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Flight resources

How Go To Flight works

How the product is designed to work, from a search to a ticket, and what the words on a flight option mean.

Search is live, booking is not open yet

The steps below are how Go To Flight works. Providers supply the facts, Go To Flight explains them, and what is not known stays unknown. Today flights and fares come live from the flight source, but no payment provider or booking system is open, so nothing can be booked or paid for yet. Each board says where the site stands.

  1. Step 1

    Search

    Enter where you fly from, where you fly to, your dates and who is travelling. A city can stand for all of its airports.

    TodayThe search form queries the live flight source.

  2. Step 2

    Understand

    Each option is laid out the same way: journey, stops and connections, airports, operating airline and what the fare includes. Anything that is not known says so.

    TodayOptions come live from the flight source. Anything it does not state is marked unknown.

  3. Step 3

    Select

    Open an option to see the whole journey and the fares offered for it, then choose the fare that fits. A fare is checked again before you continue, and a changed price has to be accepted by you.

    TodayJourney and fare pages show the live offer. Booking is not open yet.

  4. Step 4

    Booking and ticketing

    A booking and a ticket are different things. After payment the booking is sent for ticketing, and it is shown as finished only when the ticket has been issued. Who sells and who tickets is named on the booking.

    TodayNo booking can be made and no payment can be taken.

  5. Step 5

    Data freshness

    Every value carries its state: fetched now, recent, typical, estimated or stale. An offer that may have changed is marked and has to be refreshed before it can be acted on.

    TodayFares are fetched when you search. The re-check before payment comes with booking, which is not open yet.

  6. Step 6

    Why unknown data stays unknown

    A plausible guess looks exactly like a fact. So when a source has not confirmed something, the page says “Not confirmed” or “Unknown” rather than filling the gap.

    TodayThis rule applies to every page.

What is not available yet

Booking
Not available
Payment
Not available
Ticketing
Not available
Accounts and sign-in
Not available
Support desk (phone and chat)
Not available

This list is shortened only when something actually works.

Reading a flight option

The words used for what is known

Every value on a flight option carries one of these states. They mean the same thing on every page.

Information states

Not connected
No source is connected for this value yet.
Not confirmed
A source exists but has not confirmed this value.
Unknown
Nobody knows. Unknown stays unknown.
Recent
From a verified source, not refreshed in this session.
Typical
A usual value from verified history, not a current offer.
Estimate
Calculated, not quoted.
Stale
Was valid, may have changed; must be refreshed before acting on it.

To see these states on a page, search for a flight. Each value on a result carries the state that fits what the flight source sent.

Search flightsAbout Go To Flight