On Thursday, Google announced a search tool powered by new AI to help travelers find travel deals.
Called the Flight Deal, this new tool is available within Google Flights and is designed to help “flexible travelers” find cheap fares. Users can enter natural language queries into the search bar (describe how and when they want to travel, and AI will surface matching options.
These queries are like “a week trip to a city with great food this winter, a non-stop-only city” or “a 10-day ski trip to a world-class resort with fresh powder.”
Google has confirmed to TechCrunch that its flight deals use a custom version of Gemini 2.5. Pricing information comes from real-time data feeds with airlines and other travel agencies. The prices shown in the flight agreement match the price preferred by existing Google Flights, but they use AI to analyze natural language queries and surface matching destinations, the company said.
The tool ranks results based on the percentage of savings, with the best savings being first shown, the company said. If the savings rates are equal, the absolute price will be lower first. Trades without savings badges are ranked at the lowest prices, the company said.
Because flight prices change frequently, Google told TechCrunch that rankings and availability of transactions on the tool could be different.
Regulators, including the European Commission, are currently investigating how Google supports its own search products, including Google Flight, in ways that harm competition. EU regulators are looking to Google for enforcement under the Digital Markets Act, aiming to curb the power of key technology platforms. In response, the Alphabet-owned unit reportedly plans to propose changes to the Lispays regulator, including adding a price comparison box to the search results.
Initially, Google had plans to bring flight deals in beta and roll out in the US, Canada and India next week. The company said the goal of the beta release is to “gather feedback and explore ways in which AI can improve travel plans.”
Google has confirmed in TechCrunch that it handles user queries like search history, and users have the option to access MyActivity and manage or delete history created through the tool.
By integrating generated AI into travel search, the latest move is part of a broader experiment as Google appears to compete with Openai, humanity, confusion, and other major AI players.
Competitors such as Booking.com, Expedia and Indian Travel Aggregator MakemyTrip have already rolled out their own AI integrations to streamline travel plans. In that sense, Google arrived a little late. However, its size and reach still could pose serious challenges for the company. If the tool is effective and can increase traction.
Nevertheless, the classic Google Flights interface continues to exist. The original flight search tool, launched in 2011, even gets an update with an option that excludes basic economic fares for travel within the US and Canada.
This story has been updated to include Google’s answers to some of our questions.
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