I Book Flights for a Living. Do These 8 Things Immediately (Or Regret It Later)

I've booked hundreds of flights and in today's video I'll be walking you through the exact things that I'll check before I book any ticket so you can avoid common but expensive mistakes and book the best flight for your trip. The first thing I'll check is whether any basic economy tickets have snuck into my search results. Airlines love showing the lowest possible fare because if they can get you to click on their airline first, there's a good chance that you'll book it before noticing all But that low price is often a basic economy ticket and basic economy tickets don't usually include things like the seat selection fee, they offer limited changes, and they often don't even include a carry-on suitcase. So before I compare anything, I'm going to change the fare class filter to exclude basic economy so I'm only looking at flights that I'd actually book that have the inclusions that I need. The tool I have up is Google Flights which is the best free way to search for flights. After making an initial search by putting in your destination and your dates, you'll get a bunch of filters that pop up including the option to filter out basic economy tickets. At the very top you'll see the option to change economy including basic economy to economy excluding basic economy. With one click, all of those basic economy fares are going to disappear. Next I make sure to check the actual flight cost with all of my luggage included. Airline A might look $60 cheaper than Airline B but once you add the carry-on and the checked luggage that you're planning to bring anyway, Airline B may suddenly become the better deal. You don't want to be comparing flight ticket prices. You always want to be comparing the total price of the trip that you'll actually be taking with everything included. So that's why in addition to filtering out basic economy flights, I will always click the bags filter and add exactly what luggage I plan to bring on the flight with me. So let's say I need one carry-on and one check-in bag for a week-long trip. The moment I add those, Google Flights recalculates the prices so I'm comparing what I'll actually pay, not just the base fare before the luggage is added in. The next check easily answers one of the questions that Ollie and I get asked most often and that's going to be whether or not you should book the flight now or wait for a better price. This is where most people start guessing and guessing when there are a few hundred dollars on the line is a pretty stressful way to be booking a flight, especially when Google Flights makes it so easy to get a good answer. First, check the price information above the flight results. Google will often tell you in plain English whether today's fares are low, typical or high for the route and the dates that you selected. That gives you a much better idea of whether you're looking at a genuinely good deal or simply just the cheapest, expensive option that's available at the time you're looking. Then open the date grid. This lays out different departure and return combinations with the cheaper options highlighted so you can quickly see whether moving your trip by just one or two days could save you money. What still surprises me is how often a tiny date change can make a big difference. Sometimes leaving a day earlier or returning a day later can save you hundreds of dollars without changing your trip very much at all. If your flight does include a connection, as in it stops in a city as opposed to going directly to where you need to go, then you're going to want to check that connection very carefully. Picture landing a few minutes late, hearing your connecting flight is already boarding, and then sprinting through an airport that you've never been to before. It's stressful, and in many cases, it ends up leading to you missing your connecting flight. Thankfully, it's also completely avoidable. You can check the connection time by clicking the little drop-down arrow beside the flight price. Personally, I like to give myself at least 90 minutes for most domestic connections and at least 2 hours for an international connection. That extra time gives you a buffer if your first flight is delayed, if you're flying through a large or unfamiliar airport, or if you need to go through a security check again, which is often the case when you have an international connection. Oftentimes, Google Flights is able to show you what has reasonable connections and unreasonable connections by using the Best tab instead of the Cheapest tab. If the option to use the Best or the Cheapest tab does show up on your flight search, then it's good to know that Google defines these flights in the Best category as those that are chosen to balance price and convenience for a more stress-free trip, taking into account factors like flight duration and the number of stops. By contrast, the Cheapest category highlights the lowest possible fares available. But Google Flights notes that these options may involve trade-offs such as flying back to a different airport than the one you departed from, transferring your luggage, or making you book through a third-party website. Not things that I personally want to be dealing with. But let us know down in the video comments if you would be filtering by the Best tab or by the Cheapest tab. I'm personally picking Best. Every time. After I've narrowed down my flights, I always double-check which airport I'm actually flying into and which airport I'm actually flying out of. Many major cities have multiple airports. New York has JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark. London is another example with Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, and Luton. So before I book, I Google the airport code that's shown on Google Flights just to be absolutely certain which airport I'm actually landing at. The city name at the top of your search might just say New York. But the code on the individual flight that indicates which airport you're actually flying out of, well, that could be LGA for LaGuardia. Or it could be EWR for Newark. Or it could be JFK for John F. Kennedy. Those airports are located in very different places. So definitely take a second to check by clicking the drop-down arrow and confirming your departure airport as well as your arrival and return airports. And while that drop-down arrow is clicked, you'll see flight details. And something else that you'll want to check is arrival time. Most of us are focusing on what time the flight is going to be leaving. But what actually can make a much bigger difference is going to be what time the flight is arriving at your destination. Imagine landing at 5 in the morning. You're exhausted, your hotel room will not be ready for hours, and the rental car counter is likely still closed. This means you're stuck trying to figure out what to do with yourself. And that is not the best way to start a vacation. Before booking, I ask myself, how am I getting from the airport to my accommodations? Will my hotel let me check in at this time? Can I collect a rental car? And will anything even be open when I arrive? It's almost always going to be worth paying more or departing at a less convenient time if that means you can arrive at your destination at a convenient or more practical time. The next thing to check is whether or not you even need a flight. A feature that a lot of people don't even realize Google Flights now has is train options. And honestly, if I can avoid the airport altogether and take a comfortable train instead, I'm probably going to consider it. This won't apply everywhere, but if you're traveling through regions of Europe or between nearby cities in the US, it's definitely worth checking before you automatically book a flight. I put together a free Google Flights companion guide giving you a flight booking checklist, which you can refer back to anytime. The next check is to look at who Google Flights is actually sending you to to book your flight with. So Google Flights doesn't actually sell you a flight ticket. What Google Flights does is they compare tickets across all airlines and different flight routes, and then they're going to give you options to send you to that airline or to a third-party booking site like Expedia or FlightHub to actually purchase the ticket. So Google Flights is the search engine, but it's not where you buy anything. Some booking options are directly with the airline like Delta or United, while others are third-party sites like Expedia, FlightHub, Booking.com or Cheapo Air that are going to sell you the ticket. But obviously, since these are not airlines, they're not the ones that are actually operating your flight. On the booking page, you'll see all of the options that Google Flights is going to send you to in order to actually purchase the ticket. The thing is that sometimes the ones that are under these third-party booking sites, like FlightHub, can be significantly cheaper than booking directly with the airline. However, it does not matter how cheap it is. Highly, highly recommend that you always book directly with the airline. As someone who has been burned by this multiple times, I can tell you it's worth it. Every time. So before you get excited about the price, scroll down to the booking options section and check who is actually selling the ticket. If the lowest price requires you to book through a third-party, like Booking.com, then compare with prices that are offered directly by the airline instead. That flight you found may no longer be the best price. Booking through a third-party website also means handing your personal information, and when you're booking a flight, that is a lot of information, to yet another company. And you might be surprised by just how much of your personal information is already available online. Data brokers can collect and build profiles using information like your email address, phone number, home address, and other personal details. In the wrong hands, that information can also be used to make scams and impersonation attempts much more convincing. After using today's video partner, Incogni, I was absolutely shocked to find out just how much of my personal, private information was available online. Incogni identified dozens of websites containing my information and handles the process of contacting them to request removal. And it keeps making those requests over time since data can reappear. Plus, with Incogni's custom removal feature, you can send them any link to a website that's exposing your information and they'll handle the removal for you. So if like me, you also want to reduce the amount of private personal information that you have floating around online, then definitely check out the link down in the video description or scan the QR code on the screen now to check out Incogni for yourself. These eight checks take me about five minutes, but they have saved me hundreds of dollars, hours of frustration, and plenty of travel headaches. I put together a simple Google Flights guide, which you can get for free by scanning the QR code or using the link down in the video description. It basically covers everything in this video as well as a few extra tips. It's completely free and Google Flights is also free. So, yay. Don't forget to hit subscribe to join Ollie and me back here for more travel tips and hacks each week and also leave any Google Flights or flight booking questions that you have down in the video comments. I read every single one and I always try to respond to them. But that's all for now, so safe travels and hopefully we will see you in a new video soon.