Price drop protection saved me $50 on a flight — here's how I did it

Flight shopping can often be stressful and emotionally taxing. Expedia's 2024 Air Travel Hacks Report found that for the majority of Americans, air travel can be more daunting than filing taxes or visiting the dentist.

Like many people, I ask myself: Is this a good price? Will it go lower? Why does such a short flight cost hundreds of dollars? Will I be able to make any changes if necessary?

There are so many hypotheticals, and they've even deterred me from flying — I once drove eight hours and back to avoid paying $450 round-trip for a 90-minute flight.

So, when I recently booked a trip to South Florida, I was ecstatic to discover a tool that eliminated at least some of the headaches. Enter price protection.

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My recent flight booking was the first time I used price protection. While this feature has been around for some time now, it was my first time taking advantage of it, and has completely changed how I plan and book trips moving forward.

There are several price protection programs out there, but in this case, I used Expedia's and it saved me $50.

Expedia describes Price Drop Protection as an optional add-on offered on select flights that automatically refunds the difference if the price of your flight drops on Expedia. So, if you buy a flight at $300 with price drop protection, and the price drops to $200 after booking, Expedia will automatically send $100 back to your credit card.

In this instance, I purchased a flight three weeks before departure for about $184 and added Price Drop Protection for $7 at checkout. The cost of Expedia's Price Drop Protection varies depending on factors like how early you're booking and the current price of the flight. It's also worth mentioning that Gold and Platinum members get One Key Price Drop Protection included for no cost on select flights when booking on the Expedia app.

A day after booking, I received an email that said I would be refunded $0.01 — not exactly the deal of the century. But three days after booking, I received another email that said I would be refunded $50, as the flight's price had dropped to $134. 

The refund hit my credit card account about a week after my flight, and I never looked back.

The entire tracking and refund process is automatic. Expedia keeps you in the loop with live updates as the price (hopefully) swings lower, and you never have to manually search for your flight's market price to get your money back.

Other flight search aggregators have similar price protection features, each with their own terms.

Google Flights offers customers a free Price Guarantee for some flights. Eligible flights are denoted by a colorful price badge and must be booked directly through Google. The guarantee lasts up until the first flight in your itinerary departs, and if the price drops, you'll get the difference back via Google Pay.

Additionally, those with a Capital One credit card, such as the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees) or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees), automatically get price drop protection when booking through Capital One Travel. According to Capital One's terms and conditions, its price protection monitors the price for 10 days after you book the flight and offers a refund of up to $50 in the form of a travel credit.

The catch is, you generally need to book through a third party to access this type of feature as airlines don't offer any guarantees like this directly.

If you booked directly through an airline and the price of your flight dropped, you would have to manually rebook your ticket, which may involve a change fee, and you'd only get a travel credit for the fare difference, not a true refund. For instance, United Airlines' page about its flexible booking options explains, "If your new flight costs less, you will receive a travel credit for the fare difference."

On the flip side, booking through a third party can complicate matters in the event of itinerary changes or cancellations since you need to go through a middleman, as opposed to dealing with the airline directly, and may be charged extra fees. Also, American Airlines announced that as of May 2024, it will no longer award miles or elite-qualifying credit on third-party bookings unless they are through preferred travel agencies.

Now that I don't have to chase flight prices, I book my flights as soon as possible, and I let Price Drop Protection do the rest. The earlier you book your flight, the more valuable these kinds of tools might be since there's a higher chance that the price may fall.

For me, the peace of mind (and the refund) are well worth the few bucks it takes to protect a purchase with Expedia's Price Drop Protection. Alternatively, there are ways to get this type of protection for free if you're an Expedia Gold or Platinum One Key member or book through Capital One Travel or Google Flights.

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