Last week I attended a small press breakfast hosted by Google about their new and expanded tool, Google Flights. As you know or would think, Google has the most intelligent people on the planet behind the production of their tools so spending an hour with them during a snow storm was truly the most perfect morning I could ask for.

The most interesting thing about the conversation for me was the discussion of how the consumer is evolving. Since I last worked in travel publishing just five short years ago, so much has happened and now nearly 50% of travel queries are coming from a smart phone (last year it was 11%0. That’s huge. Not only that, but 20% of cruises are being booked on a smart phone. Now that we can do everything online, we can do all our research there to find the best fares.

I’m a sucker for travel stats so I’m sharing just a few of the ones shared:

• In 2014, for the average trip, travelers visited 15 websites did 7 research sessions, took 3 weeks to book a flight/hotel.(Millward Brown and Google Digital Travel Themes Analysis, Q3 2014)

• But 54% of travelers haven’t chosen a destination when they begin researching upcoming leisure travel.   (Google Travel Study, June 2014)

• 1 in 5 trips from Google Flights is for a weekend getaway (Google data)

Hmm..I may have consulted more web sites, did more research sessions and took more time to book my trips, but perhaps I’m an anomaly. Kourosh Gharachorloo, Engineering Director, Travel, told us that flight options are more complex than meets the eye. He’s right – we have a lot of options! The question is how to narrow them down and find the best flight booking options. Eric Zimmerman, Product Manager Flights, gave us the following tips.

- Flexibility is key when finding great deals. There’s a travel myth that you can always find the best deals on Tuesday. But actually, you can find good deals any day of the week—especially if you’re flexible with your travel dates. The key is to book RIGHT AWAY. Don’t wait, particularly when you see a good published air fare.

- Regardless of which day you sit down to plan your trip, you can use the calendar in Google Flights to scroll through months and see the lowest fare highlighted for each day. If you’re planning even further out, use the lowest fares graph beneath the calendar to see how prices may fluctuate based on the season, holidays or other events. You can save more by using a nearby airport or flying on a different day, we’ll show you a tip at the top of your results.

– Google research shows more than half of searchers don’t know where they’re going to travel when they sit down to plan. With Google Flights, you can search for regions or whole countries, like “Flights to Europe” and “Flights to Mexico”. Or, expand the map to scan the entire world and see accurate prices for all the different cities you can fly to, along with filters for your flight preferences. If you’re in a particularly adventurous—or lazy—mood, select the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on the map and we’ll suggest ideas for where to go based on popular destinations and your past search history.

– When it comes to choosing flights, cheaper doesn’t always win—and no wonder, when sometimes that means two connections instead of none. On Google Flights, the vast majority of people choose one of the Best flights—considered to be flights that are the best combination of price and convenience. Try it out next time you’re looking for something that fits your schedule, not just your budget.

Disclosure: I was not compensated to write this piece nor am I partnering with Google on this effort.

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