that's pure speculation on my part, I have no knowledge as to the actual inner workings of GF...
Zorak is offline  
Old May 4, 2024 | 11:36 am
  #369  
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: HH Diamond, Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Jetblue Mosaic
Posts: 728
Stopped Getting Android Notifications on Price Drops

I heavily relied on getting instant Google Flights price change notifications on my phone throughout the years. I still get the emails, but stopped getting the Android Flights price changes about 2-3 months ago. Is anyone else having this problem?
Cat88L3 is offline  
Old May 8, 2024 | 9:04 pm
  #370  
fomerly known as LandingGear (not Landing Gear)
10 Countries Visited
20 Countries Visited
30 Countries Visited
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 870
Originally Posted by Zorak
To be clear, that's pure speculation on my part, I have no knowledge as to the actual inner workings of GF...
Without sharing too many details , Google goes by what the airlines "offer" Google to list. There are two buckets, one, which Google prioritizes, is complied based on the offers the airlines (or OTA) make to Google. The second (which you usually find under "other options" is composed of the search results that are independent of the offer -- they go by the usual criteria such as the distance from the airports selected, connections, duration, cost, the authenticity of the vendor, etc..
planes&trains is offline  
Old May 8, 2024 | 9:46 pm
  #371  
Moderator: Hyatt, American Express; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
Active Streak: 30 Days
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, AA EXP, UA Silver, Hyatt Glob, Mlife Noir (=> Marriott Amb), invol FT beta tester
Posts: 21,667
Originally Posted by planes&trains
Without sharing too many details , Google goes by what the airlines "offer" Google to list. There are two buckets, one, which Google prioritizes, is complied based on the offers the airlines (or OTA) make to Google.
Thanks, but I'm not sure this helped perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but I don't really see how the above info pertains to what we were discussing above, which was how Google "knows" that fares are likely to go up by x% in y days.

Originally Posted by planes&trains
The second (which you usually find under "other options" is composed of the search results that are independent of the offer -- they go by the usual criteria such as the distance from the airports selected, connections, duration, cost, the authenticity of the vendor, etc..
I don't even understand what this is supposed to mean. Are you talking about which airline vs. OTA booking options are shown once you pick flights? How is "distance from the airports selected" ever relevant? And how would connections/duration/cost factor into this, since by this point you've already picked a specific set of flights?
Zorak is offline  
Old May 23, 2024 | 9:04 am
  #372  
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: CLT
Posts: 3,070
Google Testing New Layouts for Google Flights

I haven't actually seen a new look to Google Flights, but my scripts in the last few days have been occasionally failing because Google seems to be testing different layouts.

They seem to be trying to make the page look a bit more like Kayak / Momondo by displaying what they consider to be the "Best" flights by default. The odd thing is I have the sort set to "Price" which is overriding the "Best" option and probably making the page look like the "Cheapest" option.

New Page






Existing Page
cruser1 is offline  
Old May 23, 2024 | 7:53 pm
  #373  
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: South Park, Metropolis
Programs: AA LT PLT 3MM, Marriott Ambassador, Hilton GLD, IHG PLT, Club Carlson VIP
Posts: 4,666
I've noticed similar things, the lowest priced flight is showing up at the top, but rather at the bottom, or "OTHER Flights" window.
arollins is offline  
Old May 29, 2024 | 11:18 pm
  #374  
10 Countries Visited
20 Countries Visited
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: South Bay LA
Programs: DL FO, AA PP
Posts: 1,258
noticed separate tickets now say "self transfer"
BusinessElite25 is offline  
Old Jul 1, 2024 | 3:16 am
  #375  
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
 
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Madrid
Programs: IB Platino / OWE. Mucci (de Barajas)
Posts: 3,257
Not sure if it's related the the previous GF x CX wonkiness, I'm now only seeing direct CX prices on calendar view and "Best" tab, and the cheaper OTA prices on "Cheapest" tab.

I would say this is an improvement.
Even better if there was an actual OTA on/off toggle.
csycsycsy is online now  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.