My first cease once I must guide a flight is Google Flights, which aggregates flight choices and pricing in a single place. Nonetheless, Google Flights solely shows paid charges, not award charges. So, to find out whether or not to guide an award flight or a money fee, I often additionally must open up airline web sites to seek for comparable award flights or begin a search with an award journey software 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 accessible. This Factors Path extension shows award charges subsequent to paid charges for flights offered by choose airways whenever you use a desktop model of Google Flights. The extension additionally recommends when to make use of factors and miles and when to guide a paid fee. So, let’s take a better have a look at the Factors Path extension, together with what it’s, find out how to set up it and find out how to use it.
What’s Factors Path?
Factors Path is a free internet browser extension that reveals 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 guide a paid fee as you sometimes would with Google Flights or guide an award immediately 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 — advised me:
There are already a lot of search instruments on the market for people who find themselves specialists at utilizing their factors and keen to switch to obscure applications to maximise them. I believe these instruments are nice, and I exploit them myself once I want them. However Factors Path is designed for individuals who don’t have the time to change into specialists at utilizing frequent flyer miles. It’s for vacationers who need to shortly discover the very best flights accessible with the factors or miles they’ve, and know whether or not they’re getting an excellent deal when utilizing them. Factors Path is constructed to reply each these questions in just some seconds each time you search, with out having to make use of a separate web site or app, since our outcomes seem immediately inside Google Flights.
So, whereas superior factors and miles customers might discover it fascinating to make use of the Factors Path extension in Google Flights, they aren’t the audience for the software. 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 need to get good worth from their rewards.
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What airline loyalty applications does Factors Path cowl?
Factors Path presently considers award itineraries you’ll be able to guide via the American Airways AAdvantage, United Airways MileagePlus and Delta Air Strains 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 reveals an itinerary offered by American, Delta or United.
Skilled factors and miles customers know you’ll be able to typically guide the identical flight via a number of airline loyalty applications. For instance, an American Airways flight is probably going bookable via the American AAdvantage program however may be bookable with British Airways Avios and different companion currencies. Once I requested Kheel about Factors Path’s plans to help 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’s all they really need or want. Nonetheless, we all know there are additionally a lot of of us who gather versatile factors like Chase Final Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards. For them, we’re already within the technique of constructing out extra airline applications that may make Factors Path much more helpful.
We’ve 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 help for the most well-liked worldwide airline applications added first, akin to Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan, and British Airways Govt Membership, to call a number of. We’ve been exhausting 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 mentioned, we’re unlikely so as to add airline applications to Factors Path that we expect are difficult for the typical 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 only need to know they’re getting an excellent deal once they’re reserving their flight.
That is nice information whether or not you’re simply getting began with factors and miles — through which case I like to recommend signing up for our Points101 e mail collection — otherwise you’re an skilled person of assorted 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.
Particularly contemplating the audience for Factors Path, it is smart that the extension doubtless received’t add airline loyalty applications that may be tough or time-consuming. As such, I don’t count on we’ll see applications like Avianca LifeMiles, Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles or All Nippon Airways Mileage Membership — all of which supply glorious worth for some award bookings however aren’t probably the most user-friendly — added to Factors Path.
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Tips on how to set up the Factors Path extension
To put in the Factors Path extension, you have to be a Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge person and join the Factors Path e mail checklist. Nonetheless, Kheel assured me his crew’s “precedence is making a Safari model of Factors Path accessible.”
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 type the place you’ll want to supply your identify and e mail. As soon as I stuffed out the shape, I bought an e mail titled “Factors Path: You’re 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 a number of seconds, after which I might start utilizing the Factors Path extension.
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Tips on how to use Factors Path
When you’ve put in the Factors Path extension, head to Google Flights. Notice that you simply’ll want to make use of the essential 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’ll be able to 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’d count on. However my search outcomes look barely totally different now that I’ve put in the Factors Path Chrome extension.
I can nonetheless use the entire normal Google Flights filters. For instance, I can filter to solely see American Airways flights that don’t depart too early or arrive too late.
And if I’m not touring solo, I can change my search to be for 2 passengers.
The primary American Airways flight possibility appears 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 guide 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’ll be able to click on the “Proceed to aa.com” button to guide your award flight. Nonetheless, the hyperlink didn’t take me on to a web page to guide the award however as a substitute to a web page displaying 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.
Nonetheless, if I click on via on the identical flight possibility I’d discovered through the Factors Path extension, the journey abstract reveals 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. Right here’s an instance seek for round-trip premium economic system transatlantic awards that illustrates the potential usefulness of the Factors Path extension:
One of the simplest ways to find out how the Factors Path extension might help you is to attempt it out. In any case, you’ll be able to at all times take away the extension and unsubscribe from the e-mail checklist for those who don’t discover Factors Path helpful.
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How a lot does Factors Path value?
Factors Path is presently free to put in and use. Nonetheless, 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 essential Factors Path search extension will at all times be free.”
Factors Path suggestions
One helpful side of the Factors Path extension is a suggestion on whether or not it is best to redeem rewards or guide a paid fee.
At a excessive degree, the advice is made by setting a worth for every airline’s factors or miles. Based on its incessantly requested questions, Factors Path has decided median values of Delta, United and American miles by gathering pricing for 1000’s of flights. It then considers the taxes and costs on award flights and calculates whether or not it is best to redeem rewards or guide a paid fee. 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 response to 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 guide a paid fee is the variations in what you’re buying. For instance, for those who cost an American Airways flight to your favourite journey rewards bank card after which determine to cancel, you’ll nearly at all times 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’ll must pay a $99 payment to get a partial credit score). However for those who guide an AAdvantage award flight, you’ll be able to cancel and redeposit your miles with none charges. Likewise, you’ll 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 methodology. It’s rather a lot to think about and isn’t cheap to be included in Factors Path suggestions. This being mentioned, it’s at all times sensible to know your ticket’s change, cancellation, seating and baggage insurance policies earlier than you guide. Generally, paying extra to fly a selected airline might 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 guide through a selected methodology to safe a fare you’ll be able to freely or inexpensively cancel.
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Backside line
As I seek for flights with Google Flights, I’m excited to make use of Factors Path to get a really feel for award pricing with choose applications. And though I’m not the audience for Factors Path, I’ll suggest it to others as they get began with factors and miles. Even for those who’re simply beginning with factors and miles, it’s a great way to change into accustomed to what number of factors or miles well-liked applications cost for flights.
The Factors Path extension can even 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 don’t have the time to change into specialists at utilizing frequent flyer miles, however who need to shortly discover the very best flights accessible with their journey rewards and know whether or not they’re getting an excellent deal when utilizing them.”
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