How Google Flight's New Feature Got Me Ultracheap Plane Tickets

Thanksgiving is just over a month away and Christmas is only a few weeks after that. This means millions of Americans are gearing up to travel over the next two months. In fact, 599,814 domestic flights were scheduled in November 2023 and 606,218 domestic flights were scheduled in December 2023, according to reports from the US Department of Transportation. 

If you are one of the millions of people planning to travel by air for the end-of-year holidays, you may be looking for the cheapest available airfare -- and Google Flights is unveiling a new feature to help.

Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 16, Google is unveiling a new "Cheapest" tab on Google Flights to help travelers save money and find ultracheap flights with ease. Here's how it will work.

Read more: Southwest Airlines Flights Are Now Available on Google Flights

How I found the cheapest flights on Google Flights 

To start, I pulled up Google Flights, which you can do either by heading to www.google.com/travel/flights or searching for "google flights."

The "Cheapest" tab aggregates flights strictly based on price. 

Now, you'll just need to enter your trip details and tap the "Cheapest" tab to browse the lowest options available. 

During my testing, I tried to book a flight from LA to NYC from Saturday, Nov. 9 through Saturday, Nov. 16. The platform first brought me to a "Best" tab, which shows flights ranked by convenience and price. Then, I toggled over to the "Cheapest" tab, which shows flights strictly based on price. On the "Best" tab, airfare started at $176 for a Spirit flight. On the "Cheapest" tab, airfare started as low as $128 for a Frontier flight with an overnight layover in Denver. 

To get a sense of how cheap domestic flights can be, I experimented with itineraries from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Atlanta to Boston, and NYC to Denver, finding that many flights are under $400 -- and some are around or below $200.

I was also curious about how this new feature would impact the cost of international flights. Visiting Vienna is at the very top of my travel bucket list and I've always fantasied about booking a trip during the city's Ball Season, which peaks in January and February. I simulated a trip from Charlotte to Vienna between Monday, Jan. 20 and Monday, Jan. 27, and close to 150 flight options were available for these dates. The high end of tickets ranged from about $850 to more than $1,000, but the cheapest price was right at $504. As someone who is constantly tracking flights to Vienna, airfare costing right at $500 is a solid deal. 

The caveat, though, is that the $500 flight includes three stops on the returning flight, including an overnight layover. The departing and returning flights are also self-transfers, which involves booking two or more separate flights from different airlines. This can save significant money, but requires more involved planning and research. 

How does the new feature work?

To aggregate the cheapest options, Google Flights is expanding its flight offerings from third parties, such as online travel agents, and providing flight itineraries that may be less convenient, such as flights with longer layovers or booking different legs of the trip across different airlines or booking providers. 

The "Cheapest" tab feature is rolling out globally over the next two weeks ahead of the peak holiday travel season. We've already covered the cheapest times to book flights based on destination and time of year, and now, Google Flights is offering a new upgrade for when cost is more of priority than convenience to maximize your travel budget.