The hunt for the best airfare deals can be a frustrating process. While some say certain days of the week offer the best deals, others say it’s down to how far in advance flights are booked. But this week, Google Flights announced a new feature guaranteeing the lowest airfare on select flights—promising to refund the difference, up to $500 per calendar year, if the fare drops between the time you book and when the first flight takes off.
“We want people to trust that Google Flights can help them find a great deal when they need to book air travel," Google Flights product manager Jade Kessler says. "Hopefully price guarantees can help further build that trust.”
For passengers who have ever found lower prices after booking, that assurance is a blessing. That said, there are a number of requirements that need to be checked off in order to find one of the select fares that will be indicated via a colorful price badge.
Currently in a pilot phase, the guarantee requires that the country/region setting be on the United States and the currency in U.S. dollars for roundtrip and one-way trips (multi-city trips don’t qualify) originating in the U.S. Travelers must be logged into a Google Account and have a U.S. address and phone number during the booking process.
Badged flights must be selected throughout, and the itinerary must be purchased using the “Book with Google” link. Once on that page, the box next to the “Price Guarantee” must be checked before payment. After the successful purchase of a guaranteed fare, an email will be sent with confirmation. No additional fee is required for the feature.
After that, Google will continue to monitor the flight for you. If the fare drops more than $5 before your first flight leaves, then you’ll be reimbursed for the difference. The total refund allowed each calendar year is $500 per customer on up to three flights. If any part of an itinerary is canceled, the difference won’t be returned.
To receive that money back, passengers will need to download the Google Pay app within 90 days of the first flight’s departure—and the money will be deposited into that account within 48 hours. The Google Pay app must belong to a U.S. user who is at least 18 years old with a U.S. phone number, using the same Google account that the booking was made on. The refund will be reflected in the Google Pay balance, but can also be seen using the Explore tab under the rewards section.
Of course, with the quick nature of airlines’ dynamic pricing, timing is everything. The guarantee kicks in the moment the flight is booked. “However, if the airline updates prices faster than they load on Google Flights, we may not be able to provide the guarantee anymore,” Google specifies on its site. “You may find a price guarantee, but if the price updates before you book, the guarantee may not be available when you go to book.” Full details of Google's price guarantee can be found here.
In the time we poked around for flights from Newark Liberty International airport to destinations around the world, from London and Rome to Melbourne and Cape Town to Taipei and Buenos Aires, we never saw the badge appear, despite the price history noting that “Prices are currently low” for some of the routes. The company pointed us to New York City to San Francisco or Miami flights in late April for the best availability.
“So while our goal is to offer the price guarantee for as many routes and airlines as we can, right now it’s only available for airlines that use Book on Google,” Kessler says of the Google-hosted platform, where payment info is entered into the search engine's form before being turned over to the carriers. During the pilot, she says that you're “most likely” to see it on itineraries for Alaska, Spirit, or Hawaiian Airlines “although that’s not an exhaustive list.”
The company had run a limited version of the pilot program in 2019, but the pandemic sidelined further rollout. “Looking longer term, we want to expand this program to cover as many flights as we can and we're exploring different options for how to make that work," she adds. (Kessler says it's “too early to say" if hotels and other products will be added down the line, since airfare is the current focus.)
“No one likes to feel buyer’s remorse, and that’s especially true for a big purchase like plane tickets where the prices change from day to day,” Richard Holden, Google’s vice president of travel products, wrote in a blog post. “If you see a flight with the price guarantee badge, it means we’re confident that the price you see today won’t get any lower before takeoff…Now you can book with the confidence that you’re not missing out on a great deal."