Here’s How Google Flights Helped Me Earn Back Over $100 on a Trip I Already Purchased

Most airlines got rid of change and cancellation fees during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canceling and rebooking flights has never been easier. And you can use that to your advantage.

Some people use Google Flights’ free trip-tracking service to alert them when specific trips fluctuate in price — so they know when to buy.

But even if you’ve already purchased a trip, it’s definitely worth Google Flights tracking your flights. I did that for a recent trip. Its alerts ended up helping me earn back about $107 in Delta Air Lines flight credits.

Here’s how.

How Google Flights Helped Me

First things first: this technique isn’t exactly breaking news or something “duh, everyone knows this!” But I’ve checked with several people — and they weren’t aware of this technique. So, I figure this is definitely worth sharing. (And if you’re already aware of it, here’s a reminder to tell your friends and family!)

I booked a Delta Air Lines Main Cabin roundtrip from Los Angeles (LAX) to Fargo (FAR) to visit family. Fargo isn’t exactly a hot market with tons of flight options (though it’s gotten better and the airport is apparently expanding. Get in there, Southwest!)

I used existing Delta credits to pay the $663 (yes) fare.

This was about two-ish months before the trip.

After I purchased my ticket, I went to Google Flights and found the exact same itinerary. (Again, my purchase price was about $663. The image below is altered for blogging purposes. 🙂 ) I clicked the “Track prices” slider. That way, I received emails whenever the price went up and down.

Google Flights alerted me to a bunch of changes. Here’s a screenshot of the emails I received.

The Google Flights alerts were sort of a hodgepodge of Basic Economy and Main Cabin fares. There were times when I was super excited to see a fare drop — only to learn my Main Cabin ticket was unaffected (at least, for the better).

But whenever my Main Cabin price dropped, I canceled my existing reservations and rebooked.

Annoying as it was, the whole thing paid off.

The new, lower prices weren’t displayed on Delta.com nor on the Fly Delta app when I was logged in to either. (Oh, Delta. You’re so cute. Trying to fool loyal customers.)

On a separate device (let’s say my iPad), I called up the existing reservation at the higher price.

Then, I used private browsing (“Incognito” or something similar) on my laptop to find the same itinerary. (This would probably work on the same device. I usually did all of this at home; it was convenient to have all of my electronics in front of me.)

Right as rain, I found the lower fare!

Once I locked it and went to the checkout page on Delta.com, I canceled my existing reservation displayed on the iPad. I was immediately issued an eCredit for whatever I paid.

On the Macbook — which still had the lower fare — I logged into my Delta account. I applied the brand new eCredit I received about 10 seconds earlier and purchased the trip at the lower price!

I ended up canceling and rebooking three or four times. I have several Delta eCredits totaling about $107 from all of that. The whole process — for all the trips — probably took about a half hour. (Most of that time was spent writing down and then re-selecting my favorite seats.)

I eventually saw that my trip spiked up to $717!

So, next time you book a trip, take a few minutes and plug it into Google Flights. You might end up earning yourself a bunch of flight credit in the long run.