Was using the older version about ten minutes ago. When I came back, it couldn't connect to the server and refresh sent me to the new Flights.

What a POS.

Right now I can't get any tricks to bring back the old version -- all browsers, private modes, user agents all bow to the new evil master. :mad:
Time to explore other alternatives perhaps?
Any ideas are welcome.

Still working for me using https://www.google.com/flights/?f=0

This gave me hope, so I thought of one last combo to try: Private Mode + Opera + VPN.
Bingo -- let it me stay on the old site when I hit a Turkish-assigned IP (no luck with any others). Still a very tenuous situation.

My guess would be that it's supposed to be an easier UI for people who want to casually book flights (as opposed to the FT community). A lot of the old features of GF were kind of buried in menus. Good for us because we knew exactly where the menus were but probably bad for their usage metrics.
The main thing I hate is how laggy the UI is (although it's gotten better since the early days) and random bugs that pop up (my search got "stuck" and I had to refresh the page/start a new search once or twice).

Anyways, I'll ask and see if I can find the "real" answer.

what a shame! i LITERALLY just used this last night before i went to bed

I hope people provide feedback to make them reconsider....I really dislike this new Google Flights and much prefer the faster, lightweight old version.

I thought I'd check-out the Google Product Forums. . . figured there would be global cry of dismay, channeled into billions of complaint-posts - and, perhaps, some postings from Google engineers on why they made the change, and if there might be some work-arounds to get the old functionality back.

And, I found . . . nothing!

Either my search skills have deteriorated or the rest of the world hasn't yet noticed/doesn't care.

I would be very grateful if someone could post a link to a meaningful discussion on the subject.

This really sucks, I am working on a multi-stop TPAC itinerary and it's driving me nuts. It's frustrating as it's taking so much longer than with the old version, I had to come vent :rolleyes:

^ Yes!!! And when you're checking multiple cities, it doesn't show the airport code anymore, and instead switches to a name.

When I'm checking BRU, it changes to "City of Brussels" which then 'shortens' to "City of....." ( literally! and then nothing else! just "City of....." ) instead of just "BRU". So it's hard to tell which cities you have already entered. So many annoying little quirks like that, which were not there before....
I'm a bit sad that I don't have a simple, fun search engine to play with anymore......

In the past I would google an airline and the first result would be a google flights link. I would click it and it would take me to a google flights page that restricted the results to that airline. I could use the map search to find the cheapest destinations for that airline only. Now I have a use for that function and can't figure out how to limit the search to one airline. The link I that was in the google results is no longer there. Has that function been removed or just made hard to find?

It still seems like it's possible -- there is still an "Airline" dropdown on the search results page -- the catch is that you have to perform an actual search and get flight results before you can narrow it down to a specific airline or alliance (I think that's how it behaved before, but have already forgotten :))

Once you have a results page the "Airline" dropdown is in the upper right. You can then select airline(s) and then delete the destination airport to get a map page with results restricted to that airline. Like everything else about the "New Coke" interface it's a degraded user experience in responsiveness and speed compared to before though :(

(Above comments apply to the desktop web interface; on a mobile web browser you get a more compact interface which seems to have an airline dropdown from the get-go although I haven't tried it out)

Thank you! You are a genius! It works just like it did before........ just had to know how to get to it.

Unfortunately I am an iPhone user so I don't get the actual mobile app. I get the mobile webpage but your instructions worked for it as well.

As for the "new coke" verdict I think I like it.......now. One thing I've noticed lately is that the map search is much better at displaying fares than it used to be. In the past I would zoom in on the Caribbean to see which destinations were cheap. Usually only about 10 or so locations would produce prices on the map, the rest you would actually have to search for. Now prices appear on almost all destinations when I zoom in. My only complaint now is that I have to zoom in to see the lowest fares. When I have the whole Caribbean in view the cheapest fares don't show.


Now if only google flights worked with southwest airlines........

anyone having issues with GF deeplinking to AA search results for itineraries that is not exUS? Searched for exAsia to US flights and when clicking on book with AA link I get:
"Connection to the MSE gateway failed"

Ok thanks, so Im not the only one. If only bookwithmatrix can be routed to the appropriate non-US AA sites instead of the US AA site...

Is there a Google Flights argument I can use to disallow redeyes?

You can use the "Times" drop-down menu and sliders to narrow the departure/arrival timeframe to something desirable.

I'm aware of this but sometimes redeyes still manage to pop up when flying transcontinental with connections.

ITA Matrix has a redeye argument so I was hoping Google Flights might have similar.

Not that I recall, but if you exclude both late night departures and also early morning arrivals, I would think that gets the job done in most cases even involving a connection? Unless it's a double connect maybe.

Yes, this works most of the time, but I still see some redeyes. Hence my original request.

Is that the map feature gone now too? (mobile version). I can't seem to find it anywhere.

I was annoyed to be forced to use this new, ugly, extremely slow monstrosity, now I'm at the point where I've given up and just wish they found themselves new project and stopped working on it altogether... It's bad, but just leave it already, it's worse every time you touch it!

To destroy a good thing for no reason whatsoever. They must have too much time on their hands.

Actually there is a reason, and GF now discloses it in every search result -- they are being compensated by travel providers.
If travelers were GF's paying customers, they would be doing what's good for the travelers.

As far as the ticket buying & searching, we are at the opposite ends of the transaction. Any tool that gives advantage to the buyer is automatically a disadvantage for the seller. GF put themselves in the middle of this somewhat similar to the mob. At first they just trashed the sellers business by giving the buyers a free access. Now that sellers are willing to pay up for some protection, GF has to make things more difficult for the buyers without shutting down the traffic completely.

Google Flights and booking flights via the phone
 

I've been looking at business class seats from JFK to FCO for a potential trip in May 2019. Google Flights is suggesting combinations like Virgin Atlantic and BA (JFK-LHR-FCO), however when it comes time to book, it gives me Virgin's phone number. Is this something I can actually do via the phone (given that both airlines are competing brands) or is it Google just being weird? I looked up the flights separately but could not find a price anywhere near as cheap as the combo.

Don't know if anyone else has noticed, but GF likes to error out on me when doing perfectly valid multi city searches. Results show for a split second, and if you don't click them in that split second, it will error out. Being able to click a result though makes it magically work.

Just another disappointment.

I also noticed that GF started to supress certain search results. I was looking at some routes between US and Africa the other day, and the fully expanded view of results showed no flights by the ME3 -- which was a bizarre outcome. Had to go to the multi-city option to get the desired flights.

GF has become increasingly useless as features have been progressively gutted. Today I saw that the Explore option (where you leave the destination empty but specify the dates) now ignores the dates and defaults to 'any time in the next 6 months'. Then you have to go back and fix it for the dates you actually want.

For anything other than vanilla returns or one-ways you should just forget it, and even for those you can no longer rely on them as they withhold results.

Google basically took the 30 pieces of silver and turned a decent tool into a big heap of useless.

What is a better alternative to Google Flights? I suspect that user friendliness has taken a backseat to monetization but I'm not sure what's better.

If you don't care about the aircraft flown (or willing to check it seperately, or later) - Skyscanner's not too bad. They now allow multi-city searches, so at least they're moving in the right direction.

I still use Google Flights for few certain things, but when it comes to majority of simple searches I just have no time or patience for it anymore.

Google Flights - setting dates for search
 

Google Flights recently changed their search options (for me, anyway). When I enter specific dates and click search, the program defaults back to a "one week trip within next six months". :mad:

Is there a way to change the search default to accept the days I want, without having to fix it every time?

I should add this only happens when I do a broad search without a destination selected. It doesn't happen when I choose both departure and destination airports.