One annoying aspect pertaining to searching for the lowest prices for airline tickets is that they are usually significantly restrictive basic economy fares, with which selection of seats and the privilege to carry a bag aboard the airplane are only two of many items that will cost extra and add to the total price of the ticket — so the capability of Google Flights finally being able to filter out basic economy fares from the results of searching for inexpensive flights is a refreshingly welcome addition to this search engine, as it has been added as a permanent feature…
Google Flights Finally Can Filter Out Basic Economy — But…
…but unfortunately, that new functionality is only available when searching for flights within in the United States, territories of the United States, and Canada. The filter is available for all users at both the official Internet web site of Google Flights and on the mobile version of Google Flights.
The following graphic shows Google Flights without the ability to filter out basic economy fares…
…and the following graphic shows Google Flights with the ability to filter out basic economy fares.
Also unfortunate is that filtering out basic economy fares is only available for the final results of the search prior to clicking on an external link to actually book tickets for the flights — meaning that using the Explore map still does not yet filter out basic economy fares as the least expensive fares.
Furthermore, the new basic economy filter does not filter out the lowest fares of Southwest Airlines at the time this article was published, as the basic fares of Southwest Airlines still appear in both the basic and main cabin categories.
Flight Deals: Another New Feature of Google Flights
Google Flights enters the era of artificial intelligence with the recent introduction of a new feature called Flight Deals to assist travelers who are both flexible on dates and destinations yet sensitive to cost in booking tickets and reservations for their next trips. Simply type in thoughts or ideas on a future trip you are thinking about taking into a search bar so that new trip ideas can be recommended for you.
As an example, I typed in “Southeast Asia for three weeks in February of 2026” and it returned twelve deals from Atlanta, as shown in the graphic below.
All of the options did fit the parameters of my search — but I can always refine them to my liking. For example, I can restrict the results to Laos and Cambodia, if I want…
…but when clicking on any of the options, the result is a list of flights in order of price from least expensive to most expensive — which is basically the same typical result as using Google Flights Explore. The differences here are minor between Google Flights Explore and Google Flight Deals, which include but are not limited to:
- Giving you the opportunity to narrow down your options conversationally instead of inputting more exacting data, which can potentially be easier for many people
- Initially offering a series of trip ideas rather than specific flights
- Instantly alerting you to how much money you can potentially save on a trip
As with the filter for basic economy fares, Google Flight Deals is only available for trips in the United States and Canada; but it will not replace the Google Flights Explore feature.
Final Boarding Call
I often use the Explore feature of Google Flights to research fares, as this functionality allows me use a map to find the lowest fares at various destinations for specific dates or broad timeframes — up to a maximum of six months. Explore — as well as Flight Deals — would potentially be exponentially more useful if that functionality were able to filter out basic economy fares as the most inexpensive fares.
Speaking of Google Flight Deals, I am not all that excited about it, as I currently prefer to use Google Flights Explore — but that can change as Google Flight Deals is improved over time. Currently, Google Flight Deals is still in ßeta mode; so it is technically still not a product that has been officially released — and although it seems to work well, it is not free of glitches.
Basic economy tickets are great for passengers who do not want to pay extra for features they do not need or will not use. As much as I would prefer that the selection of a seat should be included in a basic economy fare, I can understand why airlines charge extra for that option, as many people do not “need” it.
The problem I have with basic economy is when a feature is necessary and passengers are forced to pay extra for it after being enticed with a low price. One example is when an airline advertises an airfare for a transoceanic flight that does not at least include a bag to carry aboard other than what is known as a “personal item”. Because most people would be forced to pay extra for a bag to carry aboard the airplane — few people head over to Europe or Asia from the United States for the day and do not need to carry baggage — the basic economy fare becomes a type of false advertising in the form of “bait and switch” that does little more than frustrate customers.
The addition of a feature to filter out basic economy fares with Google Flights is not a perfect solution to this problem — but it is a welcome one.
All photographs ©2019 and ©2025 by Brian Cohen.
