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How to Set Google Flight Alerts

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Table of Contents

What is Google Flights?

What is a google flights alert , how to set google flights alerts, final thoughts on google flights price alerts.

Even if you use credit card rewards to cover the cost of your travel, there are instances when paying money is preferable.

Say you can't find an award flight on your preferred travel date or the cash cost yields a low value for your miles. In situations like these ( and others ), you may want to save your rewards and purchase a ticket outright.

Nevertheless, regardless of how much you pay, you want to get the best deal. Google Flights can help. So, let us show you how to set Google Flights alerts and book the cheapest flight possible.

Google Flights is an online flight search tool run by — you guessed it — Google. The tool lets you search for plane tickets quickly, check price history, and track prices for specific flights.

Google Flights is a must-use tool for any traveler, whether you're a frequent flyer or a casual vacationer.

» Learn more: A quick guide to Google Flights

A Google Flights alert informs you when a flight's price changes, whether it increases or decreases. To use the money-saving feature, set up a tracker for a particular route that includes all flights that day.

If you're watching specific flights, it's possible to set up a tracker for each flight that fits your schedule by clicking on "Track prices" once the exact flight has been selected.

If you prefer just one or two specific departures, it's best to set trackers just for those flights to avoid seeing price changes for all flights that day.

Additionally, if your dates are flexible, click on "Any dates." This will enable you to receive price change notifications for flights on specific days whenever prices on this route are low within a month of your chosen travel dates.

Enter your flight information

To use one of the best features of Google Flights, you'll always start with the first step — search for the flight you want to track. So, go to Google Flights and enter your search parameters, such as:

Flight origin and destination.

Travel dates.

Class of service.

The number of travelers.

Whether you're traveling round-trip, one-way or multi-city.

» Learn more: The best airline credit cards right now

Switch on the flight tracker button 

Once the search results appear and you don't like the prices you see, you can set the tracker for any given flight or route you prefer to take in the future.

To do this, toggle the "Track prices" to the "on" position, and it'll activate the flight tracker tool. That's it.

Because the notifications are sent to your email, you must have a Gmail email account and be logged in through that account to receive the price change alerts from Google Flights.

View tracked prices

Any time you want to review the tracked flights you've set up, go to Google Flight's main page and you will find the existing trackers visible below the search fields.

You also can access them from your Google Travel dashboard. If you've set up more than three alerts, click on "View all" to see them all.

This is also where you can view a tracked flight's history and the price changes over the past several months, with increases and decreases shown in the graph.

If the price has decreased and you're ready to book the flight, click "See booking options" and proceed with the reservation.

If you're no longer interested in tracking a particular route or flight, click the small trash bin icon in the bottom left corner to remove it from the list.

Keep an eye on your email

You'll receive an email as soon as the price significantly changes in either direction. You'll also receive an email notification when Google thinks the price will likely increase.

If you haven't received an email in a while, we suggest checking your tracked flights on Google Flights regularly to stay on top of the trackers you've set in case the price drops and you weren't informed. Email alerts, in our experience, may not always be dependable.

Keep tracking prices after booking

Once you've booked a flight, don't rush to remove your Google Flights trackers. Why? Because many U.S.-based airlines no longer charge change or cancellation fees on eligible fares.

If the price of your flight drops even further, you can cancel and rebook or change it in your airline account.

Here are a few guides on rebooking fares when prices drop, broken down by airline:

American Airlines .

Delta Air Lines .

Southwest Airlines .

United Airlines .

Keep in mind that basic economy tickets can't be changed or canceled for free, so there's no use for a continuous flight tracker on those fares. It is, however, a valuable tool to use up until your flight departure on a main cabin or higher class ticket in case of a significant price change in your favor.

You'll usually receive an airline voucher or an eCredit for the fare difference. As long as you use it within the eligible timeframe on the same carrier, you save money on flights by tracking the prices even after you've booked.

» Learn more: Basic economy vs. main cabin fares

Google Flights trackers are best used when you've narrowed your flight options and have a specific route or flight time in mind. Setting these alerts with one click is easy and the flight tracking tool does all the work.

However, if you're flexible with your dates or the destination, it might be cumbersome to start tracking prices on multiple flights within an extended date range. In that case, you're better off checking a flexible date range (you can view a price calendar in Google Flights) or browsing the explore page for a flexible destination instead.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

on Chase's website

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

60,000 Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

1.5%-6.5% Enjoy 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel; 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 3% on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year). After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

$300 Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

75,000 Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

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How to use Google Flights to find cheap flights and maximize your next travel booking

Google Flights is constantly evolving, and it's the one tool I always mention when people ask me how to find better flight prices.

This easy-to-use website can help you find the best possible price on airfare (and even hotels). It's one of the biggest weapons in our arsenal at TPG to help save money on travel. While TPG does offer deal alerts , if you are looking for a particular flight, destination, airline or routing, Google Flights is the way to find personalized deals.

Google Flights is where I almost always begin my search for new bookings. I come back to it again and again to book trips, see if prices have dropped and check if I can get a better deal.

Here's everything you need to know to use and master Google Flights.

What is Google Flights?

Google Flights is one of our favorite tools for finding deals on flights. It's an amazingly powerful flight search engine, and the best part is that it's easy to use. Google shows you nearly all available flights for a given search but doesn't force you to book with it.

Unlike Expedia, Orbitz, Tripadvisor or Kayak, it's not an online travel agency. Google is simply showing you what's available. Once you find the flights you like, you "click through" to actually book. You can choose to book directly with the airline or via a third-party OTA, but not Google itself.

One frustrating note is that Google Flights does not show Southwest Airlines flights, so keep that in mind as you search.

What's new at Google Flights?

Google has introduced new features that suggest when prices are historically lowest and when you should book for maximum savings. Google has always shown whether the price for a suggested flight itinerary is typical, low or high, but now it gives you even more data to consider.

The tool will "let travelers know when airfares are expected to be lowest for booking their chosen dates and destination," according to Craig Ewer, who works in communications at Google.

For example, when I searched last year, Google showed me that a flight from New York to San Francisco in October was $93 cheaper than usual, and the typical range is between $245 and $415. In other words, it was a good time to book.

It gets even better: In some situations, Google will suggest alternate dates you should actually book the flight to save a few bucks. The example below shows that a December flight to Miami would have been much cheaper if I had waited to book it until Sept. 13.

Here's a final example. I apparently waited too long to book my flight home for Christmas a few months ago.

Basics of Google Flights

How to perform a basic flight search.

First, you'll want to navigate to Google Flights .

The toolbar has additional features for trips, including things to do, hotels, vacation rentals and a shortcut to a cool tool called "Explore." However, we'll focus on using the tool to book flights for now.

All of the fields and drop-down menus on this page are relatively easy to decipher:

• Departure (where you want to fly from)
• Destination (where you want to fly to)
• Date(s) of travel
• Round-trip flights, one-way flights or multicity trips
• The number of passengers (but here's why you should search for a single ticket , even if you're traveling in a group)
• Ticket class: economy, premium economy, business class or first class

If you know where you're going and when you want to be there, all you have to do is plug in that information and hit the blue search button.

For example, here are all the options I see when I search for flights from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). You can search by destination or by airport code.

Note that Google automatically displays what it considers the best departing flights based on a combination of factors, such as price, the convenience of routing, the number of stops and the travel time. Of course, these may or may not be the best flights for you.

In this case, there are hundreds of options to choose from.

For this example, I chose to book an American Airlines flight on my outbound trip.

The cheapest option is sometimes to fly the return on a different carrier. However, Google Flights clearly indicates there will be two tickets purchased separately.

Often, Google will suggest remaining on the same carrier for both legs. In this instance, one of the flights was on JetBlue.

There are all kinds of ways to filter your searches. We'll get a bit more into that below.

Once you've found the flight you want, you have the option to book directly with American Airlines. Google will give you several options for the type of ticket you want to purchase, including basic economy, refundable and other types of fares.

Clicking that link would take me to American's website , with these flights and prices already selected. There, I could enter my passenger details and loyalty number, select a seat and pay for the ticket.

All elite perks and other loyalty benefits are honored on flights booked directly on the airline website via Google Flights. However, if you are booking via a third-party site, that may not be the case. It pays to make sure you book directly with the airline if possible.

In this example, the cheapest option is for mixed tickets with multiple stops. Most people are not going to want to take that option. It involves booking through a third-party website with tickets on different airlines and multiple flights and layovers. No thanks.

Related: 9 things to consider when choosing to book via a portal vs. booking directly

Below is an example of Google Flights' handy historical price guide, which shows whether the fare you found is low, high or near the average price for flights on this route.

I can see the flights were more than $600 a few months ago, and my $442 fare was considered low. Given how expensive airfare generally is these days , I was happy enough with that.

The bottom of this screenshot also shows the options available at the bottom of each Google Flights page, where you can select your preferred language from a drop-down menu. You can also customize your location and preferred currency for easy conversion.

Search by specific times of day

Say you want to take a weekend trip away. You need both flights to be outside business hours but not too late in the evening, as you don't want to land in the middle of the night.

Google Flights has a handy filter we use to make sure the flights are exactly when we want them. No matter how inexpensive that 6 a.m. flight may be, a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call rarely feels worth it.

So, you can set the search results to only show flights departing and arriving within your chosen specific time range.

See how many bags you can bring on board

In the same series of buttons below your Google Flight search, click on the "Bags" button to specify how many pieces of luggage you want to bring on board with you.

This selection may greatly limit your search results — or drive up your price options — so be prepared to change it if necessary.

Nonstop, one-stop or any flight will do?

Similarly, you can filter flights by the number of stops along the way. You might be the glutton for punishment who longs for a 50-plus-hour flight with multiple layovers. You can do that if you so desire.

However, if you want to minimize the chance of delays or disruptions, have a family to rush back to or just want a shorter flight, nonstop is your friend. Headed overseas? The usual sweet spot between price and comfort will be a one-stop flight.

Search for flights from your preferred airline or alliance

If you don't fly often, the operating airline may not matter to you as much as the price does.

However, if you've begun accumulating miles and status with a specific carrier, it can be addictive to stick with that carrier and program. The exclusive benefits of elite status can be exhilarating, and there's nothing more exciting than booking your first award flight — especially if you know you got an amazing deal.

Related: What are airline alliances, and who's in them?

With filtered airline search results, Google can help you keep that momentum going. Use the button under the search results to filter out unwanted airlines or select specific airline alliances you want to patronize. Or, turn off the "Select all airlines" option and manually select the carriers you want to choose from.

Whether booking with cash or points, you may want to stick with one program to maximize mileage earning or status. For example, if I were trying to hit Diamond on Delta Air Lines, I would search only for Delta flights.

You can also pick airline alliances like Oneworld and SkyTeam to ensure you travel on your preferred airline or its partners. In my case, I would select SkyTeam.

Connecting flights

You can also decide if you want to fly nonstop or choose how many stops you are willing to make. You can even choose the connecting airport.

Especially with international flights, some airports are better to connect in than others. Helsinki Airport (HEL) is lovely. Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) can be challenging , even if you are an experienced traveler.

Related: What are the best European airports to connect in?

If you have a range of options to travel from New York to Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) with a choice of connecting airports, you can filter the results to only show the airports you want to connect through.

You can also choose how long you would like your layover to extend. You might want to keep it short to reach your destination as quickly as possible. Or, you may prefer a long layover to allow for some buffer time in the event of delays.

Related: How to plan a free stopover on your next trip abroad

Score the best legroom and other seat amenities

Don't you hate boarding a flight to find your knees touching the back of the seat in front of you? Fortunately, Google Flights has a feature that will show you the legroom you can expect on your next flight before you have purchased the seat.

Legroom can differ noticeably from carrier to carrier, aircraft type to aircraft type. From the search results below, you can see that Spirit Airlines' is below the industry average at 28 inches, while JetBlue's is above average at 32 inches.

If you value legroom, this means the JetBlue option will have 4 inches more legroom than Spirit.

In coach seating terms, that's a lot.

Along with legroom, Google Flights will also indicate if Wi-Fi is scheduled to be available on your flight (and if it is free or available at a cost), if the plane has in-seat charging options, and if the flight offers entertainment like live TV or options to stream to your personal device.

On a flight longer than five hours, your devices may run out of juice. So, again, you may want to choose the product that best suits your needs rather than selecting a flight based entirely on price or carrier.

Know your emissions

With sustainability becoming an increasingly important topic in travel , Google Flights will let you know the approximate carbon emissions for your flight based on the route, aircraft type and seating classes.

Below are the search results for a flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo's Narita International Airport (NRT). United Airlines operates a fuel-efficient Boeing 787 on this route, which would produce a lower-than-average 734 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

However, the Singapore Airlines flight uses a less fuel-efficient (and larger) Boeing 777 aircraft that produces a higher-than-average 1,163 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

You can even filter your search results only to show lower-emissions flight options.

How to search by cheapest dates

Let's say I want to get from JFK to LAX in September, but I'm not tied to any specific dates. Google Flights can help me find the best possible prices for that trip.

On the search page, I can see the lowest price for that particular day if I click on the calendar icon. Prices listed in green represent the lowest price available across all current dates, while the days highlighted in blue show which dates I've selected.

Another way to view the cheapest dates is to click the date grid option. This will again show the cheapest dates in green, and you can easily line up different outbound and inbound options to see if the cheapest dates work for you.

You'll often find that the cheapest flight isn't necessarily the best or most convenient route. Google will show you those lowest prices but prioritize better routes before it.

In this example, Google Flights prioritizes slightly higher fares as the "best flights" search results because they include a full-size carry-on bag.

How to set a pricing alert for yourself

After all that diligent work, give yourself a pat on the back. You've likely found the best option for you.

Some people are ready to book immediately, but most of us might need a day or two to solidify our plans with our fellow travelers or with work. Never fear: Google will help you track your flight and even tell you when the price goes up or down.

Immediately above your search results, a little toggle reads "Track prices" (boxed in green in the screenshot above).

Click on that — and log in to your Google account if necessary — and Google Flights will send updated pricing alerts directly into your inbox.

If you have booked a refundable or changeable fare, you may want to switch this on even after you've booked. You will be alerted if the price goes up or down, so you can feel comfortable knowing you are getting the best deal. You can see part of my list of flights I'm currently tracking in the screenshot below.

Related: How to avoid airline change and cancellation fees

How to search multiple airports at once

Sometimes, you're willing to land or depart a bit farther away in order to find a better flight deal. Google Flights can help reward that flexibility. In fact, you can enter as many as five departure or arrival airports on Google Flights.

Let's say you live in New York City, where you have three major airports from which to choose. You want to fly to Southern California, which is easily accessible from multiple airports as well.

There are two ways to run this search:

• Type in your city name and let Google offer suggestions: This works for many major metro areas. As soon as I type in New York, I see several of the major airports: Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and JFK. Sometimes, you'll even see New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of Manhattan, as an option.
• Manually type in your airport codes or names : Some cities won't show you all the logical potential airports. For Southern California, you will have to manually type in the names or codes of each airport in the area for some searches. (Don't forget San Diego International Airport [SAN] as a potential option.)

You can open a separate browser tab and look up local airports by name. Or, if you're a pro and know the codes, you can type them directly into the destination airport search field (i.e., LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT). Then, hit the blue check to run the search.

Voila: The cheapest option for March 18-25 is taking a nonstop, round-trip flight from EWR to LAX for $258 in United basic economy.

How to check for carry-on bag policies

I don't care what anyone says: Low-cost carriers can be fantastic for finding great deals.

However, if you're a heavy packer, you'll need to plan ahead. Many airlines cut costs by charging extra for bags. You're used to this with major airlines, but some ultra-low-cost airlines will even charge you for carry-ons larger than a backpack or a purse .

It can be difficult to track which airlines charge what, but Google Flights can also help with that.

Basic economy flights will show on the search results page, with the little "no luggage" icon next to the $247 price tag in green.

When I click through to the final booking page, Google will remind me again that I'm booking a basic economy flight; it'll show my current price and its limitations while also displaying economy and first-class booking options next to it.

Remember: Google Flights doesn't work with Southwest Airlines

One important caveat: You might wonder why you don't see any Southwest flights on Google Flights.

Well, you might see them, like with this search result for Austin to Las Vegas:

However, Southwest doesn't allow other travel platforms to book flights with the airline — it wants to control its passengers' booking process completely. So, if you're a Southwest fan, check the airline's website or app for price comparison before you book with another carrier through Google Flights.

Organize your travel

There's a "Travel" button on the toolbar of Google Flights.

It will display the travel you have already booked. When you click on the trip, it neatly shows travel booked through your Google account, such as those reservation emails sent to a Gmail account.

It will also show "potential trips." This is where you may have been searching Google Flights for a particular destination but have not yet bought the ticket. Additionally, it will provide suggestions based on what destinations you've Googled in general.

Perhaps you have searched for " When is the best time to visit Hawaii ?" Google Flights may show you suggestions to help you continue planning that trip.

Finally, the "Travel" button will suggest trips you might consider taking based on upcoming trips you have booked or trips you've taken in the past.

For example, if you've been to Melbourne, Australia, it may show options to visit Sydney.

Related: The best ways to use points and miles to fly from the US to Australia

How to find the best getaway deal

This function is similar to the previous tip but focuses on another aspect of your search. Start by clicking the "Explore" button on the toolbar.

If you know you want to get away on specific dates — let's say the second week of October — but don't have a specific destination in mind, use Google's open-ended search functionality to find good flight deals within your window of availability.

In the example below, I picked a long weekend in October and set my hometown of New York as my departure airport. Instead of specifying a destination, I just left it open-ended. You can give Google a hint by typing "Europe" or "Caribbean" to narrow your search results to a specific region.

Related: 9 awesome features you didn't know about in Google Flights

If I zoom in closer on the map, the system recalibrates and shows me more destinations and price points within the updated map view.

If I zoom way out for a world view, I'll see the best-priced destinations of note across the globe.

I can also force the algorithm to show me price points for a specific region.

For example, the world map above doesn't show me many deals for Australia, South America or Africa. However, if I zoom in on Africa, I see more than half a dozen options on the continent and more than a dozen in "surrounding" areas.

Related: Safaris, cities and lots of elephants: How I returned to South Africa using points, miles and cash

Bottom line

Google Flights is an incredibly powerful tool the TPG team uses daily to price airfare . It can help you quickly find the best flights for your travel, but it can also track prices and let you know if you are getting a good deal. It can also help you plan trips and find hotels and activities.

It's one of my favorite tools to find deals and new places to visit. Add it to your travel toolbox. I promise it will become one of your favorites, too.

Related reading:

• Key travel tips you need to know — whether you're a beginner or expert traveler
• The best travel credit cards
• The 18 best places to travel in 2023
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
• 13 must-have items the TPG team can't travel without

How to Set Google Flights Alerts and Snag the Best Price for Your Flight

Scott Keyes

August 6, 2023

One of the many great features of Google Flights is the ability to track prices and receive a flight alert when the price of your tracked flight changes. 

There are some caveats to this feature. First, they don't tend to alert you instantaneously, but rather on a bit of a delay. So, it’s unlikely a flight alert would catch a Mistake Fare —when airlines accidentally discount a flight far below what they intended—and alert you in time to be able to book it before it disappears. 

Second, flight alerts really only work if you have a set destination and dates, and you can only set an alert for a specific trip. You can’t, for example, set an alert for all of Europe for the month of September. So, if you’re just looking to snag the cheapest fare and your dates are very flexible, there are better ways to get alerted of a great deal (hint: join Going). 

However, if you’re interested in following a specific trip (with set departure and destination and set dates), setting up alerts on Google Flights is a great way to keep track of the prices. If you set up the alerts far in advance, you can get a feel for the average price, and when the price drops, you can recognize a good deal and purchase it. 

Here’s how to set Google Flight alerts so you can track the price of an upcoming flight. 

1. Enter your travel info to search for a flight. 

Create a flight search as you normally would, by entering your departure and destination airports (you can input up to 7 airports) and your travel dates, and then hit “Search.”

2. Click the button to track prices for a specific route. 

On the left hand side of the results page you’ll see a button to “Track prices” (which we’ve highlighted here). Turn it on to track the prices for all flight options for that route on your selected dates. This way, if the price drops at all, no matter what airline or specific flight, you’ll find out. 

3. Or, go to the results and click to track prices for a specific flight.

If you know you want to fly on a specific flight, input your airports and dates as usual and click “Search.” Then, select the specific flights you want to take by clicking on them as though you were going to book them. 

Once you get to the page that sends you to the airlines to book, you can click the button (this time it’s on the right hand side) to track prices for this specific itinerary. Here’s an example of a flight that’s codeshared among Delta, Virgin Atlantic, and Air France. In this case, if a flight on American were to suddenly get cheaper, you wouldn’t be notified; you’ll only receive alerts for this specific itinerary. 

4. Log in or create a Gmail account. 

You’ll need to be logged in with a Google account to set up tracking and receive notifications by email; if you aren’t logged in, you’ll be prompted to do so (or to create a Gmail account if you don’t have one). 

5. Check your email. 

When you receive a price alert by email, it’ll show the most recent price and the new price for the route or specific flights you’ve tracked, like this example email. 

Remember, there are some limitations to relying on Google Flights alerts to find the best deals. While it’s helpful if you have a specific flight or a set route with inflexible dates, if you’re more flexible, you’d need to set dozens of alerts to capture all the possibilities. 

For example, if you’re looking to go to the UK at any time in September, it would require dozens of date combinations to cover all your bases. And you’d could still miss out if there’s an incredible deal to a nearby city, like Paris or Amsterdam, that would be a quick (and cheap) local flight to London. 

Read our guide to using Google Flights or sign up for Going and get alerts for amazingly cheap flights —about $550 in savings per ticket on average—sent right to your inbox.

Founder & Chief Flight Expert

Published August 6, 2023

Last updated December 21, 2023

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How to set up Google Flight alerts — A must for savvy travelers

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You know everyone here at MMS loves using the best credit cards for travel for free (or nearly free!) airfare.

But sometimes it just makes more sense to pay cash for a ticket. If your travel dates aren’t flexible and you can find a cheap ticket, you can buy your airfare and save miles and points for a more expensive ticket another time. Google Flights has a price alert feature that can help you find a cheap ticket. Here’s how to set up a Google Flight alert.

How to set up Google Flights alerts

If you can’t find reasonably priced award seats, some might prefer to just buy a plane ticket and save your miles for a better value later. That’s when  Google Flights price alerts  come in handy. You can track prices for flights, to help you decide the best time to book — Google will even email you when your ticket price drops!

Here’s how to set up Google Flight alerts. And check out our  review of Google Flights search  for more details.

Step 1. Enter your travel information

Enter your travel details into Google Flights (number of passengers, origin airport, destination airport, dates, etc.). You can enter up to six airports in each box (in case your origin and/or destination is flexible. If your dates are flexible, Google’s drop-down calendar is helpful for finding the current cheapest dates.

Step 2. Click the “Track prices” toggle

Right below the search criteria, you’ll see a “ Track prices ” toggle. Click the toggle to start tracking flights that match your search details. Google will then keep tabs and automatically notify you if there are changes to the price.

If you aren’t signed in on Google, you won’t be able to track flights. A box will pop up, asking you to sign-in.

Step 3. View the flights you’re tracking

Once you move the  “Track prices”  toggle, you’ll see a black popup box that contains a  “View all”  link. You can click this link to see all the flights you’re tracking, as well as the flights you’ve tracked in the past.

From this page, you can see Google’s data on the flights you’ve asked it to track. It won’t have much to tell you immediately after you’ve set an alert. But in a few days, you can look back and see how the prices have changed by clicking the  “Price History”  drop-down menu.

Here’s a flight I tracked a few months ago. You can see how the prices changed with Google’s line chart.

Google will tell you when your flight price will likely increase. And it will notify you right before it predicts an increase. It will also tell you how confident it is in its prediction.f

Step 4. Monitor your email

Google will email you an alert if the price of your flight decreases. This way you don’t have to waste all your time checking throughout the day.

Here’s an example of a flight alert email. The ticket price decreased by $156. And for good measure, Google listed a couple other similar flights to help me see all my options.

You can click “ Manage Price Tracking ” at the bottom of the email to go straight to the flight tracking page with the line graphs. And you can click “ Unsubscribe From Emails ” if you don’t need the alerts anymore.

Is the Google Flights fare predictor legit?

Google says that all its price insights are based on fares “observed in the last 12 months for trips in the same season, of similar length, with the same origin and destination, number of stops, class, and airline.”

Google attempts to predict whether prices will drop before you book your ticket, to help you decide if you should jump on a fare or gamble a bit. They also provide a meter on the page that shows you if prices are less or more than usual.

If you see a note that says “prices are likely to increase” by a certain amount in the coming days, Google Flights is confident you should buy now. Again, it’s analyzing price trends of past flights, but nothing is certain.

Don’t forget to use the right credit card to earn a bonus on airfare purchases

If you’ve found a cheap ticket through Google Flight alerts and are ready to buy, remember to use a credit card that earns bonus miles or points for airfare purchases, like:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 2x Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on travel (including airfare)
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card: Earn 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on travel (including airfare) up to a maximum of $150,000 in purchases per account anniversary year (combined with shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites, and search engines)
• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 5x Amex Membership Rewards points for flights booked directly with airlines or American Express Travel. Starting Jan. 1, 2021, earn 5x points on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year.

Check out our full list of the  best airline credit cards  for more options.

Bottom line

Google Flight alerts can track airfare trends to help you decide the best time to purchase airfare. Google will email you when your flight price will likely increase, and notify you right before it predicts an increase.

The tool is great, but airfare prices can swing frequently. I’d like to be able to set a certain dollar amount on my Google Flights email alerts, so I won’t get an alert unless the price change is over that amount. That way Google won’t blow up my inbox with fare changes.

Do you use Google Flight alerts or a similar tool? Let us know if it’s saved you money!

If you want to stay on top of other miles & points tricks like this one, be sure to  subscribe to our newsletter !

Meghan Hunter

Contributor

Meghan Hunter is an editor for Million Mile Secrets. She covers points, miles, credit cards, airlines, hotels and general travel. Her work has also appeared in The Points Guy.

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How To Use Google Flights Alerts To Find Cheaper Flights

Commercial flights connect travelers to more destinations than ever before. As of 2022, American Airlines alone was serving 350 destinations across 50 countries, according to Airways . While options for routes to get you where you're going feel vast, oftentimes, the price involved is less appealing.

Anytime there's an option to book a deal on a flight, it's certainly worth grabbing as soon as possible. The problem is that the offer can seemingly be gone as soon as you've finished searching for it. That's where Google Flights comes in and saves you time, money, and stress.

Google Flights is an innovative online flight search tool run by Google. It's available to help travelers go beyond traditional searches for flights and enjoy a more customized approach to finding fares that fit the budget. The price alert function is specifically designed to provide travelers with customized notices when their preferred flight price becomes available online. Setting a Google Flights alert to find cheaper flights across airlines is refreshingly simple as well.

Getting started is quick and simple

The most efficient way to set up your Google Flights alert is to have a specific flight route in mind before you begin. Having a preferred flight time in place too can make the process even smoother and more tailored to your travel parameters. Once you know when and where you want to go, getting the alert in place is easy.

Using the Google Flights search parameters, you can locate the specific flight that you want to price track. The search parameters also allow you to include other unique preferences for more options such as the class of service or the number of travelers in your group. You can also indicate whether you're looking for a round-trip or a multi-stop journey.

When the flight results pop up, you're free to choose the exact flight you want to price track. This is as simple as toggling the "track prices" button to the "on" position. As soon as the price tracker has been activated, you'll start receiving alerts about flight price increases and decreases.

Do keep in mind that price alert notifications through Google Flights are sent exclusively to Gmail accounts. You'll want to be sure to create one if you don't have an account already. You'll also need to be logged into the account to successfully receive price alerts in real time.

Options to save beyond booking

Once you have the price alert set, you'll likely see an agreeable price show up in your inbox relatively quickly. However, another way Google Flights helps travelers find cheaper fares for future travel is by offering options to look at a specific flight's price history. Through Google Flights, it's possible to view a graph of any of your tracked flights and see how prices have fluctuated on a particular route over time. When you're planning for future travel, this can help you determine price trends and plan ahead for snatching up the best flight prices available as soon as they're available.

It's also worth considering price-tracking your route through Google Flights even after you've booked your ticket. This can be financially beneficial if you're flying with an airline that doesn't charge a ticket change or cancellation fee. In the event your flight options drop further in price after you've already booked, you could potentially save even more by rebooking at the new price point. Just make sure you look into your airline's cancellation and change policies closely before making this move to avoid any unexpected fees.

Finding cheaper flights doesn't have to be daunting or stressful when you know how to make the Google Flights work for you. Getting great results is as simple as receiving an email notification. What you save on booking costs can be redirected towards the fun that's waiting for you on your travels.

How to Find Cheap Flights With Google Flight Alerts

Do you want to plan a cheaper trip without the hassle of searching for rates daily? Set up Google Flight alerts with these tips.

If you use Google apps regularly like Google Search, Google Maps, or Gmail, then why not Google Flights when searching for cheap airfare? One of its best features is the Google Flight price tracker; so you can receive an email whenever a flight that interests you has an airfare change.

These alerts can help you plan an affordable trip without the hassle of searching for rates daily.

In this article, we'll show you how to set up Google Flight alerts, what those alerts provide, and how to edit or discontinue them. In addition, we'll give you some helpful tips for using Google Flight alerts for planning your next plane trip.

Setting Up Google Flight Alerts for Your Trip

Head to the Google Flights website and log into your Google account if you are signed out. If you have more than one Google account, be sure to log in with the one you want to use for the flight alerts.

Creating Google Flight Alerts is easy once you enter your desired flight details. Select your departure and arrival airports, travel dates, number of passengers, preferred class, and travel dates.

When you hit the Search button and get your results, you can obviously select and book right away. But to set up the alert, just turn on the toggle at the top for Track Prices .

You can then relax and check out those alerts for airfare changes as they come into your inbox. This saves you from manually searching every day or so.

Creating Google Flight Alerts for Specific Flights

Along with setting up cheap flight alerts with the best deal, regardless of airline, you can create price alerts for specific flights. For instance, maybe you found the exact flight you want, but need to make sure you book it for the best price.

Once you find the departing flight you want from the search results, click the arrow to the right and hit the Select Flight button. You'll then be prompted to pick your returning flight, so do the same thing by selecting it.

After you pick both the departing and returning flights, you'll see your Selected Flights on the next screen. At the top, turn on the toggle for Track Prices .

Now when you receive your Flight Alert via email, it will show you airfare changes for the exact trip you've chosen.

Receiving the Flight Price Alerts

When there is a change in the airfare prices or dates for your trip, you'll get that alert to your Gmail account.

The nice thing about these alerts is that you can quickly see the change. The subject of the email will show the previous and new price. And the body of the email will show that increase in red or decrease in green.

You can review the airfares for each flight on your list and click the link in the email to Show all flights if you like. This will take you right back to that spot on the Google Flights site.

Viewing and Stopping Flight Alerts

When you first turn on the toggle to track the prices, you'll see a brief message display at the bottom of the screen for "Tracking Prices" with a link to View All . But you can navigate back anytime you revisit Google Flights.

On the Google Flights page, click the Main Menu button on the top left and select Tracked Flight Prices . You'll then see a list of all flights you are tracking prices for with some extra details.

If you move your cursor over the graph, you can see each airfare change and when it was, from the time you began tracking it.

• On the bottom right, you can click the link to See all flights for that trip.
• On the bottom left, you can click the trash can to delete it from your Tracked Prices list.
• Next to the trash can, click the bell to turn price updates off or back on.

To stop all Google Flight alerts, click the More button (three-dot icon) next to Tracked Prices at the top. Turn off the toggle for Notifications .

Tips for Finding Cheap Airfare With Google Flights

While these Google Flight alerts are super handy for helping you find the cheapest airfare possible for your trip, here are a few tips and suggestions for using Google Flights. See our guide to Google Flights for more tips.

Set up alerts for departing and returning flights . Even if you search for a roundtrip ticket, you'll still have the opportunity to select your departing and returning flights. Set up Google Flight alerts for both. This way you can track both trips and check the lowest airfares for each.

Create flight alerts for different airports . If you're in a location where you can use more than one airport and your destination also has this option, create alerts for those other airports. You might find a much cheaper flight from or to a different airport than you expect.

Double-check you're getting the cheapest airfare . When you do your initial flight search and review your results on Google Flights, scroll to the bottom of the page. You'll see links to check flight rates for your trip on sites like Priceline, Orbitz, Expedia, and similar websites.

Review the Date Grid, Price Graph, and Nearby Airports . Google Flights offers other helpful tools for planning your plane trip at the best price. When you receive the results from your search, you'll see options to the right of the Tracked Prices toggle for Date Grid, Price Graph, and Nearby Airports.

• The Date Grid is helpful if you have flexible travel dates because you can see less expensive options on different days.
• The Price Graph is a good tool for seeing airfare differences day by day.
• The Nearby Airports map and list shows you other airports for your destination with prices and their locations on a map.

Finding the Right Price on Google Flights

You'll find many travel sites on the internet and mobile devices. Websites and apps like Expedia, Travelocity, and Priceline, to name a few, are terrific resources. But if you've never tried finding cheap airfare on Google Flights, you might be missing the best source of all!

For more help planning your next trip, download one of these essential smart luggage trackers or one of these flight tracking apps for iPhone .

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How to Set a Google Flights Price Alert & Other Flight Price Tracker Tips in 2024

Google Flights is the best tool for finding cheap airfare. It shows results from nearly every airline and includes powerful filters to find the lowest prices and best routes. Its best feature may be its ability to track price changes through flight alerts. Here is how it works.

Table of Contents

What is a Google Flights Price Alert?

A Google Flights price alert notifies you when your selected flight price increases or decreases. When the price changes, you’ll receive an email alerting you to the change. You can set up the following Google Price alerts.

• Specific Departure and Return Dates
• Any Dates (Flexible Dates)

Most people determine their travel dates before booking airfare. While that is one way to do it, it will usually cost you more money. We recommend being flexible and picking your travel dates based on the cheapest times to fly.

The good news is Google allows you to do both; You can set flight price alerts based on specific dates as well as “any dates.” For those with flexibility, click the “any dates” tab when setting alerts.

Further Reading: How to Use Google Flights to Find Cheap Flights

Do Other Websites Offer Flight Price Alerts?

Competing services like Skyscanner , Kayak , and Hopper also offer flight price trackers with alerts. While Google Flights is our recommended service, the others are also worth looking at. See the bottom of this article for tips on how to set up alerts with Skyscanner, Kayak, and Hopper.

How to Set a Google Flights Price Alert

Setting up a Google Flights price alert is easy. Here is how to do it.

1. Sign In to Your Gmail Account (or Create One)

You must be signed into a Gmail account to set up and receive Google Flights price alerts. Either sign into your current account or create a new one.

2. Go to the Google Flights Homepage – Enter Basic Flight Information

Screenshot: Google Flights

Go to https://www.google.com/travel/flights . Enter the following required information.

• Your Departure Airport
• Your Destination Airport
• Your Travel Dates
• Round Trip or One Way
• Number of Passengers (including any children/infants)
• Class (Economy, Premium Economy, Business, or First)

Click the “Search” button.

3. Select Optional Filters

You can skip this part if you do not have any preferences regarding airlines, stops, bags, prices, and times. Skipping filters shows more results, but some of them may be less than ideal.

You should consider them all. Some flights have multiple layovers with very long durations. Others are very expensive for no apparent reason.

Google will only show you price alerts for flights matching your filters.

4. Alert Option #1 – Track All Flights for Specific Dates

After inputting your travel dates, cities, and filter information, it is time to set an alert. Depending on the route, you will likely see multiple flight options from a variety of airlines at different times. Assuming all of those work for you, you can set your alert.

Select the “Track prices” tab. You can find this tab towards the top of the page below the filters. It will show your travel dates next to it. After clicking it, a black box will appear at the bottom of the screen saying the following — “You’ll get emails when prices change for Your Travel Dates.”

Click the “view” link to see it in your saved tracked prices. This section shows you all of your current Google Flights alerts.

5. Alert Option #2 – Track Specific Flights for Specific Dates

After inputting your basic flight information and filters, maybe you found one route that is more appealing than others. If so, you can set an alert for it.

Click your departure flight and then your return flight. Then click the “Track prices” tab located towards the upper right portion of the screen. After clicking it, a screen will appear alerting you of your successful price alert. You will also be given the option to add all available flights (which is what we went over in Alert Option #1). You can ignore this prompt since these are the only flights you want to track.

Setting alerts for specific flights also shows a detailed price history chart. This helps figure out how close the current price is to the potential lowest price.

6. Alert Option #3 – Track All Dates For Selected Departure and Arrival Cities (must be flexible)

This option will likely get you the cheapest flight; The only issue is you must be extremely flexible.

After inputting your basic flight information and filters, click the “Any dates’ tab. You can find this next to the “Track prices” tab. Doing this sends you alerts when prices from your departure city to your destination city are cheap, regardless of the dates. That means you may be alerted to low prices on dates you cannot travel on. Regardless, I recommend going with this option if you are willing to be flexible.

Generally, Google Flights will only send alerts within the next few months. If you originally select three days in September, you will likely only receive alerts not too far before or after September.

Look Out for Google Flights Price Alerts via Email

Screenshot: Google Flights Email via Gmail

After successfully signing up for a price alert, Google will start sending price change emails to your Gmail account. Remember, you will only get alerts based on your destination and departure cities, dates, and filters; If you set an “Any dates” alert, you will receive price updates for dates within a few months of your initially selected dates.

How Do I View, Edit, or Delete Current Google Flights Price Alerts?

Viewing and managing your flight alerts is easy. First, go to https://www.google.com/travel/flights . Under the Flights search box, you will see a “Tracked Prices” section. Click your tracked flight or click the “View All” link to see them all.

You can also find all of your Google Price Alerts by clicking the “main menu” button in the top left area within Google Flights. After clicking it, click the “Tracked flight prices” link to view, edit, and delete your alerts.

Keep Tracking Even After Booking to Potentially Cancel and Rebook for Cheaper

Most airlines no longer charge a change or cancellation fee; That usually does not include basic economy tickets, however. That provides the following opportunity.

• Set a Google Flights Price Alert
• Book the Flight After it Drops in Price
• Keep the Google Flights Price Alert Live Even After Booking
• If the Price Drops, Cancel/Rebook or Change Your Flight
• Receive an Airline Credit for the Difference

Rules are different for each airline; Check your airline’s policy for changes and cancellations for your ticket.

Further Reading: Google Flights Price Guarantee – How to Get a Refund if Your Airfare Drops

The Vacationer Tip

Booking a flight? Here are our top guides to save you the most money.

– How to Use Google Flights – Google Flights Explore Map – How to Use it to Find Cheap Flights Around the World – How to Find Cheap Flights – Best & Worst Days to Book Flights – Best & Worst Days of the Week to Fly – Best Seats on a Plane – Worst Seats on a Plane

How to Set Price Alerts for Other Popular Flight Trackers

Skyscanner, Kayak, and Hopper are other popular flight trackers. Here is how to set alerts with them.

Go to https://www.skyscanner.com/. Enter basic flight information like your departure and arrival cities, dates, number of travelers, and cabin class. After clicking search, you will see a variety of matching flights. Use the optional filters on the left side of the screen to get more specific. When you are satisfied, click the “Get Price Alerts” button on the upper left side of the page. Login to your current account or create a new one to finalize your alert.

Go to https://www.kayak.com/. Enter basic flight information like your departure and arrival cities, dates, number of travelers and cabin class. Click the “Track Prices” tab located on the upper left side of the page. Enter your email to finalize your alert.

Download the Hopper App . Fill out basic flight information. Select “watch this trip” updates via email or push notification.

A Google Flights price alert notifies you via email when your selected flight increases or decreases in price.

Our favorite flight price trackers are Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak, and Hopper.

The Vacationer’s Final Thoughts

I highly recommend creating a Google Flights price alert if you have set travel dates. Even if you do not, Google now allows you to select “any dates” if you have flexibility. Instead of monitoring airfare price changes, Google does the work for you so you know exactly when prices change.

By Phil Dengler

In addition to being a co-founder of The Vacationer, Phil Dengler is also the head of editorial and marketing. Previously, he ran a popular holiday deals website where he was a trusted source for all things Black Friday. With The Vacationer, Phil combines his knowledge of deals with his love of travel to help you plan the perfect vacation.

How to Use Google Flights to Find Cheap Flights in 2024

Google Flights Price Guarantee – How to Get a Refund if Your Airfare Drops

How to Find Cheap Flights to Anywhere in the World in 2024

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How To Use Google Flights To Find Cheap Prices, Discover Destinations (& More)

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Before the Google Flights platform launched in 2011, the process to search for all of your travel needs across a variety of websites was extremely cumbersome. Today, Google Flights has everything you need in 1 place to easily plan travel — it’s a robust website that helps you evaluate all of your Trip, Flight, Hotel, and Travel Package options.

In true Google fashion, the Google Flights platform is once again pushing the envelope with its price guarantee function, which we dive into below. In addition to its price guarantee function, Google added a feature that allows you to see your travel itinerary/itineraries on google.com/travel when logged into your Google account. Additional features include hotels, restaurants, and things to do recommendations from Google based on your destination.

New Features for Google Flights

Google Flights has recently added a new feature that gives users the ability to guarantee the lowest price possible.

When the multicolored guarantee badge appears, it means that Google is very confident that the price won’t get any higher before you fly. If a guaranteed price does go up, you can get an automatic refund of the price difference through Google Pay.

One of the newer features of Google Flights that is especially helpful in today’s climate is the ability to view and track any COVID-19 travel advisories or restrictions for the destination you’re searching for. This will include details like whether you’ll need to quarantine upon arrival or provide proof of test results or immunization records.

Better yet, you can also track these advisories and receive updates straight to your inbox. So if restrictions are added, lifted, or reduced, you will know about it right away and can make adjustments to your travels as necessary.

Those who have been using Google Flights for a while know that the Google Explore feature used to just show flight prices to a variety of major destinations from your home airport.

But now, you’ll see significantly more destinations on the map, including smaller cities and national parks, hotel rates, info on tours, activities, and attractions. You can also filter destinations that appear based on your interests (outdoors, beaches, skiing), the duration of the trip, the airlines that fly there, and more.

How Google Flights Can Save You Money

The first thing you might notice is that Google Flights isn’t quite as flashy as some of the online travel agencies like Expedia , Priceline , or Orbitz . Have no fear — it’s still a powerful search engine with lots of options!

Start by entering your basic search criteria, just as you would on any other site. Google Flights allows you to do multiple searches at once — up to 7 departures and 7 destinations in the search box! — saving you tons of time when you are doing a flexible search.

As an example, let’s say you want to fly from New York City to Europe but without a specific city in mind. In the departure box you can enter New York City, which will search all of the New York airports (LGA, JFK, EWR) — or you can select the airports individually, including other nearby airports like Islip, Long Island (ISP) or Philadelphia (PHL).

For your destination city, start typing in cities you are interested in visiting like Paris (CDG), Barcelona (BCN), Berlin (BER), etc. Google Flights will search for the best options all at once, instead of looking up the price of each route individually !

Your results list will display options including all of the cities added to your search. In the example below, we can see the cheapest flight is a nonstop flight from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG).

Bottom Line:  If you have some flexibility in your travel plans or don’t know exactly where you want to go, Google Flights can save tons of time by combining multiple searches into 1. You can input up to 7 departure cities and 7 destination cities all in 1 search to see, quickly and easily, what the cheapest option will be. 

You now know you can search multiple departure and arrival cities, but how can you find out the cheapest dates to fly?

After inputting your departure and arrival cities, look at the dates to the right side of the search box. Clicking the calendar icon will display a calendar view showing prices for the whole month. Days that offer lower prices will be shown in green. As you can see, the majority of dates for this route in September and October have pricing for business class in green.

Hot Tip: You can adjust the duration of your trip by using the arrows at each side of the calendar box.

Flight Insights

Google Flights has updated its Flight Insights section, found on the right side above your flight search results. A new Prices section is shown below your search results . With this new format, you’ll only see the Prices section when searching between 2 city pairs and not when searching for multiple destinations.

Hot Tip: We always use a rewards card that earns bonus points   on travel purchases. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred ® Card earns you 2 points for every $1 that you spend with the card on travel or dining purchases. If you’re a business owner, we’d strongly recommend using a rewarding business credit card (we recommend Chase business credit cards ) when making a travel purchase, otherwise, you’re missing out on points, miles, or cash-back!

For deeper insight on the cheapest days to fly, click on the Date Grid . This will open up a grid showing the cheapest days to fly in green and the most expensive days to fly in red.

You can see even more pricing details by using the Departure and Return arrows on the top and right side of the Date Grid section respectively. For those with flexible travel dates, this can be a great way to save some cash!

The Price graph shows 2 months’ worth of prices in a visual graph form to easily see price trends by day. Scroll further in the future with the arrow to the right of the graph or change the duration of your trip using the -/+ buttons by your selected dates.

How To Use Google Flights

Although this tool lets you search for, compare, and purchase flights, it’s not technically an online travel agency like Travelocity or Priceline . Rather, it’s a highly effective metasearch engine that saves you the step of searching each airline and website individually.

Scroll through the Best Departing Flights results and click on a flight that interests you. Flights listed in the Other Departing Flights section will typically be more expensive and/or include less than ideal layovers.

When you find the flight you want, you’re prompted to choose your outbound flight first, followed by your return flight (assuming you’re booking a round-trip flight). Keep in mind that the price shown on the initial results screen is the lowest possible price for that itinerary. The return flight you pick could alter the cost, so make sure to pay attention to the prices of each return flight.

When you’ve chosen your flights, Google offers a few options for booking — generally, these are the cheapest options it can find. You’re given the option to book directly with the airline operating the flight (often cheapest), through the airline’s partners, or with whichever online travel agencies offer the best deals.

Click the Select button next to the price of your flight and you’ll be redirected to that website to book your flight. The travel details are already set, so all you need to do is confirm them, enter your personal information, and pay.

Bottom Line:  While the other features that Google Flights offers are useful, its basic flight search functionality is the heart and soul of this tool. It’s not quite perfect and doesn’t have full access to every airline — for example, it can’t access prices for Southwest Airlines — but otherwise, it’s the best way there is to search for flights.

Google has a tool that lets you track flight prices — once set, you’ll receive an email if prices increase or decrease. To set an alert, look above the booking sites after you’ve chosen an itinerary and click the Track Prices button. If you’re logged in to Google, the alerts will be sent to your Gmail; otherwise, enter an email address.

You can access any flight price alert set by clicking on the 3-line menu icon in the upper-left corner of Google Flights and clicking Tracked Flight Prices . You can also see a graph with price changes from the day you set the price alert going forward.

Google also has an option to share a chosen itinerary before actually booking the flight. This tool can be extremely helpful when searching for flights for someone else or making group travel plans.

The Share button is directly above the Total Price of your flight with 2 options for sharing — 1) email the itinerary to yourself, or 2) share the itinerary with another person.

To email the itinerary to yourself, click the Send To Yourself button on the left. Similar to the Track Prices feature, the itinerary will be sent to your Gmail if you’re logged into your account, otherwise, you’ll need to enter your email address for the itinerary to be emailed to you.

To share the itinerary with another person, click the Share button on the right. A window pops up with options to share via Email, Facebook, Twitter, or Copy Link.

Bottom Line:  Google Flights is one of the most effective ways to search for flights. The platform has powerful tools to help make the flight search process easier than it otherwise would be. 

Explore Destinations

On the Google Flights homepage, you’ll notice an Explore Destinations button directly below the area where you select the dates of your travel. This tool is very interesting because it’s the perfect way to find some travel inspiration! There are 3 main ways you can search: Place, Date, and Price.

The Explore Destinations Places section lets you input a place that you’d like to travel, and then populates a map on the right side of the page with markers showing the different places that you can go. You can scroll through the search list under the Price section or search destinations directly on the map.

Another way that you can use Explore Destinations is to search for potential trips by Date. Enter Specific Dates or Flexible Dates and the Explore Destinations map will update the results based on these filters. Similar to Places, when the search results are populated, you can scroll through the list of destinations on the left side or click the destination directly on the map.

If Price is your filter of choice, slide the blue Price circle to the left or right to see what destinations populate based on your price parameters. Once you select the maximum price you are willing to pay, the map and list below the Price section will populate.

When you select the flight for your trip, a new section on the right side appears showing you the cost of your different flight options. By clicking View Flight , you will be directed back to the main Google Flights homepage where you can book the flight.

We have found that the best way to use the Explore Destinations tool is when you want to take a trip and have a general idea of when you can travel, but you don’t know exactly where you want to go. In our experience, results have been more helpful when you keep the search criteria more general — for example, picking a month and duration rather than specific dates.

Not to be confused with Explore Destinations in the Flights section, Google Flights has a section titled Explore with recommendations of popular destinations. You can also enter a destination in the search tab directly below the word Explore.

When you click on a destination, Google Flights will take you to the travel guide for that city. For example, if you click Austin in the picture above, you will be directed to the Austin travel guide. Once here, you will find Things To Do, Suggested Day Plans, Plan A Trip, When To Visit, Travel Articles, Travel Videos, See More While You’re There, and Other Places To Explore sections.

The Travel section of Google Flights is another interesting area to check out. When you enter a flight, hotel, or destination, Google Flights will direct you to the Explore, Flights, Hotels, or Packages section of the platform.

Directly below the search area of Travel, Google Flights lists your Upcoming Trips pulled from your Gmail, Potential Trips that you can take, Popular Destinations , and Past Trips that you’ve taken (also pulled from your Gmail).

Bottom Line:  The Trips section helps to direct you to the area of Google Flights that fits your search criteria. 

To book a hotel, start your search with the Hotels section of Google Flights. Simply enter your destination in the Where To? section and your dates in the dates section and you will see both a list and map of hotels for your destination. Narrow down your results using filters such as Number of Guests, Price, Hotel or Vacation Rental, Guest Rating, Amenities, and/or Brands.

Similar to Flights, you can set price alerts to track hotel prices. By setting an alert and entering your email, you will be sent price alerts and travel tips directly to your email.

The Vacation Rentals feature is a great tool for those who want to book a vacation rental instead of a hotel, based on a few criteria, and want to view all of their options across multiple vacation rental platforms.

You can enter your Destination, Date, Budget, Rating, and/or Number of Travelers, and Google Flights will populate the top options based on the criteria entered.

Special Features

Google’s been improving the Flights tool since it launched in 2011 by making it faster, adding new functionalities, and adding airlines and options. Price tracking is just one of those newer features.

As we’ll cover in more detail below, Google Flights will show you whether the price of the flight you’re looking to book is high, low, or typical. This is extremely helpful to ensure that you get the best flight deal.

Google is testing this new feature with a trial period, which is only available on certain flights. You can search for flights on Google Flights to see if your route happens to be one of the routes Google is using during this trial period. As an example of how the new function works, if you book a flight during the trial period, Google will guarantee the price will not drop. If it does, Google pays you the difference. How could you not love that?

As mentioned, the price guarantee function is not fully rolled out just yet. During the roll-out phase, the feature is only available on select flights originating in the U.S.

An additional feature Google Flights has added focuses on your trip itinerary. If your trip confirmation (i.e. flight) is delivered to your Gmail account, Google will show that trip itinerary in your google.com/travel list in a timeline format, similar to what you’ll see with TripIt. It’s an easy-to-read list that shows you everything that you have booked.

After your flight is booked, Google will help you with your next set of travel needs.

When you click on an itinerary shown in your Google Trip list, you’ll see options for hotels, flights, restaurants, and things to do. For example, when you click on Search hotels in XX city for , Google will redirect you to its Google Hotels page. From there, everything you need to know to book a hotel will be at your fingertips.

With respect to restaurants, when you click the Top restaurants in XX city  tab, Google will redirect you to Google Maps. On this page, you’ll see the top-rated restaurants in that city.

But wait, there’s more! When you click on a restaurant, the restaurant’s Google Maps page pulls up. You’ll then be able to click Reserve A Table  to book a reservation. How could it get any easier?

Google Flights will also predict delays to inform your purchase decision. In your search results, Google Flights will provide a note indicating flights that are often delayed.

Google Flights has a flight results filter to show which options include access to an overhead bin for a carry-on bag.

Google Flights has a  free extension for the Google Chrome web browser that adds information about seats to your search results. When you search for an economy class ticket, you’ll see the particular flight’s pitch (distance from the back of one seat to the back of the next seat) on the right-hand side of each result.

Flights with a smaller pitch are highlighted in red, while flights with a more generous pitch are in green. If you search for a premium cabin, you’ll see the type of seat on the flight — for example, a recliner, angled-flat, or lie-flat seat.

This is a fantastically helpful tool! As airlines are still working to make their fleets uniform following mergers over the past few years, it’s helpful to know exactly what kind of seat you’re paying for, especially since it can vary based on which plane is being flown on the route.

Bottom Line:  New features continue to be brought into the software tool — whether officially through Google or through third parties.

Google Flights is built on software that Google acquired when it bought ITA Software in 2011. That software still powers Google Flights, and if you want complete control over your search — from routing and fare code to the tiniest detail — you can access this software’s advanced interface.

ITA Matrix can be quite complicated, but the tradeoff is that you can search with much more control. If you’re interested in learning more, check out this complete guide to ITA Matrix .

Google Flights is a first stop anytime when looking for flights. It includes most airlines, features great prices, and searches various online travel agencies and airline websites to save you time. Even if you plan to book through an online travel agency (OTA), you should always search Google Flights first.

There’s just one catch to be aware of: Google doesn’t have access to pricing for Southwest Airlines flights. Whenever Southwest operates a route, it’ll appear at the bottom of the flight search results, but you’ll have to click it to visit Southwest’s site and see the price for yourself.

For additional information on other OTAs and metasearch engines, you can check out this article on which websites are best for booking flights at the cheapest prices .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is google flights.

Although the tool lets you search for, compare, and purchase flights, it’s not an online travel agency like Orbitz or Priceline. Rather, it’s a highly effective metasearch engine that saves you the step of searching each airline and website individually.

You can compare routes, prices, times, airlines, and more to find the cheapest, most convenient, or preferred flight between any airports.

How does Google Flights work?

The software tool works by searching databases from each airline and online travel agency to find flight schedules, seats, and prices.

Behind the scenes, it works by using a program called ITA Matrix, which was originally developed for travel agents and reservation managers.

Can you book through Google Flights?

Not exactly as the tool itself is just a search engine. That means that unlike a travel agency, it’s not the one selling you the flight.

However, Google includes links with each result to the cheapest available place to book — usually directly with the airline, but sometimes through an online travel agency or one of the airline’s partners.

How reliable is Google Flights?

In theory, any service or search engine can make mistakes. However, the tool gets its information directly from the airlines. That means that if there’s a mistake or something incorrect, that’s because the airline likely did something wrong.

Are Google Flights reservations refundable?

Because you’re not booking directly through Google, you should be sure to check the policy of whichever website you purchase your airfare from, as well as any restrictions with the particular fare you’ve bought.

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About Michael McHugh

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Michael took his first international trip in 2013 with friends to the Bahamas. Although he didn’t travel much in his younger years, on that trip, he caught the travel bug and has been hooked ever since.

Michael first caught wind of the points and miles game in 2014 while at a bar in Washington, DC where the conversation amongst friends was quickly derailed because of an alert on a friend’s phone about a mistake fare.  That’s where the love affair with points and miles began.

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How to Use Price Alerts to Find the Best Flight Deals

From google flights to kayak, this is how to use algorithms to get the best airfares..

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Websites like Going.com and Hopper are designed to help travelers score deals on flights.

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One of the questions that most plagues frequent travelers is, “Should I book my flight now—or could the price still go down?”

Airline ticket prices are dynamic—they’re influenced by the number of seats available on any given flight, the time of year, demand for the location (for instance, whether there is a special event like the Olympics or a World Cup tournament), the price of oil, the number of flights on any given route, and more—making it very difficult for the average traveler to predict whether certain airfares will go up or down.

While you can surf the web until you find a price you’re willing to pay (or just book and hope you’re able to rebook your flight later if the fare drops ), it may be easier to allow price alerts to do the heavy lifting for you behind the scenes.

Here’s what you need to know about price alerts, how they work, and how to set price alerts so that you can nab the best flight deals when they present themselves.

What are price alerts?

Price alerts are optional price tracking alerts that you can set up using flight search tools such as Google Flights, Kayak, Hopper, and Skyscanner. This option will then track your selected flight routes and dates of travel and will notify you via email (or push notifications if you’re using an app) when the price changes. Or if you’re flexible (say you want a cheap flight during spring break but are less concerned about where you go), some websites will keep an eye on various destinations for you and will send you good deals at random or for multiple designated locations.

How to set up price alerts on Google Flights

Google Flights is one of the most popular flight search tools for a reason. It allows travelers to see numerous flight and airfare options from numerous airlines, and you can also filter based on how many stops you’re willing to make, what airline(s) you’d like to fly, and whether bags are included. You can also search multiple departing and arriving airports in the region and can even compare flights’ carbon emissions. In short, there are numerous search filters to ensure that you are looking for and ultimately booking the flights that best suit your needs.

To track flights, enter your departure and arrival cities as you normally would, as well as the dates you’d like to fly. Also enter in any of those preferred filters we mentioned above. After you hit search, you’ll notice a “track prices” toolbar will appear on the left side of the screen below the information you input (and above the list of departing flights) with the options to track prices for the specific dates you chose or for any dates. Clicking either of these will sign you up to receive email updates on price changes for that flight.

It’s worth noting that Google Flights doesn’t catch all the deals—it doesn’t capture any price information from Southwest Airlines , for example (that’s because Southwest prevents third-party websites from showing its fares ). You also don’t purchase the tickets directly through Google Flights—the website sends users to the airline’s website or to another third-party site that sells flights.

How to set up price alerts on Hopper

Hopper , a flight price search and booking tool, not only notifies you when a price drops but also lets you know if it predicts that fares could rise.

To set an alert, you’ll have to go to Hopper’s website or download the app . On either platform, you’ll need to select “Flights” and fill out where and when you’d like to go. The next page will show the current flight prices and Hopper’s prediction about whether you should buy now or wait for a better price. If it’s the latter, there will be a “Watch This Trip” button in the middle of the page—it’ll allow you to opt into email updates or push notifications for the flight or flights you’re tracking.

How to set up price alerts on Kayak

Kayak does a great job of aggregating a list of the cheapest flights, hotels, and rental cars on a given date or range of dates. For flights specifically, it can also track prices to help you get the best deal.

You’ll first need to create an account with Kayak to get the alerts. Then, after you search for your destination and add the dates, you’ll be able to click “track prices” on the page that lists all the flight options. The tracking button is in the upper left corner, and above it, you’ll find Kayak’s advice on whether you should buy now or wait (based on its projections of whether the fares will drop in the next seven days).

Regardless of whether the price changes, Kayak will send you daily notifications about the ticket price unless you alter the notifications in the settings section of your personal profile (in the top right corner of the web page). It’s also possible to keep tabs on your alerts by going to your “watchlist,” also located on your profile page.

What’s particularly nifty about Kayak is that it’s the only one that allows you to set flexible price alerts. So say you want to fly from Los Angeles, California, to Bali, Indonesia, but don’t care when, you can select “flexible dates” and then further choose “anytime” to receive alerts when the price drops below average.

How to set up price alerts on Skyscanner

Skyscanner , a website that pulls prices for flights, hotels, and car rentals from across the internet, operates similarly to Google Flights. After you’ve added your dates and preferred route (you can also click “Add nearby airports” to get results for other area airports), you’ll be taken to the results page. There you will find a “get price alerts” button near the top left side of the screen. You’ll have to create an account with Skyscanner to opt into the price alert emails. Typically, if your flight is within 100 days, Skyscanner will email you a daily update. If it’s further out, notifications will come once a week.

While Skyscanner has an option to search for flights “everywhere” (meaning it will search for the lowest-priced tickets to every country during that time frame), that functionality doesn’t work with price alerts. If you’d like to keep an eye on multiple destinations, you’ll have to set alerts for all of them. Luckily, Skyscanner will bundle your searches into one email, making it easier to compare prices (and it will save your inbox from being overloaded).

Sign up for flight deal alerts on Going.com

Going.com isn’t technically like setting a price alert for one flight or destination; it’s a newsletter service that sends domestic and international flight deals to your inbox. But it’s a good way to save money on travel if you’re open to exploring a new destination based on a great flight deal.

In each email, the Going.com team include information about what deals they have unearthed and how you can score the cheaper rate (they also share how much those flights typically cost).

Going.com has three versions of its service:

• A free version , called Limited, where you’ll get a selection of international economy-class deals for up to five airports of your choosing, delivered each month.
• A Premium version , which costs $49 per year and includes international and domestic economy-class deals from up to 10 airports. It also provides mistake fares (when an incorrect, lower fare is accidentally listed on an airline website) from your home airport, as well as weekend getaway deals.
• And an Elite version , which regularly costs $199 per year and includes the same perks as Premium and deals for first-, business-, and premium economy–class tickets from an unlimited number of U.S. airports

This story was originally published in November 2022, and was most recently updated on November 10, 2023, to include current information.

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How to Use Flight Price Alerts to Save Money on Your Next Trip

This simple tip can help you score the best flight price for your next vacation.

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These days, everyone is looking for the best flight deals. But with prices fluctuating so frequently, how do you know when to book to get the best price? One helpful way to ensure you're getting a good deal is to sign up for flight price alerts, a free service offered by several travel companies.

"You can think of price alerts as your personal travel deal scout, helping you save time and money by tracking prices daily and alerting you in real-time when the price changes for a flight, hotel, or rental car you want," Kayla Inserra, Kayak’s consumer travel trends expert, tells Travel + Leisure . Kayak was one of the first travel companies to set up a price alert tool in 2006. 

Here's everything you need to know about flight price alerts, from how to set them up to the best sites to use.

Related: The Best Time to Book a Flight for Domestic, International, and Summer Travel

How do flight price alerts work?

When you set a price alert with a certain company, that company will monitor flight prices for your specifications, including departure and arrival airports, dates, and airlines, and notify you when it’s the best time to book. Some services even allow you to set price alerts for broad parameters if you're particularly flexible with your travel plans, such as price alerts for an entire month or any destination in the world. Or you can be hyper-specific, selecting a particular flight for your price alerts. No matter what you set your specifications to, you'll receive a notification if the price changes for matching flights.

How to Set Up Flight Price Alerts

There are many ways to set price alerts, but you'll always have to select at least a few parameters, which could include origin, destination, and dates. Depending on the service you use, you'll likely be able to create an alert that suits your specific needs. For instance, if you are eyeing one specific flight, you can enter those flight numbers and track the price of that flight. But if you don't have a particular travel date in mind, you can select a date range, and the service will search for the best deals to your destination within that range. 

"Flexibility is the best way to get the lowest airfares," Laura Lindsay, Skyscanner’s global travel trends expert, tells T+L . "To snag the best deal, set up price alerts for other airports close to your chosen locations and try different dates. This way, you’ll get notified if there are even better deals on alternate routes. You can also set multiple price alerts to keep your options wide open.

And here's another hack: You can set price alerts for flights you've already booked. If the price drops, you might be able to change your flight with your airline and receive the difference in the form of an e-credit. Just remember that e-credits do have expiration dates, so this hack only works if you plan on flying with your airline again within the next year or so.

Related: 10 Tips to Help You Score Cheap Last-minute Flights

The Best Flight Price Alert Services

Kayak is a metasearch engine that scours multiple sites for the best deals in travel, from airfare to hotels to car rentals. The most common way to set up a flight price alert is to search for flights on the site or in the app — inputting your origin, destination, and dates as you normally would — and set up a price alert for that search to find the best deal. 

But that's not the only way to use Kayak's price alerts. "If you know exactly where you want to go but are not sure when, you can set up a flexible price alert to snag a low price to your destination," says Inserra. "As you create a new alert, select 'Flexible Dates' in the top navigation and enter your departure and arrival airports. You can make your travel dates anytime, upcoming weekends, or the month you’d like to travel. You’ll receive notifications for that route with whatever is the lowest price during the time period you selected."

And if your destination doesn't matter, you can even set up a price alert for the 25 most popular cities on Kayak, from London to Miami.

Skyscanner is another travel metasearch engine. As with Kayak, you can search for flights to and from specific destinations on specific dates, then set a price alert for that search. But you can also take advantage of Skyscanner's "everywhere" function to search all destinations in the world, either on specific dates or for an entire month. "If you want to get even more intel on when to book, check out the Savings Generator tool to understand the best time to book and the potential savings available for the most popular destinations for U.S. travelers," says Lindsay.

Google Flights

Google Flights is an easy-to-use flight metasearch engine that allows you to track prices for your searches. Once you input your search parameters, you can click "track prices" to receive alerts if those prices change. You can also see the price history for your flights, and Google Flights will let you know whether the current prices are average, high, or low for that route.

Metasearch engine Momondo might not have as much brand recognition as some of its competitors — at least in the U.S. — but it's a powerful tool for searching for flights. To set a price alert, search your origin, destination, and date, then toggle on price alerts for that search. Momondo also lets you know its predictions about whether or not it's a good time to book. You can click on "flight insights" for a detailed report about the best times to fly to your destination, including the cheapest months, cheapest days of the week, and cheapest airlines to fly.

Score Cheap Hawaii Airfares With Google Flights Alerts

As travelers, our biggest problem when we book flights is not knowing if we’re getting a good price. And if this is the best time to buy a ticket. Not to worry though. Google Flights has you covered.

Google Flights allows for easy comparisons of flight, hotel, and travel package options. While the site has been around since 2011, the newest features added in 2018 make it even better. And features added since then just keep improving our user experience.

Pro Tip: Do you Pruvo all your hotels stays? If not, do what I do and let Pruvo monitor your reservations for price drops. It’s  free and it’s the easiest way to save money on all your hotel rooms.

If you’re not using Google Flights alerts, you’re missing out. Understanding how these alerts work saves you money. They can even save you money on flights to Hawaii! And who doesn’t want to save some money when vacationing in Hawaii, right?

Google Flights is a great tool for searching for airline flights, checking prices, and tracking airfare changes. It requires setting up alerts, though. And setting alerts up is easy to do!

Have you ever noticed when checking airfare prices that they fluctuate in price? I’ll bet you have. They can even fluctuate over the course of one day. I even read that airlines change prices up to five times a day. So why not get the best deal possible while letting Google Flights do the work for you? Well, you still have to purchase the ticket, but you know what I mean 🙂

How To Set Up Google Flights Alerts

Here’s how Google Flights alerts work. First decide the price of the ticket you want to pay. Then set an alert. You will be alerted when the price of a flight changes. You’ll be alerted whether that price goes up or down.

There is flexibility in setting alerts for the price you’re tracking. You can choose to track a certain date and flight or track a more general or specific search. Naturally, the more filters you use when setting alerts, the fewer emails you’ll receive from Google.

• Do you find it difficult to book award flights with your miles and points? I do! That’s why I turn to Point.me. They get me great deals and save me money and time.

There is one caveat, though. When using the Google Flights alert feature Google requires that you have a Gmail account to access the feature. Log in to your account and you’ll be good to go for searching flights and setting up alerts.

Follow These 4 Steps to Set Up Google Alerts

1. Start by setting up the broadest search possible.

As you can see in the search image above, enter your city pairs. If your dates are flexible, toggle the Track prices to On.

Next select “Any dates.” This enables you to receive price change notifications for flights between any city pair.

2. Select a search for specific dates, the number of people traveling, and one-way or round-trip flights. These act as filters.

If you only want to travel on a specific date, then only toggle the Track prices to “On” instead of using the “Any dates” feature. Then you will only receive price change alerts for the date selected.

Choose one-way or round-trip. In the case of Hawaii, many people fly into one island and out from another. You can look at those flight options as well.

3. Select the class of service.

Maybe you prefer to fly in premium economy. Maybe only in business/first class. You can select that alert filter by choosing the option in the Google Flights search and then toggle that tracking feature to the On position.

4. Add any additional search filters you’d like.

Choose from options for checked bags, stops, specific airlines, time of day, and layover time. Or just start with a broad search. You can always add filters later and zero in on the flight parameters that work best for you. Remember, you will only receive alerts based on the criteria you select.

You can wait to receive alert emails. There is an option, though, to view them manually on Google Flight’s main page. You will see the existing trackers below the search fields under the headline Tracked Prices. This is also handy for turning off emails you no longer need by sliding the “Track Prices” off.

Don’t forget to check the price chart. This shows you the prices for your flight and how they have changed over time.

Some people track prices even after purchasing tickets. If there’s a way you can rebook your flight or receive a credit or refund for your ticket, knowing when flight prices go down could come in handy and save you some money.

• What if you could learn everything you need to know about your destination in just 15 minutes? Here’s how!

Google Flights Does Not Track Every Airline

Google Flights does not track prices for Southwest Airlines flights.

The search engine does show Southwest departures, but it always says “Price unavailable.” This prevents their flights from being tracked. Southwest Airlines does not appear on online travel agencies. You’ll need to head to Southwest’s own flight search to determine prices.

Learn about ALL the ways Google Flights makes it easy to plan your travels!

Final Thoughts

It’s great to be able to track flight prices to see if prices fluctuate. Then to be able to catch a flight at a better price is even better. Hawaii is not an inexpensive destination. So why not use Google Alerts to save some money on flights that is better spent in Hawaii for some fun in the sun?

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• My Favorite Travel Resources and Products
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The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Shelli Stein

Shelli Stein is a travel writer, personal development coach , and story teller. She has come to realize writing as a way of sharing travel experiences brings her a lot of pleasure! Her areas of expertise are: all things  Southwest Airlines ,  hotel reviews , and what to do, see, and eat in destinations around the world. She sees travel as an adventure, trying to somehow get inside and experience a different way of life, a different cultural heritage. Maybe she can  show you something  you’ve never seen.  Inspire you with new ideas  for your next vacation. Attempt to  put a smile on your face . Help you learn from her mistakes . Or challenge your  assumptions about the world . She lives life with humor, gratitude, and humility and always sees the coffee cup as half full!

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Plan trips and track flight prices on a speaker or display

To get the most out of Google Home, choose your Help Center: U.S. Help Center, U.K. Help Center, Canada Help Center, Australia Help Center .

With your Google Nest or Home speaker or display, you can find travel information and track flight prices to help you plan a trip.

Note: Google Assistant can no longer tell you your personal flight information, like your upcoming flight status or your next flight. Learn more about how Google Assistant is changing .

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3 ways to find a great deal with Google Flights

Aug 28, 2023

See the cheapest time to book your flight, track its price, and look out for a price guarantee badge. Plus, check out our 2023 flight booking trends.

If you want to save money on flights this holiday season, or any time of year, a little bit of planning can go a long way. Most of the time, it’s better to book on the early side, especially when your plans aren’t very flexible. But flight prices do change frequently, and there are often low fares to be found with the right tools (and some perseverance).

So for all the thrifty travelers out there, we’re sharing a few new and existing ways Google Flights can help you find a great deal.

1. Get new insights on the cheapest time to book

On Google Flights, you can already see whether current prices for your search are low, typical or high compared to past averages for the same route. But the age-old question remains: Is it better to book now or wait for lower prices to come along?

So this week, we’re launching upgraded insights to make that choice a bit easier. For searches with reliable trend data, you’ll now see when prices have typically been lowest to book your chosen dates and destination.

For example, these insights could tell you that the cheapest time to book similar trips 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 you decide to wait before booking. Either way, you can make that decision with a greater sense of confidence.

2. Turn on price tracking

If you do want to wait for lower fares before you book, price tracking can do most of the heavy lifting for you. When you enable price tracking, we’ll automatically notify you if flight prices drop significantly. You can set up tracking for specific dates, like your best friend’s destination wedding in February. Or, if you’re more flexible, you can turn on “Any dates” price tracking to receive emails about deals anytime in the next three to six months. To enable this feature, make sure you’re logged into your Google account.

3. Snag a price guarantee

On some flight results, you’ll see a colorful price guarantee badge, which means we’re especially confident the fare you see today won’t get any lower before departure. When you book one of these flights, we’ll monitor the price every day before takeoff, and if the price does go down, we’ll pay you back the difference via Google Pay. These price guarantees are part of a pilot program available for select Book on Google itineraries departing from the U.S.

2023 flight booking trends

Outside of these tools, we’ve gathered other information to help you travel on a budget. Last year, we shared money-saving insights based on historical pricing trends on Google Flights. We ran the numbers again with the latest data 1 , and most of the tips from 2022 still hold true: Taking a layover or avoiding weekend departures are among the best ways to save on your next flight booking.

But things have changed a bit for flights around Christmas and flights to Europe. In both scenarios, you’ll want to book even earlier than usual, especially if you’re heading across the pond. Here’s what we found:

Best time to book flights for Christmas: For trips starting in mid-December, you’re most likely to find deals around early October. Average prices tend to be lowest 71 days before departure — a big change from our 2022 insights, which found that average prices were lowest just 22 days before departure. And the typical low price range is now 54-78 days before takeoff.

Best time to book flights from the U.S. to Europe: Average prices have been lowest 72 days or more before departure. In other words, average airfares from the U.S. to Europe only tend to increase over time, especially once you’re about 10 weeks from departure. So if you want to dust off that passport, you should book your flight as soon as possible.

With these tools and trends, you’ll be more than ready for takeoff. Safe travels!

More Information

To produce the insights in this post, we calculated average round trip airfares observed on Google Flights Aug 1, 2018 through Dec 31, 2019 and Jan 1, 2021 through July 31, 2023, for 6- to 9-day trips and 13- to 16-day trips departing from the top 4,000 markets in the U.S. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, we examined 6- to 9-day trips and 13- to 16-day trips with departure dates before the holiday and return dates after the holiday. For spring break, we examined 6- to 9-day trips and 13- to 16-day trips beginning in March or April, and for summer vacation we examined 6- to 9-day trips and 13- to 16-day trips beginning in July or August.

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Google Hotels: A Best Features Guide & Slick Tips

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Google Hotels: Price trackers, clever filters and more…

To put it lightly, Google Flights revolutionized flight searches in travel. Now, Hotels might do the same. You can quickly and easily set price alerts for any number of itineraries, destinations and cities with the tap of a button, letting all the hard work of search come right into your inbox without lifting a finger. Hopefully, saving you lots of money in the process.

Google Flights is quite easily my favorite way to search for the best flight deals, and we’ve got quite a good primer on how to make the most of Google Flights . But that only took care of the shorter part of travel – the flights. What about hotels?

Google Hotels is now bringing that same simplicity and brilliance to the other big part of travel. Here’s a look at what Google has rolled out, and how you can benefit from this new way of searching and booking not just “a” hotel, but the “right” hotel.

Google Hotels Interface

Google Hotels now has its own sleek interface, at Google.com/hotels .

When you enter, it looks just like flights, which I’d argue is a great thing. Why? Because you can learn about the cheapest months to stay, discover which destinations fit your budget and also see how good the prices you’re seeing for your dates are, compared to other dates. Oh, and you can now set hotel price trackers too.

For covid-19, Google Hotels has also added a ‘free cancellation’ filter, to help people avoid reservations which will lock in their cash, even if they can’t travel.

Don’t know exactly where you want to go but have a budget and a dream?

One of the most underrated features of Google Flights was being able to search without a specific need or place in mind. Let’s say you have up to $150 per night, want a five star hotel, are dying to visit Asia and are willing to plan from there. You can do that with Google Hotels.

By entering “Asia” and setting a price filter, you can see every city in Asia with five star options in your price range. Same works for any region in the world, or none set at all. You could previously do similar with Google Flights by setting a max price, a starting point and leaving the destination field blank. I absolutely love seeing this feature for hotels now too.

This also works for destination research…

People often ask me when the best time of year to visit any given city is. Let’s take New York City, where I was born. I have my own advice , but Google Hotels can give you more statistical evidence, like how busy it is compared to peak travel times, when the lowest hotel prices are by month and the average weather on each day.

With one simple click, I’m seeing basically everything I want to know to create a perfect trip. For a destination you’re not entirely familiar with, this is a game changer.

Want to see how prices on your dates compare to other months, or even days?

Timing is everything in travel. Stay New Years Eve, pay 10x, stay New years day pay 1/10th. Long story short, a day or two of flexibility can make all the difference and if you do have the ability to move a trip in one direction or another, it pays to shop around.

Google Hotels now shows how prices are for your dates, compared to standard prices for the month. It even tells you if dates a little to the left, or a little to the right are better. One feature that’s quite new and unique, is that it breaks the price “heat” index down by star category.

Basically you can see a cool “green” if prices are low and a “red” for ultra high, and you can see for each star. This helps to know whether it’s better to pay up, or look down if there’s particular value in one category or another.

Track Hotel Prices With One Tap On Google Hotels

The best deals often go to those who put the most effort into finding them, but Google Hotels really evens the playing field. You can search for hotels in a given destination once, and tap the “track prices” icon to get notified whenever prices move in one direction or another.

In just one day of searching, there were big moves with a variety of hotels, and if one of the deals happens to catch your fancy, you can then click to book it directly from the email Google popped into your inbox. It really doesn’t get any easier, and when you’re talking about potential savings in the $100 or $1000’s range, it’s certainly lucrative.

And there’s useful filters for power searching…

Pretty much everyone searching for a hotel has a budget in mind, and rather than making you click through pages of results, you can instantly customize yours on Google Hotels . That’s kinda handy. The dual price slider lets you set a minimum and maximum per night, but that’s just the beginning.

Is doing cannonballs in the pool a necessity? Or perhaps a morning sweat session in the gym? You can add all sorts of filters for every lifestyle from “kid friendly” to “free parking” with just one tap using the amenities tab. Anything to save time or keep you from useless results is a good thing.

Booking Hotels Through Google Hotels

One thing that’s pretty cool and happening much more frequently on Google Hotels is the ability to book directly from the interface, without having to click over to a third party. Lots of online travel agencies are now integrating their booking platforms, so that you can just enter your information on the same page, and Google sends it over.

We’ve seen this a lot with Google Flights, where you see things like “Book with Virgin Atlantic on Google” as a booking option, so from a user standpoint, it’s great to see this for hotels too. Even better, if you have a Gmail account, most of your information can be pre-populated which saves even more time. Options which can be booked directly on the platform tend to be highlighted, or at the bottom of the booking options.

It’s nice to see a shake up of boring hotel search

It’s great to see Google shaking up the hotel search game the way it has with flights. Online travel agencies have gotten away with clunky search and few good comparison options for too long, and with any hope, this will force others to compete. Happy searching…

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly... More by Gilbert Ott

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Now let’s see them add the number of points required!

Haha yes, for the 1% of people who use points at hotels : )

Cannot for the life of me find this feature!

I’m not sure how this is any different than setting up your parameters on Priceline and running scenarios. I played with this for a bit and don’t see the “revolutionary” improvements this and other sites are wowed over. A heat map doesn’t save me money. Also, somewhere I read that you can list the full prices. Can’t find that feature, either.

I know they have the data, so if they really wanted to blow the doors off, here’s the game-changer: pick a property, or properties, and have it build a daily price calendar, similar to Southwest’s website. I want to go to New Orleans and stay in one of these 10 properties, when can I go to save the most money?

200,000 miles a year Gilbert, you must be (hopefully) planting a lot of trees?

There is one MASSIVE problem with Google Hotels at present, which is that the rates seem to be incorrect most of the time. Google will show prices from third-party providers and obviouly the lowest price is the headline rate. When you go to book at that rate it’s rarely available and the actual cost can be four or five times as much – rendering Google Hotel actually pretty useless. This has happened to me a lot whilst trying to book hotels in Asia and more recently in Milan. I’d say 4/5 of the time, the advertised rates aren’t actually avilable and on one occasion, a third party provider sent me a booking confirmation and then cancelled the reservation some 48 hours later, after I had booked flights. Google needs to vet its providers properly, or have realtime linking to hotel availability and pricing. Google Hotels could be excellent, but it’s just a big time-wasting tease at the moment.

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Price tracking seems to have gone?

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Google will now let you use AI to build travel itineraries for your vacations

As we inch toward the summer holidays, Google is announcing a slate of travel updates that place it squarely in the travel planning process and give it a lot more insight into purchasing intent in the travel sector.

First up, Google is rolling out an update to its  Search Generative Experience (SGE) that will allow users to build travel itineraries and trip ideas using AI, the company announced on Wednesday.

The new capability — currently only available in English in the U.S. to users enrolled in Search Labs , its program that lets users experiment with early-stage Google Search experiences and share feedback — draws on ideas from sites across the web, along with reviews, photos and other details that people have submitted to Google for places around the world.

When users ask for something like “plan me a three day trip to Philadelphia that’s all about history,” they will get a sample itinerary that includes attractions and restaurants, as well as an overview of options for flights and hotels, divided up by times of day.

For now, the itineraries are just that: There are no options to buy services or experiences on the spot. When you’re happy with your itinerary, you can export it to Gmail, Docs or Maps.

Google has not commented on when or if it might roll this out more widely. But it points to how the company is experimenting with how and where it can apply its AI engine. A lot of players in the travel industry may be eyeing up the role that generative AI will play in travel services in the coming years — some excitedly, some warily. But even now, startups like Mindtrip and Layla , which provide users with access to AI assistants that are designed to help you plan your trips, are already actively pursuing this.

But with this new update, Google is taking on startups like these while also gathering data about travel purchasing intent (useful for its wider ad business) and learning what kind of appetite its users might have for such services.

Image Credits: Google

Google also announced that it’s making it easier to discover lists of recommendations in Google Maps in select cities in the U.S. and Canada. If you search for a city in Maps, you will now see lists of recommendations for places to go from publishers like The Infatuation, as well as from other users. You will also see curated lists of top, trending, and hidden gem restaurants in 40+ U.S. cities.

Finally, the company is adding new tools to help you customize lists you create, so you can better organize your travel plans or share your favorite spots with your friends and family. You can choose the order the places appear in a list so you can organize them by top favorites or chronologically like an itinerary. Plus, you can link to content from your social channels.

For Monday's solar eclipse, New York State, federal authorities issue travel alerts 

A digital sign on the eastbound LIE in Medford advises motorists of Monday's eclipse. Credit: James Carbone

If you drive the Long Island Expressway, you've probably seen the signs: “Solar eclipse Monday. Take mass transit.”

State officials are warning of traffic mayhem surrounding Monday's “Great North American Eclipse,” which will cut a 120-mile-wide swath of total darkness from Texas to Maine — including a portion of upstate New York. 

It will only last for several minutes, and Long Island will reach about 90% totality. Still, statewide travel warnings have been issued that include unusually heavy traffic into Tuesday. 

Suffolk police said Tuesday there were “no special preparations” being made to deal with traffic that day and Nassau police said they currently have no special advice for drivers.

But AAA issued a list of do's and don'ts for drivers, including: Keep your vehicle's headlights on; lower the visor to block your view of the sun; don't try to photograph or video the eclipse while driving; and don't pull over to the side of heavily trafficked roads to view it.

And, while NASA warns eclipse-rated glasses — thousands of times darker than normal sunglasses — are needed to safely view the eclipse, AAA reminds drivers not to wear them while driving.

The eclipse will begin over the South Pacific Ocean and cross North America beginning about 2:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and ending at about 4:36 p.m., transiting over Mexico, the United States and Canada.

In New York, the path of totality will cover a host of upstate areas, officials said, the largest among them Jamestown, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown and Plattsburgh.

Officials said tens of thousands have booked stays in many upstate locations in the eclipse path, including a host of small rural towns and villages.

That's where the bulk of any traffic concerns come in, with state officials warning of overburdened roads in locations not designed to handle it.

“Travelers are encouraged to arrive at their destination early and leave well after the eclipse has ended,” officials said in a notice posted to the state Department of Transportation 511 NY website.

In fact, AAA said its official car rental partner, Hertz, reported a 3,000% increase in advance bookings for locations in the projected eclipse path, with rentals beginning Saturday. Hotels in the eclipse path are reportedly 48% more expensive on average for eclipse weekend, AAA said.

Even the Federal Aviation Administration is warning of potential air travel delays, citing “possible impacts to air traffic and airports along the eclipse path” between 6 a.m. Sunday and Wednesday, April 10.

The National Weather Service is calling for sunny skies on Long Island and about 60 degrees Monday.

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”

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What the Tech? Google AI vacations

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) -When you’re planning a vacation you might know where you want to go, but you need help with what to do when you get there. Where to stay, where to eat, what to do during the day, and are there any baseball games/live bands/festivals taking place when we’re going to be there?

People have been using Chat GPT to create travel plans and itineraries but Google believes it can do it better. And maybe it can because of the billions of pages of information in its search engine. At least I was anxious to see what it could do.

Now, to plan a vacation all you need to do is ask Google and its new generative AI tool in the normal Google Search bar. Let’s plan a vacation in San Francisco, California. We’ll add that we are interested in live music and wine and would like to include Napa Valley.

Add the dates and for how many people. I type into the search bar “plan a vacation in San Francisco for June 18th to 28th for 4 people. We are interested in live music and wine.”

After hitting ‘enter’, Google scans its resources and in a few seconds, gives us a daily itinerary. Something for the morning, afternoon, and evening that it thinks we’ll like based on our search criteria.

It recommends Bix restaurant with live music on day 1. I can read reviews, see it on a map, visit the website, and see the menu.

AI recommends we spend the first few days in San Francisco, and then take the remaining days to travel to popular winery’s in Napa Valley. Not only does it deliver recommendations of which winery’s have the best tours but it includes driving directions and even some cool places to stop along the way.

It also shows available flights and hotel recommendations where I can search for ‘deals’ and vacation rentals.

I tried it again to plan a trip to Chicago in June and told Google I love baseball.

Once again, it returned a 5-day itinerary for those dates and made sure to include a game at Wrigley Field. A link on that recommendation took me to the box office for tickets.

I found the links to Reddit communities to be most helpful. Rather than searching the millions of sub Reddits to find one with reviews and recommendations, Google sent me links to the best ones.

And it’s all in one search. Since it’s generative AI and like you’re talking to a real person, you can ask follow up questions rather than starting over.

If you’re happy with what Google’s AI assistant found you can share it with someone else by exporting it to Gmail and sending it off. They’ll get the itinerary in their inbox with clickable links. Or you can export the trip to a Google Doc to print or share.

Google’s Generative AI for things like this is still experimental but I found it to be extremely helpful in planning a vacation. It is just part of Google’s new(ish) AI platform called “Gemini”.

Copyright 2024 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email [email protected]

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4.8 magnitude earthquake rattles NYC, New Jersey: Live updates

NEW YORK – A 4.8 magnitude earthquake recorded in New Jersey that shook residents in surrounding states and New York City on Friday morning was one of the strongest in state history.

The temblor was reported about 5 miles north of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, at about 10:23 a.m. Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 45 miles from New York City, where residents reported shaking furniture and floors.

“Earthquakes in this region are uncommon but not unexpected. It’s likely people near the epicenter are going to feel aftershocks for this earthquake in the magnitude 2-3 range, and there’s a small chance there can be an earthquake as large or larger, following an earthquake like this,” Paul Earle, a seismologist at the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program told reporters. “In terms of our operations, this is a routine earthquake … Immediately we knew this would be of high interest and important to people who don’t feel earthquakes a lot.”

People reported feeling the shaking as far north as Maine and as far south as Norfolk, Virginia, following the quake, according to USGS. Scientists said those in the affected area should listen to local emergency officials and be prepared to seek cover if aftershocks occur.

“If you feel shaking, drop, cover and hold,” Earle said.

No major disruptions or damage have been reported in New Jersey or New York.

"We have activated our State Emergency Operations Center. Please do not call 911 unless you have an actual emergency," said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

President Joe Biden spoke with Murphy about the earthquake and the White House is monitoring the situation.

“He thinks everything's under control,” Biden told reporters before leaving the White House for a trip to Baltimore. “He’s not too concerned about it, the governor of New Jersey, so things are all right.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the quake was felt throughout New York, and officials are assessing impacts and any potential damage.

In Yonkers, New York, Mayor Mike Spano said City Hall shook but no injuries were reported.

"A few moments ago our entire house shook for about 25 seconds or so here in Mendham, New Jersey," former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said.

USGS is still investigating the exact fault line at the center of Friday’s quake and said it occurred in a region with dozens of fault lines that were more active millions of years ago.

4.0 magnitude aftershock strikes hours after earthquake

Officials in New York and New Jersey alerted residents to an aftershock Monday evening, nearly eight hours after the earthquake.

A 4.0 magnitude aftershock slammed New Jersey at around 6 p.m., with an epicenter about four miles southwest of Gladstone, according to the USGS. New York City’s emergency notification system alerted residents to the aftershock minutes later, urging people to remain indoors and call 911 if injured.

Hochul said there were no reports of serious damage after the aftershock, and officials were continuing to assess critical infrastructure.

The aftershock Monday evening was at least the third that USGS recorded after the quake struck.

As of Friday afternoon, the USGS aftershock forecast predicted a 36% chance of aftershocks at a 3.0 magnitude or higher, an 8% chance of aftershocks at a 4.0 magnitude or higher, and a 1% chance for aftershocks at a magnitude of 5.0 or higher over the next week.

USGS scientists said informal observations can be a big help in understanding earthquakes, especially in a region where they’re less common.

“We encourage people to fill out the ‘Did You Feel It?’ reports on our website,” said Sara McBride, a scientist with the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. “This citizen science project is critical in terms of building our knowledge around earthquakes.”

By midafternoon on Friday, the agency said it had received more than 161,000 reports, and extrapolated that the quake had been felt by millions of people. McBride acknowledged that earthquakes can be nerve-wracking for people who don’t live in seismologically active regions, and said knowledge is power in combatting that discomfort.

“The best thing you can do to relieve any unsettling feelings you might have is to learn how to protect yourself during shaking and how to prepare for earthquakes in the future,” she said.

Man getting vasectomy during earthquake recounts experience

One Horsham, Pennsylvania, man shared his unusual earthquake experience, saying the tremors hit when he was in the middle of receiving a vasectomy.

"The surgeon sort of froze and all of us kind of seemed a bit confused," Justin Allen told USA TODAY . "Even when the surgeon said 'that’s gotta be an earthquake,' I thought he was joking."

Luckily, Allen's doctor was able to resume the procedure after a brief pause, and the rest went off without a hitch. Now recovering at home, Allen said it's an experience no one involved will forget, especially because his social media post about the incident has since gone viral.

"My wife says that 'this is a clear and obvious sign that we should not have any more kids,'" Allen said.

New Jersey resident thought sound from earthquake was an explosion

Madeline Nafus had just finished feeding her 7-week-old baby when, simultaneously, she was thrown off balance and the loudest sound she’d ever heard rang out.

“I thought it was either an explosion or a bombing because of how loud it was,” said Nafus, who lives in Long Valley, New Jersey, a few miles from the earthquake's epicenter. “It was just terrifying.”

Nafus, 29, watched as her light fixtures swung and wine glasses, framed photos and a 6-foot elk head crashed onto the floor. Feeling as if her “house was going to crumble,” she picked up her baby boy, grabbed some blankets and headed outside. Meanwhile, her friend came running downstairs and picked up Nafus’ quivering dog, Olivia, a small golden doodle.

After about 15 seconds, the rumbling went away and only occasional, minor tremors could be felt. Nafus called her husband, who was teaching a golf lesson at the time, and then their 2-year-old’s day care.

“They said the children were all confused and asking a lot of questions but that they were OK,” she said.'

How common are East Coast quakes?

Earthquakes are less frequent in the eastern part of the country than in the west, but they have occurred in every state east of the Mississippi River, according to the USGS.

"Since colonial times people in the New York – Philadelphia – Wilmington urban corridor have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones," according to the USGS. "Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every two to three years."

USGS officials also said that even smaller-magnitude quakes are more likely to be felt more widely on the East Coast than similar size quakes on the West Coast due to the rock properties of eastern soil, which can cause concern to East Coasters not used to the tremors.

Rocks in the eastern part of the country are much older than in the west, by up to millions of years. Those older rocks have been exposed to more extreme temperatures and pressure, and faults have had more time to heal. Seismic waves travel across the resulting harder and denser faults much more efficiently, so the effects of a quake are felt across a larger area. In the West, faults are newer and absorb more of the seismic wave energy without spreading as far.

Quake felt in Massachusetts

In Auburn, Massachusetts, more than 200 miles from the earthquake's epicenter, Jerry Steinhelper was on a video call for work when his house began to tremble. His dog Maize started barking, and books and trinkets fell from their shelves. He looked out the window and saw trees shaking.

“I thought at first it may be ice falling off the roof. But it kept going and the entire house was shaking,” he told USA TODAY. “Then I just knew it was an earthquake.”

Steinhelper, 55, lived in San Diego in the 1980s and experienced temblors there, but he’s never felt one in Massachusetts, where he’s been for over 25 years.

“It was an interesting 10 to 15 seconds,” he said.

'It felt like a plane crashed outside' near epicenter

Nicole Kravitz, 33, was baking muffins at the cafe she co-owns with her husband in New Jersey when the floor began to shake. She and the cooks looked at each other for a few moments, and then at some stacked plates and glasses that had started vibrating.

Their eatery, Branchburg's Best, is located in New Jersey's Somerset County, near the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake.

“It felt like a plane crashed outside,” she said. “No one knew what was happening.”

Some workers ran out the door to see if something had smashed into the building while she checked the basement for damage. Meanwhile, Patrick Tucker, her husband, who was picking up beef from a nearby farm, watched agitated chickens and cows run around in their pens, visibly shaken by the quake.

Kravitz said the intensity of the earthquake made her feel like she was back in Southern California, where she had lived for several years before she returned to her home state in 2016.

Quake was one of the strongest to ever impact New Jersey

Friday's earthquake was the most significant in New Jersey since 1884 , when an Aug. 10 earthquake somewhere near Jamaica Bay, New York, toppled chimneys and moved houses off their foundations as far as Rahway, New Jersey, 30 miles away.

Other than that quake, there were only  three earthquakes in modern history  that caused damage in the state: 1737 (New York City), 1783 (west of New York City) and 1927 (New Jersey coast near Asbury), according to New Jersey Office of Emergency Management records.

The Dec. 19, 1737 earthquake is believed by modern experts to have been a 5.2 magnitude quake. Charted as taking place in the greater New York City area, some accounts say its epicenter was near Weehawken. State records show it threw down chimneys. Chimneys were also hurled down during the Nov. 29, 1783 quake. Estimated at a 5.3 magnitude that originated in modern-day Rockaway Township, according to state records, it was felt from Pennsylvania to New England.

The Aug. 10, 1884 quake, estimated at a 5.2 magnitude was the last the state has seen of its significance and was felt from Virginia to Maine, according to state records.

  Read more about New Jersey's earthquake history.

– David M. Zimmer, NorthJersey.com

New Jersey business owner describes worst quake ever felt but went right back to work

It was a busy day for La Bella Salon & Spa in Lebanon, New Jersey, when an earthquake struck near the rural township.

About a dozen stylists and customers, some whom were getting their hair dyed while others got manicures and eyelash extensions, all froze as the building rattled for about 30 seconds.

“People started to feel the shaking, and it got worse and worse. We were like ‘Oh, my god, what is going on?’" said shop owner Rosanne Drechsel. “I thought a truck hit the building or something.”

After the tremor subsided, nearly everyone in the building started receiving texts and phone calls from friends and family, Drechsel, 61, said.

Nothing was damaged and no one was injured, but Drechsel, who was born and raised in New Jersey, said it was “by far the worst earthquake” she had ever felt.

“We all went back to work and finished the appointments,” she said. “Customers are calling now to see if we're still open and if they can still make their appointments later on today.”

'It was scary': Quake rattles shelves in Brooklyn bodega

In Brooklyn, residents said they felt their buildings shake and many went outdoors after the rumbling stopped to check in with neighbors.

Julio Melo, a deli worker, said he thought the sounds of the earthquake resembled those of a large truck going down the street. But when Melo, 32, looked around and saw beer bottles rattling on store shelves, and a potted plant shimmy down the counter, he thought it might be something bigger, he told USA TODAY.

“I looked at my employee and he had the same tragic face on as me, it was scary,” he said at Jenesis’ Grocery Corp. in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

– Claire Thornton

Where was the earthquake felt?

Residents and officials said the earthquake was felt throughout New York, as well as in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. It was also felt as far away as Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 250 miles away from the reported epicenter.

Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough of New York, said the quake felt "like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so."

"It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration," she said.

Earthquakes common in the region, but the size is unusual: Expert

Chuck Ver Straeten, a geologist and curator of sedimentary rocks at the New York State Museum, told USA TODAY it’s not surprising this earthquake happened where it did.

“New York, around New York City going into New Jersey, there’s a lot of earthquakes historically down there. Happens every year,” he said. But it’s less common for them to be of such a high magnitude. It’s not surprising that many people felt it, he said. Usually, earthquakes in the region are at a lower magnitude and less likely to be felt.

Ver Straeten said the real question now is if this is just a precursor to a larger quake.

“You never know what is the earthquake, what is a pre-earthquake, what is an earthquake happening after the main earthquake, you just have to see,” he said. “One slip along the rock fault, when one happens, it makes other areas around there more tense also and they start to slip and you slip again and slip again.”

But, he added, it would be unlikely for a larger quake to follow this one. In the Northeast, it’s more common for one large quake to be followed by smaller aftershocks, rather than a mounting series of tremors. 

What does magnitude mean in an earthquake?

Magnitude is a measurement of the strength of an earthquake . Officially it's called the Moment Magnitude Scale . It's a logarithmic scale , meaning each number is ten times as strong as the one before it. So a 5.2 earthquake is moderate while a 6.2 is strong.

The magnitude and effect of an earthquake, according to Michigan Technological University :

◾ Below 2.5: Generally not felt

◾ 2.5 to 5.4: Minor or no damage

◾ 5.5 to 6.0: Slight damage to buildings

◾ 6.1 to 6.9: Serious damage

◾ 8.0 or greater: Massive damage, can totally destroy communities

Intensity scales, measured in Roman numerals, are used to describe how strong the earthquake felt to people in the area.

According to the California Earthquake Authority , an intensity of I is typically felt only under especially favorable conditions. A IV, which leads to light shaking, is felt indoors by many, but not typically outdoors. It might awaken some people at night and lead to a sensation like a truck striking a building. A parked car would rock. Intensities VI and above would be strong, frightening and felt by all, with the damage increasing up to a X where the shaking would be violent. Some well-built wooden structures would be destroyed and most masonry and frame structures along with their foundations would be ruined.

While you might have heard the term " the Richter Scale " used to describe earthquakes, it is no longer commonly used because it was only valid for certain earthquake frequencies and distance ranges.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Contributing: Reuters

Advertisement

Map: 4.8-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes New Jersey

By William B. Davis ,  Madison Dong ,  Judson Jones ,  John Keefe ,  Bea Malsky and Lazaro Gamio

Shake intensity

A light, 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck in New Jersey on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake was felt across the New York City metropolitan area, and from Philadelphia to Boston.

The temblor happened at 10:23 a.m. Eastern about 4 miles north of Whitehouse Station, N.J., data from the agency shows.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake's reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

Aftershocks in the region

At 5:59 p.m. Eastern on Friday, a light aftershock with a magnitude of 3.8 struck near Gladstone, New Jersey, according to U.S.G.S. (The agency initially gave the quake a preliminary magnitude of 4.0.)

An aftershock is usually a smaller earthquake that follows a larger one in the same general area. Aftershocks are typically minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.

Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles

Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.

How this quake compares

The U.S.G.S. has logged 188 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or greater within a 250-mile radius of New York City since 1957. In that timeframe, only seven have had a magnitude at or above 4.5. Today’s quake had the third-highest magnitude in the available data.

Today’s earthquake

Magnitude 4.8

250-mile radius

from New York City

Source: U. S.G.S.

By Lazaro Gamio

Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Eastern. Shake data is as of Friday, April 5 at 10:44 a.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Monday, April 8 at 5:07 a.m. Eastern.

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Solar eclipse maps show 2024 totality path, peak times and how much of the eclipse you can see across the U.S.

By Aliza Chasan

Updated on: April 7, 2024 / 7:29 PM EDT / CBS News

A total solar eclipse crosses North America on April 8, 2024, with parts of 15 U.S. states within the path of totality. Maps show where and when astronomy fans can see the big event . 

The total eclipse will first appear along Mexico's Pacific Coast at around 11:07 a.m. PDT, then travel across a swath of the U.S., from Texas to Maine, and into Canada.

About 31.6 million people live in the path of totality , the area where the moon will fully block out the sun , according to NASA. The path will range between 108 and 122 miles wide. An additional 150 million people live within 200 miles of the path of totality.

Solar eclipse path of totality map for 2024

The total solar eclipse will start over the Pacific Ocean, and the first location in continental North America that will experience totality is Mexico's Pacific Coast, around 11:07 a.m. PDT on April 8, according to NASA. From there, the path will continue into Texas, crossing more than a dozen states before the eclipse enters Canada in southern Ontario. The eclipse will exit continental North America around 5:16 p.m. NDT from Newfoundland, Canada.

The path of totality includes the following states:

• Pennsylvania
• New Hampshire

Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse.

Several major cities across the U.S. are included in the eclipse's path of totality, while many others will see a partial eclipse. Here are some of the best major cities for eclipse viewing — if the weather cooperates :

• San Antonio, Texas (partially under the path)
• Austin, Texas
• Waco, Texas
• Dallas, Texas
• Little Rock, Arkansas
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Dayton, Ohio
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Buffalo, New York
• Rochester, New York
• Syracuse, New York
• Burlington, Vermont

Map of when the solar eclipse will reach totality across the path

The eclipse will begin in the U.S. on the afternoon of April 8. It will first be visible as a partial eclipse beginning at 12:06 p.m. CDT near Eagle Pass, Texas, before progressing to totality by about 1:27 p.m. CDT and progressing along its path to the northeast over the next few hours.

NASA shared times for several cities in the path of totality across the U.S. You can also  check your ZIP code on NASA's map  to see when the eclipse will reach you if you're on, or near, the path of totality. 

How much of the eclipse will you see if you live outside of the totality path?

While the April 8 eclipse will cover a wide swath of the U.S., outside the path of totality observers may spot a partial eclipse, where the moon covers some, but not all, of the sun, according to NASA. The closer you are to the path of totality, the larger the portion of the sun that will be hidden.

NASA allows viewers to input a ZIP code and see how much of the sun will be covered in their location.

Could there be cloud cover be during the solar eclipse?

Some areas along the path of totality have a higher likelihood of cloud cover that could interfere with viewing the eclipse. Here is a map showing the historical trends in cloud cover this time of year. 

You can check the latest forecast for your location with our partners at The Weather Channel .

Where will the solar eclipse reach totality for the longest?

Eclipse viewers near Torreón, Mexico, will get to experience totality for the longest. Totality there will last 4 minutes, 28 seconds, according to NASA. 

Most places along the centerline of the path of totality will see a totality duration between 3.5 and 4 minutes long, according to NASA. Some places in the U.S. come close to the maximum; Kerrville, Texas, will have a totality duration of 4 minutes, 24 seconds.

What is the path of totality for the 2044 solar eclipse?

After the April 8 eclipse, the next total solar eclipse that will be visible from the contiguous U.S. will be on Aug. 23, 2044.

Astronomy fans in the U.S. will have far fewer opportunities to see the 2044 eclipse than the upcoming one on April 8. NASA has not yet made maps available for the 2044 eclipse, but, according to The Planetary Society , the path of totality will only touch three states.

The 2024 eclipse will start in Greenland, pass over Canada and end as the sun sets in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, according to the Planetary Society.

Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.

More from CBS News

See the list of notable total solar eclipses in the U.S. since 1778

Why do total solar eclipses happen? Learn what causes the celestial show

When was the last total solar eclipse in the U.S.? Revisiting 2017

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