Google Flights vs Aviasales: Which Should You Use?

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only link to things I use or would use.

Google Flights and Aviasales both help you find cheap flights, and it’s easy to wonder which one is “better”. My honest answer is that they do slightly different jobs. In this post I explain what each one actually is, how I’d use them together, and what to watch out for before you hand your money to a travel agency you’ve never heard of.

My shorthand: Google Flights is good for searching, and Aviasales is good for savings. Here are both, so you can follow along:

What Google Flights actually is

Google Flights is a search tool. It doesn’t sell you a ticket itself. Google’s own help page says that when you select a ticket you’ll “usually be taken to the airline’s website or online travel agency to complete the transaction”, and that it works with more than 300 airline and travel agency partners. Google also says those partnerships don’t affect how offers are ranked.

The bits I find most useful:

• The calendar and price graph. Pick a route and you can see the cheapest price for each day, or fare trends by week or month if you’re flexible.
• Alternative airports. Its flight insights can show you if a nearby airport is cheaper. From the South West, that can be the difference between Bristol and somewhere further away.
• Price tracking. You can track a route, a specific flight or “any dates” and get emails when the price changes significantly.
• Explore. Leave the destination open and it shows prices on a map. Great for “where can I go cheaply?” evenings.

Two things to know. Google says flight prices are updated roughly once every 24 hours, so always check the final price on the seller’s site. And not every airline is included, because an airline needs a partnership with Google to appear. The price shown is for the flight itself, including taxes; bags and card fees can be extra.

What Aviasales actually is

Aviasales describes itself as a “flight metasearch engine”. In its own words: “We don’t sell tickets – we just help find the cheapest ones. Totally free.” You compare options using your filters, then book on the airline’s or the agency’s own website.

So, like Google Flights, it’s a search tool, not the seller. The difference is in what you’ll often see: a lot of online travel agencies alongside the airlines, which is where the “savings” side comes in. Sometimes an agency has a fare you won’t see elsewhere. That’s not guaranteed, and an agency price comes with trade-offs I explain below, but it’s why I always have a look.

Two things the site does well:

• Results flag whether baggage is included or not, which matters when you’re comparing a bare budget fare with a full-service one.
• It warns you about awkward connections: an airport change, a baggage recheck, an overnight layover, or a “split booking” where you have to check in again for your next flight and may need to enter the country. Read those warnings properly.

Google Flights vs Aviasales at a glance

	Google Flights	Aviasales
My label	Good for searching	Good for savings
What it is	Flight search tool from Google	Flight metasearch engine
Sells tickets itself?	No, it usually sends you to the airline or an agency	No (“We don’t sell tickets”)
Who you book with	Airline or online travel agency	Airline or online travel agency
Baggage info	Price excludes extra fees; estimated bag fees shown in some cases	Flags “baggage included / not included”
Connection warnings	Notes on separate / self-transfer tickets	Flags airport changes, rechecks, split bookings
Cost to use	Free	Free

When I’d use which

Start with Google Flights when you’re still working out when and where. The calendar and price graph make it quick to spot the cheap days, and the map is the best way I know to find a cheap weekend.

Then check Aviasales once you’ve got a route and dates, to see whether an agency is offering the same flight for less.

Then compare with the airline directly. If the difference is small, I’d book direct. When something goes wrong, it’s far easier to deal with the airline that’s actually flying you.

For my November trip, Bristol to Sofia, then Sofia to Athens and on to Singapore, I searched around first and booked through Trip.com. I explain my whole method in How I Find Cheap Flights, and how I chain connections into extra stops in Turn the Layover into a Second Country.

The risks of booking through an online travel agency

Both tools can send you to an agency, so this is the bit to read carefully. A cheap agency fare is only cheap if nothing goes wrong.

• Changes and cancellations. Google is clear that once you’ve booked, you contact the airline or agency to change, cancel or fix anything. If you booked through an agency, that usually means going through the agency, not the airline.
• Refunds. These go through whoever took your money. An agency you don’t know may be slower, or add its own fees on top of the airline’s rules. Read their terms before you pay.
• Customer service. Check how you can reach the seller (phone, chat, email) and in what language before you book, not after a cancellation at 2am.
• Separate and self-transfer tickets. Both tools can show itineraries made of separate tickets. Google warns that you might pay a change fee on each ticket, may have to collect and recheck your bags, and if your first flight is late you could miss the second. In that case the second airline doesn’t owe you anything. Leave generous gaps, or pay a bit more for one ticket.
• Check the seller. Look at the agency’s name on the booking page, read recent reviews, and make sure the final price matches what you saw. Prices on search tools can be out of date.
• Bags. The headline fare often doesn’t include a hold bag, so add that to the comparison. I travel light for exactly this reason: see Carry-On Only.

And whatever you book, get insurance sorted at the same time; my travel insurance guide covers what I look for.

My practical tips

1. Compare the same flight on two or three sites before paying.
2. Track prices on Google Flights if you’re not ready to book.
3. Check alternative airports and dates. A day either side can make a difference.
4. Read the connection warnings on Aviasales and the self-transfer notes on Google Flights.
5. Pay by card for extra protection, and keep every confirmation email.
6. If you want a third opinion on tricky multi-airline routes, Kiwi.com is another option to compare.

If you’re heading to the Balkans or Greece, my Sofia and Athens guides pick up where the flight search ends.

If you’re flying from the UK, I also keep a weekly list of the cheapest international fares from five UK airports.

So which is better?

Neither, on its own. I use Google Flights for searching and Aviasales for savings, and then I check the airline’s own site before I pay. That five-minute habit is the cheapest insurance there is.

Prices and features were correct at the time of writing and can change.