Could Google Flights Let Travelers Filter Out Basic Economy?

Google Flights is the best, most powerful airfare search engine … and it's not even close. It pulled even further away from the likes of Expedia and Skyscanner recently by adding Southwest Airlines fares to the mix – becoming the first and only major flight search engine to list Southwest prices.

That outstanding addition leaves just one glaring weakness: Will Google Flights ever allow to filter out pesky basic economy fares? You know, the ones that lure you in with a cheaper price only to find they can't be changed nor canceled, don't let you pick a seat, and maybe even ban you from bringing a carry-on bag?

We can't say for sure … but our fingers are crossed. Maybe – just maybe – 2024 (or 2025) is the year we see a long-awaited feature to exclude the seemingly cheaper (yet often painful) basic economy tickets on Google Flights.

We've asked the folks at Google repeatedly over the years whether they'll give travelers this feature … and heard nothing definitive: Neither a yes nor a no. A Google representative declined to comment again this week on whether the platform would consider giving travelers a way to exclude basic economy tickets from their results. 

From the addition of Southwest this year, to making their ultra-powerful Price Alerts even better, to automatically cutting travelers a refund when prices drop, Google Flights is always improving.

But if this happens, it would arguably be its biggest leap yet. 

Why it Matters

We've lost track of how many readers and travelers have griped about the lack of a basic economy filter … heck, we've been personally wishing for it ourselves for years.

It's one of the few knocks against an otherwise unbeatable platform for finding the cheap flights you actually want to book. Because while some travelers will happily sacrifice some perks in order to save some money on basic economy, others avoid these fares like the plague.

The extra restrictions add up fast. Travelers who book a basic economy ticket can't pick a seat for free nor can they change or cancel their flights. Some airlines like JetBlue and United take it even further: They don't let you bring a carry-on bag with a basic ticket. With Delta basic economy, you can't even earn SkyMiles, work toward Medallion Status, or get into a Sky Club lounge.

So while you might like the price you first see on Google Flights' handy calendar, like these $453 nonstop flights from New York City (JFK) to Reykjavik (KEF) and back this summer …

It's only once you click through that you find that price only gets you a basic economy ticket. Want to avoid getting stuck between strangers? Or be able to change or cancel your flights – including if prices drop to pocket the difference? That'll cost you another $210 a ticket: Those main cabin fares are actually $633.

For travelers who'll never book a basic economy economy ticket no matter how much it saves them, wouldn't it be nice to have the option to eliminate those fares altogether? To see the prices of the fares you actually want from the very beginning? 

To be clear, Google Flights is far from alone in lacking this functionality. So far as we know, there's not a single airfare search site or app that allows travelers to filter out basic economy altogether. 

But as tens of millions of travelers increasingly turn to Google Flights over other sites to find airfare, this change would be a major win for consumers, putting more power in their hands. Because basic economy is here to stay: More than a decade after major airlines concocted these stingy fares to compete with the likes of Spirit and Frontier, they've spread worldwide … and it's clear they aren't going anywhere.

A Workaround to Eliminate (Some) Basic Prices Today

Fortunately, there are a few workarounds to eliminate at least some basic economy tickets from your Google Flights results.

Among its many powerful filters, there's an option to only display tickets that include a carry-on bag. Include that, and it'll eliminate the worst basic economy fares from JetBlue and United – the ones that don't include a carry-on bag. That restriction also means you can't even check in online, which takes these fares to another new low. 

This will also exclude prices from Spirit, Frontier, and other ultra-low-cost carriers who charge extra for carry-on bags and … well, pretty much everything else. 

With that filter in place, any price you see flying United or JetBlue will be a better, standard economy fare – carry-on bag and all. 

But even with that carry-on bag added, other basic economy results from American, Delta, Alaska are still in the mix. So the lowest, $137 price you saw on these flights from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Boston (BOS) is still, in fact, a basic economy fare – in this case, flying American Airlines.

And this workaround even less helpful when flying overseas, as even the cheapest basic economy fares on JetBlue and United include a carry-on bag – as do the rest of the major carriers. So despite your best efforts, you can safely bet virtually every fare you see on this search from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Amsterdam (AMS) is for a basic economy ticket. 

What's Next for Google Flights? 

Never one to rest on its laurels, Google Flights is always working on something. It's just not saying what's coming next.

But consider this: Southwest showed up on Google Flights one random Wednesday morning – arguably the biggest change in the world of airfare since airlines invented basic economy a decade ago – without the company or the airline itself making a peep until many hours afterward. Big changes take time only to appear overnight.

As much as it might seem like a no-brainer to let consumers toggle out basic economy prices, part of the problem here might be a technical one.

While the difference between basic and standard main cabin economy fares is clear as day with the big airlines like American, Delta, United, it gets murkier when you lump in their foreign partner carriers who use names like “Economy Light” or “Saver”? And what about ultra-low cost budget carriers like Spirit in the U.S. or Norse Atlantic overseas? Their upfront price before adding extra is kind of like basic economy … but not exactly, either. 

If that's the case, there might be another workaround that could help travelers avoid the feeling of bait-and-switch with basic economy pricing: Allowing travelers to filter for fares that include free change or cancellation.

Despite bragging endlessly about ditching dreaded change and cancellation fees during the pandemic, many basic economy tickets can't be changed or canceled, period. On other flights, you're on the hook for a $99 or $199 fee to cancel your basic fare.  

Clearly, Google already has this information. Adding a way to filter for it should be a much easier lift. 

Giving travelers the option to see only fares with free change or cancellation policies would solve Google Flights' basic economy problem. Recent moves by Spirit and Frontier to eliminate change fees on some (if not all) of their fares adds an extra complication, but this would be an otherwise elegant solution. 

While we know travelers would love the option to toggle strictly for main cabin fare pricing from the very start, anything that gives consumers more power – and an easier path to avoid basic economy – would be a massive win. 

Bottom Line

Google Flights has already done the unthinkable by roping Southwest Airlines' fares into its platforms. That was just a few weeks ago, but it's high time for another massive consumer-friendly win. 

We've been asking (and so have you) for years why Google Flights won't let travelers filter out the cheapest basic economy fares from results. Here's hoping they're listening.