Passengers looking for options to get the cheapest fares available have a new ally with a new program being launched by Google Flights.
Travelers who book their flights using the service may soon find themselves eligible for a refund if the price of their flight goes down prior to departure.
Select domestic flights, as well as a handful of international flights leaving from United States airports, will show up on Google Flights with a price guarantee badge. That badge will indicate that a particular flight has the Google price guarantee.
“What we’re wanting to do is to take price insights to the next level,” Jade Kessler, product manager at Google Flights, told Bloomberg News. “We have hopes to offer this to as many users as possible and expand it beyond just Book on Google.”
The company hopes to roll out the plan to as many domestic and international carriers as possible down the line. Initially, it will apply only to flights operated by Hawaiian, Alaska, and Spirit airlines.
“We hope that people will trust Google Flights whenever they need to find a great deal on air travel, and the price guarantee could help build that trust even further,” Kessler said.
The initial program, which launched on April 3, is only available to those passengers using Book on Google. They must also have Google Pay set up to use it.
The program will allow passengers to book their flights, and if the price subsequently drops, a refund will automatically be credited to the buyer’s Google Pay account. The traveler can then keep the money in the account for future use or transfer it to a bank account.
“On Google Flights, you can already see whether current prices are low, typical, or high compared to historical averages,” the company said, according to the Thrifty Traveler. “Now, we’re going a step further with a new pilot program for price guarantees in the U.S. We’ll monitor the price every day until departure, and if it does go down, we’ll send you back the difference via Google Pay.”
Unlike using a booking site like Expedia or Kayak, travelers who use Book on Google are dealing directly with the airline. Through an arrangement with those airlines, Google then monitors the cost of those flights and automatically issues the refunds based on information the traveler has entered while making the reservation.
“If you see a flight with the price guarantee badge, it means we’re confident that the price you see today won’t get any lower before takeoff,” Google said in a statement to USA Today. “Now you can book with the confidence that you’re not missing out on a great deal.”
