Google Flights to Refund the Difference on Dropped Flight Prices

These days, choosing which flight-booking site to go with is almost as difficult as choosing your actual tickets. Google Flights attempts to be a one-stop shop for that process, offering access to a range of options — airlines, times, prices — that allow potential flyers to compare options before booking. To sweeten the deal, the tech giant recently added yet another feature: a Price Guarantee badge that pays you the difference if the cost of your ticket drops after you book it.

Here's how it works, straight from the algorithm's mouth: "For some flight prices, Google's algorithms are confident that the price you're seeing is the lowest available before the flight departs. After you book on Google, we'll keep monitoring the price until take-off, and if it drops, you'll automatically get the difference back."

Badge of Honor

If that sounds easy, that's because it is — though, as with all good things, there's a catch. Price guarantee is only available for select flights, and it's possible you won't receive a refund if the airline in question lowers its price faster than Google Flights can load that information. (It also comes with a $500 limit, though it's unlikely that any ticket will drop more than that amount.)

Price guarantee is also time-sensitive: For now, it only applies to tickets booked between August 13 and September 2 for flights taking place on or before November 24 of this year. Should you end up qualifying for a refund, you'll simply fill out a form and Google will deposit the amount into your bank account. Now if they could just do something about the legroom.