San Diego Google Flights (2024)

FAQs

Is Google Flights the best place to search for flight? ›

Google Flights is a reliable, legitimate, and trustworthy site for flight searching. In general, its prices are accurate and reflect the same prices as you'll find on the airline websites and other OTAs. However, in rare instances, Google Flights prices are wrong, or more accurately, the price info is outdated.

Some flights might not show up when: The flights are sold out or unavailable. The carrier hasn't yet been added to Google Flights.

To change your currency, location, or language: Go to Google Flights. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the drop-down menus for language, location, and currency.

You can find cheap flight deals to anywhere in the world on Google Flights. Just enter your departure city, choose Anywhere as the destination, and select Explore. You can pick specific dates or leave departure and return dates blank if your plans are flexible. The cheapest fares to popular destinations will appear.

According to a 2023 study by Expedia, the cheapest day to book flights is Sunday. When comparing Sunday flight prices to Friday, Expedia found that travelers save 6% on domestic flights and 13% on international flights.

Momondo – Momondo is outstanding for finding the absolute cheapest fares that you won't see elsewhere. By double checking the price here, you'll find cheaper fares than Google Flights 90% of the time, sometimes by a few hundred dollars.

Contact your carrier's customer service

When in doubt, call the carrier's customer service line and ask an agent to check how full the flight is. It might not be the most convenient option, but it will yield an answer. If you dread the idea of waiting on hold, many airlines offer customer service chat features.

Southwest stands out among domestic carriers for not sharing its fare prices with sites like Expedia and Google. Sally French is a travel rewards expert who joined NerdWallet in 2020.

Google Chrome

When using Chrome, the display format for dates and currencies is controlled by the browser's language settings. In Chrome, click the 3-dot menu button in the top-right and select Settings. Use the search bar to find "Language". Under "Languages", ensure the appropriate language is listed at the top.

Next to Dates, you can select the See calendar of lowest fares option to find the lowest fares available within a 30 day period. Enter a value of zero within the Duration (nights) field for same-day travel. Enter a range with a dash if your plans are flexible, such as 7-9 for a trip of about a week.

What does change of airport mean in Google Flights? ›

The default is set to Allow airport changes to help you find the lowest fares from all possible airports. If you would like to return to the same airport you departed from, change the option away from Allow airport changes.

Incomplete airline coverage: Google Flights does not display results from Southwest Airlines, requiring users to check fares directly through the airline's user-friendly Low Fare Calendar. Missing hidden fares: Many mistake fares appear only on smaller OTA websites, which Google Flights may not detect.

Southwest didn't list its fares for sale through Google or almost any other site by design: It didn't want to put loyalty in the hands of an intermediary. Previously, the only option to book Southwest flights was directly on the airline's website or app.

Demand is outpacing supply

While, yes, airplane production has slowed down, fleet sizes are still increasing—in other words, airlines now have more planes than they did last year. However, demand for travel is still higher in the summer months. High demand + lower supply = higher fares.

Google Flights is a powerful and fast way to quickly identify cheaper fares for your flight itinerary. Even if you don't have a specific destination in mind, its “Explore” feature can help you find a trip that's within your budget.

The accuracy of Google Flights' delay predictions has been extensively studied, with research finding that the predictions are generally accurate but can be inaccurate at times.

Allow separate tickets

Allowing for separate tickets means that you may need to book two one-way flights rather than a round-trip flight, though Google will only highlight these results if they're cheaper than a single-ticket itinerary.