My first cease once I must ebook a flight is Google Flights, which aggregates flight choices and pricing in a single place. Nevertheless, Google Flights solely shows paid charges, not award charges. So, to find out whether or not to ebook an award flight or a money price, I normally additionally must open up airline web sites to seek for comparable award flights or begin a search with an award journey instrument like Level.me or Roame.journey.
On Jan. 18, a brand new internet browser extension for Google Flights named Factors Path exited its beta part and have become publically obtainable. This Factors Path extension shows award charges subsequent to paid charges for flights bought by choose airways if you use a desktop model of Google Flights. The extension additionally recommends when to make use of factors and miles and when to ebook a paid price. So, let’s take a more in-depth have a look at the Factors Path extension, together with what it’s, how you can set up it and how you can use it.
What’s Factors Path?
Factors Path is a free internet browser extension that exhibits award charges subsequent to money costs in Google Flights and signifies the higher deal for every one-way or round-trip itinerary. As soon as you choose an itinerary, you’ll be able to ebook a paid price as you sometimes would with Google Flights or ebook an award straight with the airline loyalty program.
When requested who ought to use Factors Path, Julian Kheel — founding father of Factors Path and a former editorial director for TPG — instructed me:
There are already a number of search instruments on the market for people who find themselves consultants at utilizing their factors and keen to switch to obscure applications to maximise them. I feel these instruments are nice, and I take advantage of them myself once I want them. However Factors Path is designed for individuals who haven’t got the time to change into consultants at utilizing frequent flyer miles. It is for vacationers who wish to shortly discover the most effective flights obtainable with the factors or miles they’ve, and know whether or not they’re getting deal when utilizing them. Factors Path is constructed to reply each these questions in only a few seconds each time you search, with out having to make use of a separate web site or app, since our outcomes seem straight inside Google Flights.
So, whereas superior factors and miles customers could discover it attention-grabbing to make use of the Factors Path extension in Google Flights, they are not the audience for the instrument. As an alternative, Factors Path is designed to assist vacationers who aren’t positive when to redeem factors and miles for his or her flights but wish to get good worth from their rewards.
Associated: Learn how to resolve when to make use of money or miles for purchasing airline tickets
What airline loyalty applications does Factors Path cowl?
Factors Path presently considers award itineraries you’ll be able to ebook by means of the American Airways AAdvantage, United Airways MileagePlus and Delta Air Traces SkyMiles loyalty applications. This implies Factors Path works for flights operated by these airways and flights operated by their companions so long as Google Flights exhibits an itinerary bought by American, Delta or United.
Skilled factors and miles customers know you’ll be able to usually ebook the identical flight by means of a number of airline loyalty applications. For instance, an American Airways flight is probably going bookable by means of the American AAdvantage program however might also be bookable with British Airways Avios and different companion currencies. After I requested Kheel about Factors Path’s plans to assist extra loyalty applications, I used to be pleasantly shocked by his response:
This early model of Factors Path is our first crack at it, specializing in the frequent flyer applications of American, Delta, and United. And for individuals who earn most of their miles with an airline bank card, that is all they really need or want. Nevertheless, we all know there are additionally a number of people who accumulate versatile factors like Chase Final Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards. For them, we’re already within the strategy of constructing out extra airline applications that may make Factors Path much more helpful.
We have gotten a ton of nice suggestions from the greater than 10,000 customers who’ve already put in Factors Path, so you’ll be able to count on to see assist for the most well-liked worldwide airline applications added first, akin to Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan, and British Airways Government Membership, to call just a few. We have been onerous at work at it, and I consider we’ll have the primary of these extra applications prepared for launch within the subsequent few weeks.
However with that stated, we’re unlikely so as to add airline applications to Factors Path that we expect are difficult for the common particular person to navigate, akin to Turkish Miles&Smiles. Our customers aren’t essentially trying to commerce their time to get absolutely the most worth for his or her factors. They simply wish to know they’re getting deal once they’re reserving their flight.
That is nice information whether or not you are simply getting began with factors and miles — wherein case I like to recommend signing up for our Points101 e-mail collection — otherwise you’re an skilled consumer of varied reward currencies. In any case, changing transferable factors to British Airways Avios or Aeroplan factors is easy, and these loyalty applications are comparatively simple to make use of.
Each day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Each day e-newsletter
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
Particularly contemplating the audience for Factors Path, it is smart that the extension doubtless will not add airline loyalty applications that may be troublesome or time-consuming. As such, I do not count on we’ll see applications like Avianca LifeMiles, Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles or All Nippon Airways Mileage Membership — all of which provide glorious worth for some award bookings however aren’t essentially the most user-friendly — added to Factors Path.
Associated: Learn how to ebook your first award flight utilizing airline miles
Learn how to set up the Factors Path extension
To put in the Factors Path extension, you should be a Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge consumer and join the Factors Path e-mail checklist. Nevertheless, Kheel assured me his group’s “precedence is making a Safari model of Factors Path obtainable.”
To get began with Factors Path, head to its web site and click on the blue “Obtain the extension” button close to the highest of the web page. Doing so will take you to a kind the place you will want to offer your title and e-mail. As soon as I stuffed out the shape, I acquired an e-mail titled “Factors Path: You are in!” within the Updates tab of my Gmail inbox inside two minutes.
I used to be utilizing the Google Chrome browser once I clicked the Factors Path set up hyperlink from the e-mail. As such, clicking the hyperlink took me to the Chrome Net Retailer web page for Factors Path. I clicked the “Add to Chrome” button from this web page to put in the Factors Path Chrome extension.
The set up solely took just a few seconds, after which I might start utilizing the Factors Path extension.
Associated: Your final information on how you can search award availability for the most important airways
Learn how to use Factors Path
As soon as you have put in the Factors Path extension, head to Google Flights. Be aware that you’re going to want to make use of the fundamental Google Flights web page at flights.google.com, choose “English (United States)” as your language and select U.S. {dollars} as your forex for Factors Path to work correctly. You possibly can change your language and forex on the backside of the Google Flights web site.
I looked for a one-way flight from Atlanta to New York this fall, as I sometimes would with Google Flights. As you’ll be able to see, my outcomes present choices for a number of New York Metropolis airports, as I might count on. However my search outcomes look barely completely different now that I’ve put in the Factors Path Chrome extension.
I can nonetheless use the entire customary Google Flights filters. For instance, I can filter to solely see American Airways flights that do not depart too early or arrive too late.
And if I am not touring solo, I can change my search to be for 2 passengers.
The primary American Airways flight possibility seems to be interesting, particularly for the reason that award value is simply 12,000 miles plus $11 in taxes and costs for 2 passengers. I can choose this flight as regular in Google Flights. However due to the Factors Path extension, now there’s an choice to ebook an award with American miles.
I clicked “Proceed” subsequent to the choice for 12,000 miles plus $11, and it took me to the Factors Path web site.
You possibly can click on the “Proceed to aa.com” button to ebook your award flight. Nevertheless, the hyperlink did not take me on to a web page to ebook the award however as a substitute to a web page exhibiting all of the choices for my date (plus the beginning costs for surrounding dates). Keep in mind that the award charges you see on this web page of the AAdvantage web site are for one passenger.
Nevertheless, if I click on by means of on the identical flight possibility I might discovered by way of the Factors Path extension, the journey abstract exhibits pricing for 2 passengers.
From right here, reserving your American AAdvantage award needs to be simple. Your expertise utilizing Factors Path needs to be related for Delta and United awards, round-trip awards and premium-cabin awards. This is an instance seek for round-trip premium economic system transatlantic awards that illustrates the potential usefulness of the Factors Path extension:
The easiest way to find out how the Factors Path extension will help you is to strive it out. In any case, you’ll be able to all the time take away the extension and unsubscribe from the e-mail checklist for those who do not discover Factors Path helpful.
Associated: Award chart candy spots that may prevent cash on home flights
How a lot does Factors Path value?
Factors Path is presently free to put in and use. Nevertheless, the incessantly requested questions part on the Factors Path web site mentions there could also be a “small month-to-month payment for superior options” sooner or later, however “the fundamental Factors Path search extension will all the time be free.”
Factors Path suggestions
One helpful facet of the Factors Path extension is a suggestion on whether or not you must redeem rewards or ebook a paid price.
At a excessive degree, the advice is made by setting a price for every airline’s factors or miles. In accordance with its incessantly requested questions, Factors Path has decided median values of Delta, United and American miles by gathering pricing for hundreds of flights. It then considers the taxes and costs on award flights and calculates whether or not you must redeem rewards or ebook a paid price. On the time of writing, Factors Path makes use of the next median values:
| Program | Factors Path median worth | TPG’s valuation |
|---|---|---|
| American AAdvantage | 1.3 cents per mile | 1.5 cents per mile |
| Delta SkyMiles | 1.1 cents per mile | 1.2 cents per mile |
| United MileagePlan | 1.25 cents per mile | 1.45 cents per mile |
Factors Path median values are barely decrease than TPG’s valuations, which we calculate in keeping with the data-driven valuations framework we launched in September 2023.
However, what’s misplaced in many choices on whether or not to redeem rewards or ebook a paid price is the variations in what you might be buying. For instance, for those who cost an American Airways flight to your favourite journey rewards bank card after which resolve to cancel, you will nearly all the time get a credit score to be used on a future journey as a substitute of a refund (and for those who booked a primary economic system fare, you will must pay a $99 payment to get a partial credit score). However for those who ebook an AAdvantage award flight, you’ll be able to cancel and redeposit your miles with none charges. Likewise, you will earn miles and Loyalty Factors on paid flights, however not award redemptions, with American AAdvantage.
Every airline and loyalty program has its personal insurance policies, which can range relying in your cabin, fare and reserving technique. It is so much to contemplate and is not cheap to be included in Factors Path suggestions. This being stated, it is all the time good to know your ticket’s change, cancellation, seating and baggage insurance policies earlier than you ebook. Generally, paying extra to fly a particular airline could make sense if in case you have elite standing or a cobranded airline bank card. And in case your journey plans aren’t agency, you would possibly ebook by way of a particular technique to safe a fare you’ll be able to freely or inexpensively cancel.
Associated: The most effective airline bank cards with annual charges beneath $100
Backside line
As I seek for flights with Google Flights, I am excited to make use of Factors Path to get a really feel for award pricing with choose applications. And though I am not the audience for Factors Path, I will suggest it to others as they get began with factors and miles. Even for those who’re simply beginning with factors and miles, it is a great way to change into accustomed to what number of factors or miles common applications cost for flights.
The Factors Path extension may also assist vacationers know once they can get good worth from their factors and miles with choose applications. As Kheel famous within the Factors Path press launch when the extension exited its beta part, “Factors Path is designed for vacationers who haven’t got the time to change into consultants at utilizing frequent flyer miles, however who wish to shortly discover the most effective flights obtainable with their journey rewards and know whether or not they’re getting deal when utilizing them.”
Associated studying:
