How To Use Google Flights' 'Search Anywhere' Tool To Find Cheap Fares (2024)

Hundreds of third-party travel sites claim to provide the cheapest fares for destinations worldwide. While some common travel sites are known to people, where do you find the others? Google Flights provides an efficient and comprehensive way to search for flights to hundreds of destinations worldwide.

One of Google’s primary features, Google Flight, allows customers to specify their desired origin, destination, and travel dates. It also allows people to narrow their search to their favorite destinations, price ranges, and other interests. Part of Google Travel, Google Flights facilitates the purchase of tickets through third-party suppliers.

Simple Flying highlights some of the attributes of Google Flights to explain how it provides the most comprehensive flight search for cheap airfares, as described in Going.

Image: Google

Google Flights

Despite not being a one-stop shop for airline tickets like other travel sites, Google Flight combines many search benefits of various sites. It works with lightning speed to search for hundreds of flights to the searched destination. The site displays months' worth of airfares in a fraction of a second. Google’s impressive search engine powers the site.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying

Google Flights shows the flight search results in an intuitive calendar form, revealing the cheapest fares throughout the year. Potential travelers can change their dates by a day or two (or more) to get the cheapest fare. The site also shows the most affordable fares across multiple airports in the area. For example, searching for a flight in the New York City (NYC) area will show the cheapest fares to JFK, Laguardia (LGA), and Newark (EWR) airports.

According to Google Flights,

"If your travel plans are flexible, use the form above to start searching for a specific trip. Then, play around with the Date grid and Price graph options on the Search page to find the cheapest days to get to your destination – and back again for round trips."

The anywhere search

Useful tools that help you find the best deals

• Find the cheapest days to fly: The Date grid and Price graph make it easy to see the best flight deals
• See the whole picture with price insights: Price history and trend data show you when to book to get the best price on your flight
• Track prices for a trip: Not ready to book yet? Observe price changes for a route or flight and get notified when prices drop.

Photo: Lufthansa

Those who plan to get out somewhere without knowing the specific destination can also benefit from Google Flights. It offers a map-based search for the cheapest places to fly from the traveler's origin. The site also shows if the viewed fare is the most affordable, expensive, or the average price.

Travelers get enough control over their search by selecting certain constraints for their travel, including the types of destinations, geographical location, and budget range. That way, passengers can manage their trip while exploring hundreds of destinations that they may not be aware of. Google has also included the environmental aspect of air travel by showing the carbon footprint for each flight.

How to find last-minute flight deals?

Most travelers like to plan way ahead in time and book their flights, accommodation, and other attractions two to eight weeks in advance. However, some travelers like to shop last minute flight deals, including same-day flights. Business travelers may also take last-minute flights depending on their work meeting.

Google Flights provides an easy and searchable method of finding last-minute flights on its platform. Google Flights provides a list of recommendations for travelers to search for last-minute flight deals. Same-day flights are also searchable with all available options and fares. Google Flights states,

• Select your departure and destination cities in the form on the top of the page
• Use the calendar to pick travel dates and find the lowest fares available.
• You can even check for flights departing today.
• To find the cheapest fares, it’s usually best to book at least a few weeks in advance for domestic flights and a few months in advance for international travel.

Comparison to other search engines

In most search engines, one must input the origin and destination airport and dates with some flexibility, such as +/- 3 days. The search engine will find the cheapest fares on the selected date and flexible dates. Some search engines may show a cheaper fare at an alternate airport.

Photo:Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

Google Flights allows people to select up to seven origin and destination airports. Google Flights will search across all origins and destinations simultaneously and show the cheapest flights throughout the year.

What are your thoughts on the Google Flights feature? Have you ever used the Google Flight search engine to find your flights? How was your experience with the tool? Feel free to enlighten us in the comments section.