TPG exclusive: Travel hacks from Google Flights, and an update on basic economy fares
Google Flights is one of our favorite tools at TPG, but Google Travel goes well beyond cheaper flights — and it's constantly evolving, as I found out in a recent conversation with James Byers, group product manager for travel at Google.
We both agreed that Google Flights Explore is one of the best-kept secrets of Google Flights to help you hack cheap trips.
But while our talk focused on Google Travel's best travel tips, we also did some myth-busting and discussed what's next for Google Flights.
Google also gave us an update on the ability to screen out basic economy fares in searches at Google Flights. Some folks currently have that power, but it's just a test for now — most users will still see basic economy fares in Google Flights searches for the time being. But stay tuned: Google promises that if and when it's rolled out on a wider scale, TPG will know first.
Read on for Google's top tips, what's ahead and our conversation around basic economy — and check out the video below for the full interview.
Google Flights Explore and other key tools
Byers and I share a favorite tool — Google Flights Explore. "You can search without a destination in Google Flights and see a whole range of possibilities on a map and then continue on to filter them," said Byers. "[You can] look at trip length and budget and kind of find that trip you might not have expected, and, in fact, the majority of our users are destination flexible."
Using Google Flights Explore is not complicated. Once you try it, you'll be as addicted as we are. "Explore really scratches that itch when users are trying to figure out where to go next," Byers added.
Byers calls out a few other Google Flights tools as "classics for power users." But he said many people still don't use the date grid and price graph features within Google Flights.
"So when you're looking for when to fly and you want to see what leaving a day earlier or a day later might do for you, the date grid is a great option to kind of visualize what those small changes might make," said Byers. By the same measure, he continued, "The price graph lets you look across a whole range of dates for a same duration trip, and see how prices fluctuate over time."
Google Flights takes those search options further into geographic flexibility as well, allowing users to search multiple origins and destinations at once. Byers highlighted this tool as another hidden gem to expand users' possibilities.
To explain, he laid out how strategically spreading out your airports could help you plan your next Italian adventure, for example. Say you're on the East Coast, and "could drive to Philadelphia or drive to New York," suggested Byers. Similarly, you're not terribly tied to where in Italy you want to go — Rome or Milan, for example, could do equally nicely. "You could put in both [New York and Philadelphia], and then choose Milan and Rome as your destination[s], and see all the combinations filtered by best [to] see what might work for you."
With a bit of flexibility, these filters can really help you save big bucks on a dream vacation.
Byers also pointed to a major Google investment in notifications, including price alerts that monitor changes in pricing over time.
"Knowing ... when the right time is to book, setting a notification and letting us ... tell you as prices change lets you hone in with confidence on that great-price ticket," said Byers. "And I'm sure you know, as many Points Guy readers know, that feeling of booking a really well-priced flight ... it's a great feeling."
Full conversation with Google's James Byers
Basic economy filter coming to Google Flights?
Recently, some Google Flights users have reported that they have the ability to filter out basic economy fares. I asked if that was something Google was ready to roll out on a wider scale.
"Well, it's something we've been experimenting with for a while," said Byers. "We think there's a real continued need to invest in the fundamentals of finding flights. You'll see that with features potentially like basic economy in the future, and best versus cheapest, [which] we launched recently."
Sadly, he said Google wasn't ready to make an announcement now — but Byers said TPG readers would hear first.
Myth-busting with Google
We've all heard our fair share of flight-booking myths and legends, but most of them are just not true. One particularly common one is that if you wait for a certain time of day, on a certain day of the week, you can score a better deal.
According to Byers, Google finds there's just not really much truth to this one.
"Our data shows that not really, there is a little tiny bit of an advantage," he allowed. "It's about 1.3% cheaper over time to book on a Tuesday versus Sunday, which is the most expensive day. But you know it's a very, very small effect; 1.3% is probably not gonna swing it for a lot of consumers."
Instead, he said, "We think it's much more important to watch seasonal trends and to book ... the right number of days in advance for your domestic or international trip, and kind of follow the guidance we give about the booking window."
At TPG, our advice has consistently been to book domestic flights one to three months ahead of time, and to book international travel three to five months in advance. Byers concurs: "There's some market to market specifics where there's a little bit of a later or earlier advice that we give. But, generally speaking, that's consistent with what we see."
"We know there's a lot of strong feelings about that magical day," he adds, "but it's not a huge difference."
What about the myth that clearing the cookies off your browser will score you a better deal? The idea is that since your browser sees what market you're currently shopping in, retailers will change the price to what they think they can get out of you.
"For Google Flights," Byers says, "it's false. We show the same price across all of our users within a particular country."
"Sometimes airlines do have country-based or point of sale-based pricing," he adds, "but within a country the price isn't changing by Google's influence. ... We're always showing the same prices [across markets] — they're just changing really, really often."
Bottom line
Byers and I also discussed some trends for the rest of 2025 and 2026. Byers said he's seen a big surge of interest in solo travel. He and I also agreed that artificial intelligence is certainly coming for our travel bookings — but that for now, consumers still love to hunt for bargains on their own.
"Users really love finding deals," said Byers. He also pointed out that there's been a big uptick in interest in travel hacks recently — something we love to cover at TPG.
Finally, he and I agreed that for the best deals, flexibility is key. In fact, it's one of my big trends I'm watching ahead of 2026. Flexibility is the solution to finding cheaper prices; it's also the key to using your points and miles the most strategically and lucratively.
Our discussion touched on many other major topics, so be sure to check out the interview in full.
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