The Google Flights price guarantee could pay you back if your tickets are cheaper -Tc

Google is testing a price guarantee program for Google Flights that will pay you money if the price of a flight drops after you’ve booked it through the service. The feature is currently available as a “pilot program” in the US (get it?) for specific flights, according to a blog post on Mondaybut it could be a compelling reason to use the Google tool the next time you search for a flight.

When you use the Google tool, some flights will have a little shield icon with a dollar sign on it. If you book that particular flight through Google Flights, the company says it will “monitor the price every day until departure.” If it falls, you will recover the difference.

Currently, its price guarantees are only for flights departing from the US, and you can only get them if you have a US billing address and phone number. The company also says it’s “only available for flights where we are sure the price will not drop.

There are quite a number of asterisks. TO extensive Google help document You explain that you can only get back $500 per calendar year and you won’t get any money if the price difference is less than $5. You also get reimbursement through Google Pay, which you’ll need to set up within 90 days of being notified that it’s available. Also, of course, you have to book your tickets through Google Flights.

The company says you should receive the difference within 48 hours of takeoff, assuming you already have Google Pay set up.

A price guarantee is not unique among travel sites; price line and orbitz both promise partial refunds under certain circumstances, as do some individual airlines. But they usually require you go looking for a better price instead of continually monitoring yourself.

Google’s blog post also mentions another feature the company implemented: the ability to explore hotels in an area through a “swipeable story format,” which shows a slideshow of a hotel that you can swipe up to view. another hotel. Stories are coming to everything these days, and it seems that Google Maps is no exception.