It seems that Google is currently looking for ways to implement artificial intelligence into everything, and now its efforts have reached the Flights airline ticket booking service. On Thursday, Google announced that it is testing a new AI-powered Flight Deals tool that could come in handy if you are planning a trip on a budget but are not quite sure where you want to go.
Instead of simply entering your desired airport and destination, Flight Deals takes a more open-ended approach. You can describe the place you would like to visit and even specify how much time you are willing to spend on the plane and what you would like to do upon arrival. Google then uses artificial intelligence to find cheap flights that match your preferences. For example, you can search for “a weekend in nature with horseback riding and kayaking” or “a trip to Europe with great cheese and wine in May” and see what comes up in the search results.
When using Flight Deals, I found that it offers both well-known vacation spots and lesser-known locations. When I searched for “tropical snorkeling destination,” it showed me places like Cozumel (Mexico), Nassau (Bahamas), and San Juan (Puerto Rico), which was predictable but acceptable. But searching for “travel to Europe with hiking” showed suggestions for several cities I wouldn’t have thought of — Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Ljubljana, Slovenia — which is good if you’re looking for something unusual.
However, some of the results I got were completely useless. When searching for a “tropical weekend getaway less than 5 hours away” from Orlando Airport, I got results for Miami and Key West, which may not be ideal for those who want to travel outside the state. I also managed to confuse the system by searching for “trips to Japan during cherry blossom season” — the system reported that it found “no offers” for this search.
If you don’t specify when you want to travel, Google will default to showing you flights for the next six months. You can also play around with some filters, such as specifying the number of layovers or your preferred airline, but the nice thing about this updated AI-powered algorithm is that you don’t have to.
Despite some difficulties, I can still try Flight Deals if I’m looking for travel ideas that don’t stray too far from my budget. I probably wouldn’t trust artificial intelligence to plan my entire trip, but using it to generate ideas for destinations that I can then research in more detail wouldn’t hurt. Google Flight Deals will be available in beta for users in the US and Canada over the next week. You can find it on the dedicated Flight Deals page or in the menu in the top left corner of Google Flights.
