Google is trying to solve a problem that has long vexed travelers everywhere: When is the best time to book the cheapest flight? Starting this week, the company will answer that question through Google Flights.
The service is already designed to help you find the cheapest airline tickets from third-party providers. It shows you the cheapest flights for a given day and destination, and can show you how the fare compares to past price averages for the same route.
But whether you should buy a plane ticket now or wait for prices to go down is something that has eluded Google Flights until now.
The tech giant has apparently amassed enough historical data to pinpoint when tickets for a large crop of routes are at their cheapest. “For searches with reliable trend data, you’ll now see when prices have typically been lowest to book your chosen dates and destination,” Google wrote in a blog post on Monday.
(Credit: Google)As an example, Google showed the feature will suggest the period between Sept. 13 to Dec. 7 is typically the best time to obtain the cheapest flights for New York to Miami. The user can also click a drop-down menu with more details, which will suggest they buy the ticket one to three months before takeoff in order to save $59 on the fare.
Google adds that the feature can also tell you if the ticket you’re looking to buy is in a “sweet spot” for the best fare. “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,” Google says.
It arrives as the company has been bulking up the Google Flights service with more functions, including the ability to track pricing changes. In April, Google also began piloting a feature for select flights in the US that’ll guarantee the lowest fare or your money back.
