This New Hack Will Help You Book the Cheapest Airfare on Google Flights

The best day to book your flights can be a bit of a moving target, even if you’re an expert on the matter. That’s why the latest announcement from Google Flights is such a game changer. The new feature shows travelers the best time to book travel, letting users know the optimal time for savings.

Before the update, you could already see whether current prices for your search were low, typical, or high compared to past averages for the same route. But now, Google Flights has launched upgraded insights using trend data, advising buyers when prices have typically been lowest to book for the chosen dates and destination.

Using their platform, you’ll see that the site could tell you that the cheapest time to book trips similar to yours is usually two months before departure, and you’re currently in that sweet spot. Or you might learn that prices have usually dropped closer to takeoff, so it’s smarter to wait to book.

You can also set up price tracking if you’re logged into your Google account, where Google Flights will automatically notify you if flight prices drop. You can do this for specific dates, or, if you’re more flexible, you can turn on “Any dates” to receive emails about deals anytime in the next three to six months.

This is all coming at a great time, with holiday travel season approaching. As part of the update, Google also released some new travel booking data that will be helpful in the weeks to come. For trips starting in mid-December, Google found that the best time to book is around early October. And, they released that average prices tend to be lowest 71 days before departure—a big change from their 2022 insights, which found that average prices were lowest just 22 days before departure. And the typical low price range is now 54 to 78 days before takeoff.