Google Flights is Now Allowing Users to Filter Out Basic Economy

Earlier this year I wrote about how Google was testing out a filter to exclude Basic Economy flights from its Google Flights search results. It appears that that functionality has now gone live.

Basic Economy Filter Now Live on Google Flights

Google Flights is one of my favorite tools out there. Anytime I begin to plan a trip, Google Flights is my first stop. Even if I’m looking to travel with a particular airline I really appreciate the ability to search for multiple airports, airline alliances, arrival and departure times, and more.

Previously, one of my biggest pet peeves was the fact that Basic Economy fares would show up alongside Economy fares. Pricing would show in the search results but, once you’d go to book, the price for an Economy ticket would be higher.

Now it appears that Google has released the Basic Economy functionality to the masses. When searching, you now have five classes of service to choose from:

• First
• Business
• Premium Economy
• Economy (exclude Basic)
• Economy (include Basic)

This is an upgrade from the test version which would allow you to toggle between showing or hiding Basic Economy. It will be interesting to see if this feature makes a return in the future as airlines continue to de-bundle fare options.

Have any of you used this new functionality (either in testing or the recently released version) and, if so, did you find it easier to find what you needed?

Summary

Google Flights has added functionality allowing users to choose between showing or hiding Basic Economy tickets when booking Economy flights. The company began trialing this feature earlier in the year and it appears that it has finally been released to the masses.