In time for shoulder season, Google Flights will be offering a price guarantee for a limited time, giving customers a refund for any price drops.
In order to have the flight qualify, the itinerary must have the "Google Price Guarantee" badge. It also must be booked between August 13 and September 2, 2019, and the flight occur before November 24, 2019.
Basically, Google is vouching for its algorithms here: "Price guarantee is part of Book on Google within Google Flights. For some flight prices, Google's algorithms are confident that the price you're seeing is the lowest available before the flight departs."
It sure is hell a lot better than monitoring for any price drops within 24 hours, since Google plans to keep monitoring eligible flights until the flight departure.
There are limits: The price difference must be greater than $5, and customers can get up to $500 back total (over three itineraries).
Per the full T&C (the really important stuff highlighted in bold, of course):
To be eligible for Price Guarantee, the following requirements apply:
- Itineraries must be marked in Google Flight Search and on the purchase page with the "Google Price Guarantee" badge and tickets must be purchased through the "Book on Google" feature in Google Flight Search.
- Price Guarantee is only available for one-way and round-trip tickets for itineraries departing and returning within the Price Guarantee Window. Unless otherwise notified by Google, the " Price Guarantee Window " is August 12, 2019 through November 24, 2019. Multi-city itineraries, and itineraries that are not completed within the Price Guarantee Window, are not eligible.
- The Price Guarantee price must be the price that the individual booking an eligible itinerary (" you ") actually pay when your booking is completed through Book on Google, as confirmed by the booking partner.
- You, and any other individuals for whom you booked an eligible itinerary, must complete travel for the entire itinerary, as confirmed by Google.
- You are limited to a maximum of four people per eligible itinerary per booking (i.e., four tickets for the same itinerary purchased in the same transaction). Price Guarantee is not available for bookings beyond this limit.
- You are limited to a maximum of three Price Guarantee bookings. Once you have booked three eligible itineraries, and regardless of whether you received a Price Guarantee payout for any of those itineraries, you are no longer eligible for Price Guarantee.
