With its new price guarantee programme, Google Flights attempts to simplify the stressful process of finding the lowest fare.
Beginning on April 3, Google announced it would test a programme to track prices even after users have made flight reservations. If a lower price is discovered, customers may receive a refund for the difference.
Only flights leaving the United States are qualified for the programme. A vibrant price guarantee badge will appear when an eligible flight is shown. This symbol indicates that Google Flights is prepared to back up its claims by promising that the fare won’t go down (or your money back).
To put it mildly, it’s challenging to find a route on Google Flights with a price guarantee given the initiative is still in its early testing stages.
Using Google Flights, we tried more than 100 routes and times, but no one had the price guarantee flag visible. A Google spokeswoman told TPG that it’s “too early to say ” whether the offer will continue to be available on Google Flights.
“We’re running the pilot program to understand better how people respond to this kind of feature,” the spokesperson said.
Assuming you find an eligible flight with the price guarantee badge, there are also caveats. You must book directly on Google Flights (not click through to the airline’s site), and you won’t be eligible for a refund if the fare difference is $5 or less. You can only receive up to $500 in refunds in one calendar year. If you cancel a trip, you won’t be eligible for a refund, either.
After you book your flights, Google tracks prices to see if there are any changes. If the fare for your itinerary drops, Google will email you to alert you of the price change.
Google Flights will deposit the refund via Google Pay, so customers must download the app 90 days before their flight departs to claim the difference. The refund will be available within 48 hours under the app’s “Explore” tab, which shows earned rewards.
According to a Google spokesperson, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Spirit Airlines are currently the leading airlines with the “Book on Google” option.
While the price guarantee goes into effect only after a customer books the flight, Google announced that it may not be able to offer the guarantee if an airline updates fares faster than they upload onto Google Flights.
The Google spokesperson said feedback from the initial testing had been positive.
“There’s really no downside for the traveller since it’s free to get the guarantee,” the spokesperson said. “Likewise, we’ve had productive conversations with airlines and they’re interested in how this program might evolve.”
Previously, Google piloted the price guarantees in 2019, but the initiative was swiftly postponed due to the pandemic.
Google Flights is not the first to roll out a price guarantee policy.
Other travel booking sites like Expedia, Priceline and Orbitz offer different versions of a price guarantee. However, they still require you to find the lower price and typically provide partial refunds. Expedia’s price guarantee solely applies to hotel rates, not airfare.
The Capital One travel portal, which eligible customers can access, offers some price guarantees for select flights. However, it also has caveats and eligibility requirements.
Airlines also have different refund policies: The Department of Transportation requires all airlines to offer customers a full refund if they cancel their flight within 24 hours of booking. But these refunds typically apply to cancelling flights instead of receiving a price guarantee that returns the difference.
However, in an era of more flexible change policies and fees, customers sometimes track pricing changes themselves. They can also use price-change alerts from sites such as Google Flights to rebook themselves, earning an airline credit for a future flight.
If this test program expands to a broader scope, it could help travellers commit to a flight, ensuring they won’t be unprepared if the price decreases.
