# Tell me about booking through Google flights vs. booking through the airline **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 14, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427 "2019-11-14T16:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/1 "2019-11-14T16:35:01Z")
I just went to Google Flights to research a flight, and rather than click on “go directly to airline’s website” to finish booking, I clicked on “book through Google Flights” (apologies if I’m not remembering the exact wording of every window that came up). All went well, and the booking went through and we received an email from the airline in question, not Google, giving us our confirmation and flight numbers. Mr. brown is not pleased, and says that somehow Google is ripping us off, and that I should have gone directly to the airline’s website. Did I do wrong? Is there something inherently bad about booking directly through Google Flights? Seems to me it’s a bit cheaper than the last time we flew to this airport on this airline, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/2 "2019-11-14T16:50:56Z")
As far as I know, you don’t book anything directly through Google Flights. They give you various booking options that are through other booking agents or directly to the airlines. I’ve never seen the option to book directly with Google. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/3 "2019-11-14T16:53:22Z")
I’ve never booked with Google Flights, but I have booked with similar aggregators (like Orbitz). Everything was fine, they just ended up charging me an additional fee (I think it was around $6 or so) for the transaction. By the time I realized that, I had already entered all my information and picked my seats (but had not yet paid), so rather than cancel the transaction, I just booked it to avoid the hassle of entering all the information again. Now I look for prices on the aggregators and then go directly to the airlines. So, bottom line, you’re probably fine – you may have paid a couple of more bucks than you otherwise would have, but not enough to beat yourself up about. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/4 "2019-11-14T16:54:32Z")
I tend to like to minimize the number of entities I’m dealing with in case something goes wrong. So I’ll often browse for flights and prices on the aggregate sites but book directly with the airline. I can’t recall the direct booking ever not having the price I saw on the aggregate site. That said, I think the onus would be on Mr Brown to come up with evidence of the rip off. Why not check what the price would have been if booked directly? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/5 "2019-11-14T16:58:02Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > … > So, bottom line, you’re probably fine – you may have paid a couple of more bucks than you otherwise would have,… Maybe not. I don’t know how Google handles this, but it’s possible that their cut is factored into the total price. Maybe the “fee” you paid to Google is the personal info you supplied that they can leverage with the airlines or other commercial enterprises. Much of Google’s income comes from this kind of source. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/6 "2019-11-14T17:01:33Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > . . . Why not check what the price would have been if booked directly? Good idea. ::checking the same flights directly on Alaska Air:: It’s the same price to the penny. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/7 "2019-11-14T17:38:37Z")
I prefer booking directly through the airline just because it simplifies things in the event that something goes wrong. If there’s a schedule change that screws up your connection and you booked through the airline, then the airline can automatically book you on new flights. If you booked through a travel agent (Google is effectively acting as a travel agent here) then you have to get the travel agent to find you new flights. > [@Musicat](#): > > Maybe not. I don’t know how Google handles this, but it’s possible that their cut is factored into the total price. Maybe the “fee” you paid to Google is the personal info you supplied that they can leverage with the airlines or other commercial enterprises. Much of Google’s income comes from this kind of source. IIRC, when a traditional travel agent sells a ticket, the airline pays the travel agent a commission. I’m pretty sure it works the same way for online travel sites, which are essentially virtual travel agents. Most of their revenue comes not from the people buying the tickets, but from commissions airlines pay them for marketing their flights. That’s why Southwest doesn’t sell tickets through those sites. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/8 "2019-11-14T17:45:54Z")
Many years ago, I checked a price with Orbitz and the airline. The Orbitz price was cheaper. I am still scratching my head over that one. I believe Southwest Air doesn’t doesn’t use secondary services. And if you live near an airport served by them, you might save some money going to their site. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/9 "2019-11-14T18:21:00Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I prefer booking directly through the airline just because it simplifies things in the event that something goes wrong. If there’s a schedule change that screws up your connection and you booked through the airline, then the airline can automatically book you on new flights. If you booked through a travel agent (Google is effectively acting as a travel agent here) then you have to get the travel agent to find you new flights. That’s not entirely accurate. If you book a flight on a single airline, whether through the airline or through an aggregator, then the airline is on the hook to get you to your final destination regardless of what happens to connections. This includes codeshares and such - you have an American Airlines flight number Boston to Madrid, but the plane is actually Iberian. So if your first flight is delayed and you miss your connection, the airline has to find you another flight at no cost to you (with some restrictions of course). But some aggregator sites will give you connections where you switch airlines. In that case you’re taking all the risk on yourself - if you have a United ticket from Dallas to Philadelphia, then an American ticket Philly to Venice, you’re screwed if the first flight is delayed. As far as American was concerned, you didn’t arrive at the gate 20 minutes before the destination and whatever rules apply to your ticket come into play, up to and including non-refundable/non-exchangeable. Plus if you have checked baggage, you have to claim it at your intermediate destination and re-check it to the final on the new airline. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/10 "2019-11-14T18:46:36Z")
Good point. My Southwest flight was delayed going to Denver ( mechanical issues). But, there was another flight going to Denver leaving in time to catch my connecting flight to Cancun. Southwest offered passengers incentives to give up their seats, so about six of us could make the Cancun flight. All flights were on Southwest. Southwest rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/11 "2019-11-14T19:19:01Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > IIRC, when a traditional travel agent sells a ticket, the airline pays the travel agent a commission. I’m pretty sure it works the same way for online travel sites, which are essentially virtual travel agents. Most of their revenue comes not from the people buying the tickets, but from commissions airlines pay them for marketing their flights. That’s why Southwest doesn’t sell tickets through those sites. I’m not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with my speculation, but when it comes to post-2000 online commerce, Google makes the rules, and the rules are often not traditional. Since Google’s income is significantly from database aggregation, and this can mean only pennies per transaction, it’s possible that the “travel agency fee” is part of Google’s database-gathering cost. I have no inside information, just speculation. I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/12 "2019-11-14T19:50:49Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > As far as I know, you don’t book anything directly through Google Flights. They give you various booking options that are through other booking agents or directly to the airlines. I’ve never seen the option to book directly with Google. To answer my own question - [Book flights on Google - Travel Help](https://support.google.com/travel/answer/7515668?hl=en) > [@](#): > > When searching for flights on Google, you’ll usually have the option to book with an airline or online travel agency by going to their website. In some cases, you’ll be able to “Book on Google,” completing your transaction with the airline or travel agency while staying on Google. I’ve never encountered a flight that has the _ **Book on Google** _ option but it obviously exists. But the UI also displays the cost of every booking option, so you should have been able to see exactly how much each option should cost you before clicking through. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-booking-through-google-flights-vs-booking-through-the-airline/843427/13 "2019-11-14T20:00:14Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > That’s not entirely accurate. If you book a flight on a single airline, whether through the airline or through an aggregator, then the airline is on the hook to get you to your final destination regardless of what happens to connections. This includes codeshares and such - you have an American Airlines flight number Boston to Madrid, but the plane is actually > Iberian. So if your first flight is delayed and you miss your connection, the airline has to find you another flight at no cost to you (with some restrictions of course). It sounds like you’re talking about missing a connection due to a delayed flight. And in that case you’re correct – _once you’ve begun your journey_ then it becomes the airline’s responsibility to get your to your destination. But that’s not what I was talking about. What I was talking about is where you book a ticket like six month in advance, which is so far out that the airline’s schedules aren’t finalized yet and are subject to change. So if you booked something like Indianapolis-JFK-Paris on Delta six months in advance, and then a month later Delta decides to tweak their schedule so that their JFK-Paris flight now departs an hour earlier, which means now it’s going to be physically impossible to make your connection in JFK. If you booked directly with Delta, their system will catch the problem, and automatically update your itinerary to put you on an earlier IND-JFK flight as well, or if that’s not possible change your connecting point to Atlanta, or whatever. If you booked through a travel agent then Delta’s computers might flag your itinerary to indicate the schedule change, but it’s up to the travel agent to fix the problem. IIRC check in is when the responsibility switches from the travel agent to the airline. I don’t know why that is, probably an old outdated rule from the days of brick and mortar travel agencies. > [@Musicat](#): > > I’m not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with my speculation, but when it comes to post-2000 online commerce, Google makes the rules, and the rules are often not traditional. Since Google’s income is significantly from database aggregation, and this can mean only pennies per transaction, it’s possible that the “travel agency fee” is part of Google’s database-gathering cost. I wasn’t really agreeing or disagreeing, but simply offering a second possibility. I’m 99% sure that those fees from airlines are how sites like Orbitz, Priceline, and others make their money. Whether that’s how it works for Google Flights, I don’t know.