When I search for flights, I typically follow a specific process. For simple domestic trips, I begin by searching on Google Flights. This allows me to get an idea of which airlines fly to my destination and their current prices. With this information, I can start looking at flight times and, if available, award availability.
However, there are instances where I need to search for flights to more than one airport. For example, when traveling to New Braunfels, TX for our annual visit to Schlitterbahn Water Park, I search for flights to both San Antonio and Austin airports, since the distance from either airport is about the same. Similarly, when flying to Knoxville, TN to visit Dollywood, I search for airports that are located further away from my destination, as it could potentially save me some money by driving a bit longer at the end of my trip.
When I used ITA Matrix to search for flights, it was easy to select multiple cities. However, Google has limited the functionality of that site to steer users towards its main search engine. I remember there used to be an option on Google Flights to search for alternate airports, but one day, it disappeared. With Google, such sudden changes have, unfortunately, become par for the course. As a result, I’ve returned to using pencil and paper to compare flight times and prices.
I’m not sure if it’s always been there, hiding in plain sight, but today, I found out how to search multiple cities on Google Flights again.
Multi-Citi Search
When typing a city or airport, you’ll see a screen like this.
I never noticed the plus sign before, but when hovering over it I saw “Select multiple airports.” Once selecting that option, you’ll see “Where else?” I typed San Antonio.
I could have kept adding cities but this was all I needed for this search.
You’ll go back to the main search page and see results for both cities.
The cheapest flight was on Spirit to San Antonio with flights to Austin on American, Delta and Southwest.
I refined the search by changing the departure location from “Orlando” to MCO, which removed the Allegiant flight, since it leaves from Sanford Airport.
Final Thought
Does anyone know if the option for multi-city search on Google Flights was recently updated, or has it always been available? Since many websites tend to remove useful options in order to simplify their interface, I didn’t bother looking for the multi-city search option once it disappeared. Regardless of whether it’s a new feature or not, I’m glad to have rediscovered it, as it will make my searches much easier. It’ll also save paper by not having to write down all the flights. 😉
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1 comment
It’s always been there. You can click on your city and then hit + and add up to five (though sometimes it has let me do 6) additional airports on either end. I find the results get sloppy though the more combinations you ask it to get. It is also wrong sometimes in pricing things when you click through to book it won’t show the price it promised. Probably a glitch since it only happens 1/10 times a search but it’s annoying when you think you’ve found a good flight/route in business class and then click through to the list of where you can buy it and it’s more on each listed option.