Google has rolled out a new tool called Google Flight Deals inside the regular Google Flights page. It uses artificial intelligence to help you look for cheap flights when you know the kind of trip you want but you are open on the details. We have been trying it out, and while it is not perfect, it feels like another useful way to spot low fares and plan flexible trips.
The basic idea is that you tell Google Flight Deals, when you want to travel, what kind of place you want to visit, and what style of trip you are planning. The AI reads what you type, turns that into searches using Google Flights data, then shows flights that try to balance low prices with routes that are not too painful.
Right now, Google Flight Deals is still in beta. Google is using this test phase to see how AI can make trip planning easier and how it can bring good flight deals to the surface that might be hard to find with a normal point to point search.
How To Use Google Flight Deals For Flexible Trips
Using Google Flight Deals feels more like chatting than filling out a form. You start on the main Google Flights page, then choose the tab labeled “Flight Deals” at the top. Right now that tab has a “NEW” label, so it is easy to find.
For our first test, we tried a simple prompt: “Long weekend in the Caribbean in November.” Because we were searching from Chicago, Google Flight Deals automatically used Chicago as the starting city. If you want to leave from somewhere else, you can change the departure airport before you search.
For that short Caribbean break, Google Flight Deals showed around twelve options. One of the most eye catching results was a nonstop flight from Chicago to Nassau in the Bahamas on a large United States based airline. Each suggestion listed the dates, departure and arrival airports, total travel time, and price, so it was easy to scan through and compare.
When we clicked on the Nassau option, Google sent us back into the normal Google Flights view. The nonstop round trip we chose from Google Flight Deals was already selected and highlighted, so we could see the final times and exact price. A fare of about 395 dollars for a nonstop round trip between Chicago and Nassau is a strong offer for a long weekend at the beach.
In the standard Google Flights layout, we checked the price history graph. That chart showed this ticket was roughly 360 dollars cheaper than usual for that route and those dates. This kind of clear price history is one of the best parts of Google Flights because it quickly tells you if a fare is truly a deal or just average.
How Google Flight Deals Builds On Google Flights Explore
Most of this pricing power already exists inside Google Flights Explore, which shows you cheap destinations on a map. What Google Flight Deals does is put an AI layer on top so you can type in a loose idea and jump straight to a focused set of dates and routes that fit your request.
We tried another idea to see how far we could push it. This time we asked for a “Ski trip to Switzerland this winter.” Google Flight Deals suggested two winter trips that would take us to ski areas near popular towns like St. Moritz and Adelboden. These options were fun to see, but from our original starting city the travel times were close to 25 hours, which feels very long for many travelers.
Once we changed the departure city to New York City, things improved right away. For roughly the same ski trip idea, Google Flight Deals surfaced a round trip to the region near Adelboden for around 350 dollars on a leisure focused airline. The total travel time dropped to about 11 hours. That big change in both price and time shows how powerful it can be to try different departure cities when you are flexible and want the best flight deals.
When Google Flight Deals Is Not Enough On Its Own
Even with results like those, Google Flight Deals does not always find the lowest fares. In some cases, doing a regular manual search inside Google Flights still works better.
During our tests, going back to the standard Google Flights search and entering a simple route often gave us more choices and better prices. Instead of asking for a general ski trip in Switzerland, we tried searching directly for Zurich with winter dates. That one basic search pulled up more routes, cheaper prices, and smoother connections than the set of ideas from Google Flight Deals, while still giving easy access to many different ski resorts.
We also asked Google Flight Deals to plan a “Cheap two week trip to Australia this spring.” The AI did find a long haul itinerary under 1,000 dollars, which is not bad for a trip of that distance. Still, the flights it highlighted felt more like standard prices than truly special sale fares.
Broad Requests Work Better Than Exact Plans
Google Flight Deals also struggles when your plans are very specific. It is not designed for trips where you already know your exact dates and cities. When we told it we wanted to fly from San Francisco to Las Vegas during the week of Thanksgiving, it returned only one option instead of a wide set of choices.
On the other hand, it did a solid job finding a last minute flight to Bozeman, Montana, for the coming weekend. That shows Google Flight Deals can be helpful for short notice trips as long as your request is still fairly broad and not locked into exact times and flights.
From what we have seen, your results with Google Flight Deals will change a lot based on how you write your request. In general, it works best when you give it a loose plan like the general season, rough trip length, and type of place you want to visit. When you narrow it down to one route and fixed dates, the regular Google Flights search often does a better job.
You can run Google Flight Deals on a laptop or on a phone. Google has shown an example where someone asks for a “week long trip this winter to a city with great food, nonstop.” The tool can understand that kind of request and then suggest cities with well known food scenes plus nonstop flight options from your starting point.
What We Think About Google Flight Deals So Far
Google is still beta testing Google Flight Deals inside Google Flights, so the feature may keep changing as the company learns how people use it. For now, the main goal is to make it easier for you to type in a simple travel idea and get back flights that match your budget and general style of travel.
As TheMilesAcademy, we already lean on Google Flights when we plan trips, look for cheap flights, and build rewards travel strategies. We have detailed guides that walk you through using the main Google Flights search and the Explore map so you can find better routes, flexible travel dates, and positioning flights that lower your costs. Google Flight Deals fits into that same toolbox as one more way to turn a rough plan in your head into a list of actual flights.
We see Google Flight Deals as a nice extra helper, especially if you like to start with broad ideas such as a winter ski trip or a Caribbean weekend, then narrow things down. It can give you routes and price drops you might not have thought to search for on your own.
At the same time, we still suggest that you check any Google Flight Deals itinerary in the main Google Flights search. Use the filters, date grid, and price history charts to make sure the fare is really strong and the timing works for you.
Use Google Flight Deals Smarter With TheMilesAcademy
If you like tools like Google Flight Deals and Google Flights but still feel unsure about how to get the most value from them, you are not alone. Many travelers know these tools exist, but they do not always know how to combine them with smart planning and everyday spending to unlock more trips for less money.
As TheMilesAcademy, we built our free community to help with exactly that. Inside the community, we share step by step walkthroughs, examples of flight searches, and simple strategies that you can copy for your own trips. You can ask questions, see what is working for other travelers, and learn new ways to spot deals like the ones we covered in this guide.
While you are exploring flight deals, you can also use our free Card Finder Tool to match the right card options with your travel goals and daily spending habits. Used together, smart cards and smart search tools can help you earn more points, save more on flights, and turn flexible ideas into trips much more often.
If you want more support, more ideas, and a place to practice these skills with other travelers, join our free TheMilesAcademy community and start using the Card Finder Tool alongside guides like this one.
