three Google – With summer travel underway and many Americans still waiting to book, Google Flights’ product lead James Byers points to three lesser-known features—Date Grid and Price graph, multi-airport searches, and a refundable-fare plus price tracking strategy—that can
Summer travel is already in full swing, but for a growing share of Americans, the booking decision is still hanging over the calendar. Skyscanner data shows that roughly 62% of people planning a summer vacation have booked their trips, while about 38% have not yet bought their tickets.
If you’re in that second group—especially planning a July or August getaway—you may be worried that waiting too long will lock in high fares. James Byers, Google Flights’ product lead, argues the opposite: the platform has three features that can turn date-bound searches into cheaper options.
The first is the Date Grid. paired with the Price graph. tools that are easy to miss if you only use Google Flights the “standard” way—plugging in departure and arrival cities and exact travel dates. Byers’ point is simple: when your plans allow any flexibility. you can often find meaningful drops without spending hours rerunning searches.
“The date grid shows how prices change if you make slight adjustments to your departure or return dates (for example. departing on Thursday instead of Friday). ” Byers explains. “The price graph shows how airfares change for a trip of whatever duration you’re considering. when you look across several months.”.
You can access both tools from any Google Flights results page. Below the “View Price History” bar on the results page, there are “Date grid” and “Price graph” buttons. Byers recommends clicking either one to quickly scan the charts and identify days where lower flights are available for the destinations you want.
The second tactic targets a common blind spot: searching only one origin or one destination city when cheaper combinations may exist nearby. Byers points to travelers who live between two major cities—or who are willing to arrive in one of two nearby hubs.
“Maybe you live between two cities. like New York and Philadelphia. or you’re open to different arrival cities. like Rome or Milan. ” Byers says. “You can search across all these options by adding multiple cities to either your origin or destination….That way you can mix and match airports to get the best deal.”.
In the Google Flights search bar, that means clicking the “+” button after entering your first departure or arrival city. That lets you add another airport or city into the same departure or arrival field. returning more flight options—and more opportunities for price breaks—than a single-location search.
The third move is built for people who can’t change their travel dates but still want a shot at a better price later. Byers suggests pairing Google Flights’ price-tracking alerts with refundable fares.
“If you know you need to fly on certain dates but think prices could drop before departure. you might try booking a refundable fare first and then turning on price tracking alerts after the fact. ” Byers says. “This way. you’ll get an email if prices drop for the flight you’ve already booked. giving you the option to cancel and rebook to get an even better deal.”.
The workflow starts with a normal Google Flights search to find and book a refundable fare. Then, on the results page for your itinerary, you toggle the “Track Prices” switch on. If Google finds a cheaper deal. you receive an email notification. and you can decide whether it’s worth canceling the refundable fare and booking the lower option.
Before relying on this strategy, Byers’ warning is practical: confirm that the fare you originally booked is actually fully refundable.
Timing matters too. Even travelers who haven’t booked their summer trips yet can use Google data to guide their decisions—at least for domestic travel.
Byers says Google data shows that for domestic trips. “the lowest prices for those trips have historically been available 21 days before departure. ” with “14-43 days” representing the low price range. That suggests travelers heading to the later part of July or any of August—assuming the destination is within the United States—may still have a reasonable chance to land airfares closer to the lower end of the pricing window.
International pricing follows a different rhythm. For July and August travel abroad, Byers says the lowest prices have been “49 days or more before departure.” His guidance is direct: “Don’t delay, and book early!”
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So just… click the price history thing? Seems like marketing.
I swear Google Flights prices only go up the second you look at them. Like tracking cookies or whatever. This article makes it sound easy but it’s never been easy for me.
Wait the “multi-airport” search means like you should fly out of a different city?? But that still costs gas/tolls. Also refundable fares are usually more, so how is that saving money unless they just drop the price right after you buy it?
The whole “date grid” thing sounds like you can trick the system by picking Thursday instead of Friday which is fine, except I always end up with like 1 inconvenient flight option and then it’s not cheaper when you add bags. Also I don’t trust anything Google says, they’re probably selling the data anyway. I’ll just wait and hope prices fall like my cousin said.