Find and book "Hidden Flights" with this simple trick
Google Flights won't have secrets anymore (Includes video tutorial).
The other day I was searching for flights to a destination in Europe over Christmas. I knew my chances were extremely low, because I was very last minute and most flights were probably full.
Yet, despite all odds, I was secretly hoping to find a flight.
I was ready to accept longer connection times.
Even to leave from a different airport.
I just needed one seat.
I normally use Google Flights to search for flights, just because it offers some powerful features such as multi origin & destination searches. Some of these features allowed me to unearth really complex flight combinations in the past.
Unfortunately, not this time:
No options available! Not even changing dates or removing filters helped.
But there was still one thing I had to try…
One thing I’ve learned after years spent searching and booking flights on websites like Kayak, Skyscanner or Google Flights: Sometimes you need a few tweaks to find every available flight.
Including what I call “hidden flights”.
Hidden flights usually don’t appear in search results.
Not even after removing filters, expanding search criteria or changing dates.
So, how do you discover “hidden flights” on Google Flights, when nothing else worked?
Identify potential stopover airports (B) between your departure airport (A) and destination airport (C). In my case, the potential stopover airport was Milan.
Instead of “One-way” or “Round trip”, select “Multi-city”.
Then, manually add flights from A to B and from B to C.If this still doesn't work, open another window and make two separate “one way” searches: A to B and B to C.
Voilà:
See? Google flights is now displaying a flight that before was invisible!
It’s a flight with two separate airlines and a (fairly long) stopover. Not ideal, but acceptable.
All I need to do now is book the flight via the two airlines’ websites!
If your’re surprised (like I was the first time I found out about this), try it yourself next time you can’t find a flight.
Here’s the full video tutorial:
Good to know: In some cases, flights booked separately might not be eligible for compensation by the airline, in case of missed connections.
Therefore, use this Pro hack carefully and only if you don't have any other options.
Good luck booking your next flight!
About me:
As an industry insider I’ve lived the world of travel “behind the scenes”, experiencing journeys of all kinds -From flying Business Class to Maldives to hiking the Andes, and so much more.
In my blog Beating Jetlag I share my most unique travel experiences, insider tips and behind-the-scenes content for smart adventurers, as well as travel marketing advice for Creators.
You can read more about me here.