It’s rare to hear Wikipedia recommended as an official source of information, at least not publicly, especially not as a travel planning resource. However, the web’s free encyclopedia provides detailed information on all major airports (and most minor airports) around the world. That information includes all the destinations around the world that are directly accessible from those airports and the airlines that will take you there. You’ll find these details especially important if you’re planning how to best use your frequent flyer miles.
The ITA Matrix software used by Google Flights shows you where you can travel from a particular airport to anywhere in the world and how much it costs. With the click of a button (and a few tips), you can create an interactive destination map that shows you all the global options to help you decide where to go next. You can also monitor fares for specific flights and receive alerts when prices rise or fall.
Wikipedia and Google Flights are powerful travel planning tools when used properly. Here we’ll show you how to take advantage of both.
How Wikipedia can help you find (better) flight options
All airports listed on Wikipedia have a subheading called “Airlines and Destinations” that tells you which airlines fly to that airport and which destinations can be directly accessed from that airport. This may sound like elementary information, but it’s a great resource for anyone wanting to learn about non-stop flight options and mileage redemption possibilities.
Let me explain with some real-life examples. The four of us would like to visit our cousins in Charleston on Memorial Day weekend in 2026. Ideally use miles. Thankfully, Charleston has its own airport, Charleston International Airport (CHS), just a short drive from the city center. We live in South Florida and my family doesn’t like layovers.
When you visit the Wikipedia page for Charleston International Airport, click on (Airlines and Destinations) from the (Contents) menu (on the left) to see a table of all the airlines that fly to and from Charleston, as well as all the cities with direct flights. To quickly find out if there are nonstop flights to/from Miami, search for “Miami” in Control-F and you’ll see that American Airlines/American Eagle flies nonstop between Miami International Airport (MIA) and Charleston. We did the same for “Fort Lauderdale” and found that JetBlue is an option when flying from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), while Breeze Airways is scheduled to begin service in July 2026 (too late for this trip). It turns out there are several options for direct flights.
Then go to Google Flights and check the price of cash tickets between MIA or FLL and CHS from May 22nd to May 25th. Select only the “Nonstop” option (from filter selection). The cheapest flights are on American Airlines for $327 per person round trip in basic economy and $417 per person in main cabin. JetBlue, on the other hand, costs $397 round-trip for a Basic Blue fare and $477 for a Blue fare. It seems expensive for a short-haul flight to and from Charleston, so I’m hoping this will be a good opportunity to cash in some miles.
The moment has arrived when tickets will be priced in points rather than miles. A visit to AA and JetBlue’s websites reveals solid value when redeeming miles through their respective loyalty programs. AA is a better choice. 20,00 AAdvantage miles per person with the main AA (compared to $417 in dollars) and 32,200 TrueBlue points per person with JetBlue for Blue (compared to $477 in dollars), each with $11.20 tax. I know that AA has many airline and loyalty program partners, so I’m going to take it a step further and look into AA’s mileage pricing through oneworld partner Alaska Airlines’ program. There are no award seats on AA’s Miami-Charleston segment using Alaska’s Atmos Rewards, but there are seats worth 4,500 points plus $19 in taxes and fees on the May 25, 2026 Charleston-Miami segment.
Since the airline industry moved away from a round-trip fare model many years ago, it is now time to consider whether it is possible to split the trip into two one-way trips. Sure enough, AA’s one-way fare on May 22, 2026 is 11,500 AAdvantage miles. So you end up booking one-way ticket in AA and the other in Alaska, paying just 16,000 miles per ticket (11,500 for MIA to CHS, 4,500 for CHS to MIA) for a total of 64,000 points (16,000x). 4 people (because there are 4 people traveling) plus taxes and fees totaling $98.40 instead of $1,668 for 4 people. Not bad!
Identify new seasonal flight routes using Wikipedia
Wikipedia can also provide information about which routes are seasonal and which are currently suspended. Even better, within the same “Airlines and Destinations” section, you can find new routes as soon as they are announced and departures are set. On the contrary, you will know which flight routes will end when.
For example, a quick search for Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas in mid-April 2026 reveals that in December 2026, Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas, will begin nonstop flights between Sydney, Australia and Las Vegas. Spirit Airlines will resume seasonal service to Indianapolis in April 2026. This summer, Southwest Airlines plans to introduce multiple routes connecting Las Vegas to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and San Jose del Cabo in Mexico. Hilo, Hawaii. In October 2026, the airline plans to begin service from its hub to San Jose, Costa Rica. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines’ nonstop service from Las Vegas to Chicago O’Hare will end in June.
This major Southwest expansion of LAS is certainly exciting for Las Vegas residents, but it’s even more exciting for residents with Southwest Companion Passes. Six new international flights will now be able to bring in a plus-one with just taxes.
Additionally, many legacy airlines tend to release frequent flyer seats on new or seasonal routes well in advance, so it’s worth checking out Qantas’ new long-haul deals from Las Vegas now. Qantas is a Oneworld partner, so I checked with American Airlines and found 80,000 AAdvantage miles and nonstop flights for $130.23 for a two-week trip from January 24 to February 7, 2027. The cash price for the same ticket on a comparable Economy Saver fare was $2,538. This ticket is a great deal when you use miles.
Find affordable airfare using Google Flights Explore
ITA Matrix software powers Google Flights, and the simplified consumer version of the software makes it easy for travelers to find the best fares. With Google Flights, you can enter your origin and destination (search for multiple nearby airports at once) and find the cheapest one-way, round-trip, or multicity fares typically 330 days out (the period when airlines typically start booking future flights). Our interactive calendar feature lets you see the lowest fares by date.
But in addition to searching for specific flight routes, you can use the Explore feature on Google Flights’ interactive map to evaluate and price a broader range of travel options. On the Google Flights homepage, just go to the (Search) tab at the top and enter your departure airport, but not your arrival airport. Enter your desired date (or no date) and press search. You’ll see where you can go and how long you can go by time period (e.g. “1 week trip in the next 6 months”), or in a particular month, or on a particular day. You can then filter by nonstop flights, airline, duration, price, and more. Hover your mouse over the interactive map to see destinations and prices around the world.
You’re based in New York City and want to end your summer with a bang in Europe, but you haven’t decided on the exact location yet (flight price is also a factor). From August 29, 2026 to September 7, 2026 (the last week of summer before Labor Day, and back on Labor Day), the airline has lowered the scale to “Europe” from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York, reducing the scale to less than $750 round trip and switching to only nonstop flights. We’ve found options for Reykjavik from as low as $478, Copenhagen from $656, Barcelona from $619, and more.
Or let’s say you’re open to going to Europe anytime within the next six months. I can work from home, go anywhere for a good price, and my schedule is completely flexible. Do the same search as above from JFK to Europe. However, instead of entering a specific date in the field below, click on the date to select a flexible date, or simply enter “1 week trip within the next 6 months.” I still prefer to choose only non-stop options, but each has its own options.
This will generate an interactive Google Flight Map with multiple options. Google will show you the cheapest options based on your search. What caught my eye when I tried this out in April 2026 was that you could get round-trip flights to Athens for just $549 in the coming months. Click on the price icon on Google Maps and sure enough, it’s a non-stop flight on Nordic Atlantic Airways from Thursday, October 8, 2026 to Friday, October 16, 2026.
I’m dying to visit Athens again, but the flights are so cheap that I’ll be honest, I’d rather avoid the European summer crowds. I immediately thought it was fate that I found this flight. Sold for $549!
Track your prices using Google Flights
Another powerful tool built into Google Flights is price tracking. This is especially useful if you are interested in a particular flight route on a particular day. To take full advantage of this feature, you’ll need a Google Account, sign in to your Google Account, and give Google permission to email you price changes (with the click of a button).
Suppose you don’t want to travel to Charleston for Memorial Day weekend, but instead want to head from South Florida to Los Angeles. Fill in the information in the appropriate fields and add the dates: May 22-25, 2026. When Google Flights presents you with options, choose JetBlue’s morning flight for both the outbound and return flights. Once you have selected your ideal flight, you will see an option to ‘Track Price’ in the top right corner. With the push of a button, I was able to sign up to receive email alerts when prices change. Google Flights also gives you the option to monitor prices for similar flights, which is what I do.
From that moment on, Google Flights will track the price of those tickets until the flight date or when I request to stop tracking, whichever comes first. You can track the price of as many flights as you like. Prices are organized by date under “Tracked Flight Prices” and can be accessed from the content bar in the top left corner of the Google Flights home page. Easy-to-understand graphs show how prices have risen or fallen over time, and whether current prices are relatively high or low.
In some cases, you may want to use Google Flights to monitor your fares until you reach your target price. Depending on the airline and its policies, you may also be able to use Google Flights to adjust your fare after you purchase your flight. For example, if you end up purchasing a JetBlue Blue fare, you will be entitled to a fare adjustment as a travel credit if you purchase directly from the JetBlue website accessed through Google Flights. (Note: This does not apply to Basic Blue fares, JetBlue’s basic economy version.)
For JetBlue non-refundable fares, cancellations or qualifying changes made prior to scheduled departure will be subject to a per-person change/cancellation fee plus the difference in the applicable airfare. Any remaining balance will be issued as a JetBlue travel credit that can be applied toward future travel. You can check your credit expiration date by visiting your JetBlue Travel Credit account.
Visit Jetblue.com after you receive an alert from Google that the fare for a ticket you purchased has been reduced. All I have to do for a price refund is go to Manage Bookings on JetBlue.com, select to change flights, and then select the exact same flight at a lower fare. Naturally, JetBlue doesn’t send me emails about discounts on purchased fares, but Google Flights does. Now it’s up to me whether or not I want to make a difference.
The “Track Price” feature is great, but it’s not without its drawbacks. There have been many times that I have not received email alerts of price drops (despite being subscribed). Therefore, we recommend checking the flight ticket price graph from time to time. If this sounds boring, it probably is. But I’ve personally saved and regained thousands of dollars thanks to Track Prices, so I can say it’s well worth using.
conclusion
By understanding and harnessing the power of Google Flights and Wikipedia, you can find cost-effective ways to get where you need or want to go, with fewer or (ideally) no layovers, and even plan future dream trips around the world. It may take a little practice, but you’ll quickly find that these are two of the most powerful travel planning tools available.
This article was originally published in 2022. Latest information updated on April 23, 2026.