How to track flight prices with Google Flights
The Google Flights tracker is called “Track prices.” It’s free, and all you need is a Google account. Make sure you’re signed in first, because alerts go to that account’s email.
Track a route on your dates
- Go to Google Flights.
- Set the trip type, number of travelers, cabin and stops at the top. These matter: tracking follows exactly what you searched.
- Enter where you’re leaving from, where you’re going, and your dates.
- Above the results, turn on Track prices next to your dates.
Track “Any dates” if you’re flexible
In the same spot there’s a second switch for Any dates. This watches the cheapest price on the route across the coming months rather than one set of dates. Google emails you when that cheapest price drops a lot over a month, and otherwise sends a regular roundup of the best prices it found. It’s the better choice for “I want to go to Lisbon sometime this spring.”
Track one specific flight
If you already know which flight you want, click it in the results, then turn on Track prices for that flight. Now you’re following that one flight rather than whatever happens to be cheapest on the route, which is what you want if you care about the time or the airline.
On your phone
It works the same way on your phone: search, tap your dates on the calendar, then tap Track prices.
Setup tips from people who use it a lot
- Track the flight you’d actually buy. A route alert fires when any flight on it gets cheaper, including the 6am one with two stops. Frequent users filter down first:
“Narrow your search completely to only itineraries you want, or even 1 single itinerary.”
r/TravelHacks, 2025
- Leave out basic economy. For trips in the US and Canada, open the class menu (where it says Economy) and choose Economy (exclude Basic), an option Google added in 2025. When we tried it in October 2026, “Any dates” and the price history still worked with it on. Travelers used to fake this by adding a carry-on bag filter; the new option is cleaner, and it means the price you track is for a fare that can catch a drop after you book.
- Track nearby airports and one-ways too. As one r/travel regular put it, “Sometimes two one way tickets are cheaper even on different airlines” (r/travel, 2026). A separate alert for each costs nothing.
- “Any dates” only works for one traveler in economy. When we tried it in October 2026, the “Any dates” switch disappeared for business class and for a two-adult search. Track one adult in economy for the flexible view, then price the real trip.
- Southwest is there now. Southwest fares show up on Google Flights, so you can track them like any other airline: “I can just use google flights to alert me like every other airline” (FlyerTalk, 2024).
How Google Flights price alerts arrive
- By email. Most alerts land in the inbox of the Google account you were signed in with.
- On your phone. Google’s help page for phones says you can also get mobile notifications when a tracked price changes a lot.
- When prices are likely to rise. Google may also email you when a tracked route’s price is likely to go up, or when the current fare expires soon and the next one will probably cost more. These come with an estimate of how much and how confident Google is.
In practice, the alerts are a nudge, not a live feed. Travelers describe them arriving on a once-a-day rhythm rather than the minute a price moves:
“…its like a ‘daily newsletter’ that sends out a notification every 24 hrs, it doesn’t notify you the exact moment”
r/TravelHacks, 2025
“Oh there are price changes and no emails quite often. If I want to monitor fares, I do it myself manually.”
FlyerTalk, Google Flights glitches thread, December 2023
Some travelers also say the phone notifications stopped arriving for them, so treat email as the main channel. If a trip really matters, open Tracked flights in Google Flights yourself: it shows the current price for everything you’re tracking. From there you can also turn emails on or off for each route, or remove one when you’re done.
Price history and “prices are currently low”
Under the first few results you’ll often see a Price insights box with a line like “Prices are currently typical.” Click View price history and it opens up into two useful things:
- Where today’s price sits. A colored bar shows the range the cheapest flights for similar trips usually cost, and a marker for today’s price. Low means it’s below that usual range, high means above it.
- A price history graph for your exact search, covering roughly the past couple of months. A flat line means the price has been steady; a recent dip or jump tells you a lot more than a single number.
Don’t see the price history?
It only shows for one traveler. On a two-adult search in October 2026, the “View price history” button was simply gone. Switch the search to one adult to see the graph, then switch back to price the real trip.
When Google has enough past data, it may also add a tip about when prices have usually been lowest to book this kind of trip, or tell you prices are unlikely to drop further. For flexible trips, the Date grid and Price graph buttons show how the price changes if you shift your dates by a few days.
Is the Google Flights price tracker accurate?
Mostly, yes, as long as you know what each part is telling you.
- The prices are real. They’re the same fares you’d see searching yourself, including taxes and required fees for the travelers you searched. Bags, seats and other extras aren’t included.
- Alerts skip small changes. Google emails when a move is big enough to matter, so a small dip that only lasts a few hours may never reach your inbox.
- “Typical” is a comparison, not a forecast. It compares today with past prices for similar trips. A “low” price can still fall further, and a “high” one can keep climbing.
- The price you’re tracking may not be the fare you’d buy. The cheapest fare is often a basic economy ticket with no changes allowed. That matters a lot later, as you’ll see below.
- Check the price before you act on an alert. Alerts are occasionally just wrong. One traveler got an email at 10pm saying their tracked flight “is now $327 (was $178),” went to the airline, and found it still at $178 (r/TravelHacks, 2025). A quick search on Google Flights or the airline’s site settles it.
- The price can change at checkout. Sometimes the fare on Google is gone by the time you click through, and cheaper travel sites can add fees later. One traveler’s summary: “the ‘cheapest’ option ends up being the most expensive once bags are added” (r/travel, February 2026). Booking with the airline itself also makes it much easier to get money back if the price drops later.
Does Google Flights have a price guarantee?
Sometimes, on a small set of flights. According to Google’s Price Guarantee terms, it applies only when:
- the flight shows a “Google Price Guarantee” badge, and you book it through Google itself, not on the airline’s or a travel site’s page;
- it’s a one-way or round trip leaving the US, paid in US dollars by a US-based traveler 18 or older;
- you fly the whole trip as booked, without changing or cancelling it.
If the same itinerary gets cheaper on Google before your first flight leaves, Google pays you the difference to Google Pay after you fly. The difference has to be at least $5, payouts are capped at $500 a year, and you can have no more than three guaranteed bookings open at once. The terms page was last updated in February 2023, and Google says it can change or end the program at any time.
It did pay out for some travelers, without them filing anything:
“It works - I received $80 back unprompted on a $130 flight. Didn’t even explicitly opt-in.”
r/travel, April 2023
Others in a 2024 thread reported $25, $30 and $240 back. But the badge only ever showed on some airlines (travelers named Alaska, Spirit and Hawaiian “to name a few”).
The practical takeaway: if you don’t see the badge, there’s no guarantee. For everything else, catching a drop is up to you and your airline.
Two myths you can skip
- Incognito mode won’t get you a cheaper fare. Prices jump because the cheaper seats sold, not because a site remembered you. The forums are blunt about it:
“The cookies myth is old and proven wrong. Google flights isn’t using those cookies either.”
r/Flights, April 2024
- There’s no magic day to buy. Flying midweek is often cheaper. Buying on a Tuesday isn’t: “They’re the best days to fly, not necessarily buy” (r/travel, May 2022). A tracker beats any calendar rule.
What Google Flights doesn’t do
Google Flights is built to help you decide when to buy. It’s very good at that. It isn’t built for the weeks after, which is where plenty of money gets left behind.
- It doesn’t know your ticket. It tracks a search, not your booking, so it can’t tell you whether a new price is actually lower than what you paid for your fare.
- It doesn’t know your fare rules. Whether you can get a drop back depends on the airline and the type of fare you bought. Google’s email can’t tell you if this one counts.
- It doesn’t help you claim. Even when a drop is yours to take, you still have to find the right page or phone line, make the change, and check you got the credit.
- It doesn’t watch your hotel or rental car. Those drop too, and the same idea applies.
After you book: getting the difference back
Here’s the part most people miss. Flight prices keep moving after you buy, and on many fares the airline will give you the difference if you ask. It’s not a loophole. It’s just how change rules work now that the big US airlines have dropped change fees on standard tickets.
In the first 24 hours: cancel for free
On flights to, from or within the US booked directly with the airline at least a week before departure, you can cancel within 24 hours for a full refund. If the price drops that first day, book the cheaper ticket, then cancel the original.
After that, it depends on your airline
| Airline | When your fare drops |
|---|---|
| Southwest | Choice fares and up: change to the same flight at the lower price and keep the difference as a flight credit (Choice Preferred and Choice Extra can go back to your card). Basic can’t be changed, only cancelled for credit. |
| Alaska | Price Guarantee: find your flight $10 or more cheaper elsewhere within 24 hours of booking and Alaska refunds the difference. After that, change to the lower fare and get the difference as an Alaska credit (not on Saver fares). |
| Delta | Main Cabin and up: ask Delta to reprice your ticket and the difference comes back as a Delta eCredit. Basic Economy usually can’t catch a drop after the first 24 hours. |
| United | Economy and up: change to the lower fare in the app or by chat and get the difference as a Future Flight Credit. On Basic Economy a cancellation fee comes out of the credit, so the drop has to beat it. |
| American | Main Cabin and up: change to the lower fare and get the difference as a trip credit. Basic Economy can’t be changed after 24 hours. |
From each airline’s own change rules. Credits usually expire, so check the date. Each guide has the full steps. See how Southwest’s new fares handle drops and how to track flight prices after booking. Flying United for status? Here’s what changes for United Premier in 2027.
Travelers who keep their Google Flights alert on after booking do very well out of this. Delta flyers especially:
“A week later I got a Google Flights ping saying that prices had dropped... within 10 minutes I got $900 per ticket in eCredit!”
r/delta, 2025
The tip from the same thread: you don’t need to cancel. Change your trip in the Delta app to the same flight, and the difference comes back as an eCredit. United works the same way: one traveler’s $4,000 fare to Rome dropped to $2,800 a few days out, and they got $1,200 in travel credit (r/unitedairlines, January 2023). Lately United phone agents tend to send people to the app or website to do it themselves (r/unitedairlines, January 2026).
This is also why the cheapest fare on Google isn’t always the best buy. A basic economy ticket can’t catch a later drop; a standard fare a little higher often can.
Let Plot watch the flight you booked
Use Google Flights to pick the moment to buy. Use Plot for everything after. Forward your confirmation to Plot and Plot Pro watches your exact flight and fare until departure. When it gets cheaper, you get an alert with how much you can get back and the steps for your airline and fare. On United and Delta, Plot can claim the credit for you. It watches your hotels and rental cars in the same trip, too.
More on how it works: flight price monitoring.