Google Flights not so smart

Information on Google Flights from
https://scottscheapflights.com/guides/how-to-use-google-flights

I wonder if this is what happened.

Displays unavailable deals: Every once in a while, Google Flights will tell you a fare is available at a certain rate, but when you click to proceed with a booking either (a) the fare jumps in price, or (b) there is no way to book online and instructs you instead to call the airline. (Don’t bother calling, it won’t work.) This phenomenon is called "ghosting", and happens occasionally on Google Flights when a fare was recently available but no longer is.

I believe Google Flights caches flights, so what you see in the moment may already be gone. It's a side effect of how GF gets you fast results. Matrix Airfare Search (https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search), which is actually owned by Google now I believe, does the actual searches. Unfortunately Maxtrix doesn't give you the link to the airline, just the booking details to give to a travel agent.

And it's possible you just missed an even higher flight so it's "lower than it has been"

Unless you have a 24/7 monitoring I am not sure how you know Google was wrong?

I have not been watching 24/7, but I have checked google flights and the VA website every other day for 2 months. The price has been the same every time. I just found it odd that GF said "fares are lower" on the one day that they were in fact higher.

The GoogleFlights is good for schedules and basic cost awareness, then you always have to go to the airlines. It's just a tool.

And on the other hand, I have had Google Flights give me combined BA-AA bookings that were 1) not available on either's web site, or if so not at Google FLight's listed price, and 2) Google Flights then took me directly to the valid booking of this on AA, at the price shown (and needless to say, carried through to purchase). It showed as the basic Economy flight with the option to accept or upgrade.

Is there any tool in the world for anything that does everything that every person needs?

No, there are no perfect tools.
Yes, I always check the website for the actual airline for current information and for booking.
I was just making an observation about Google Flights.

Sorry, not critical of your post. Its good of you to remind people.

Mister E, no worries, it just seemed the point of my post was not understood by most.

As an aside, the price is back to what it was as of today. Is there anything more stupid than airfare pricing? LOL

Regarding Google Flights, it's the alerts that I find most helpful. Gives me a heads up when a flight price suddenly drops for one of the many routes I track.

It's my go to imperfect tool, but it works for me.

I find the price quotes on Google Flights are generally accurate for flights by US airlines. I notice that for foreign airlines (such as Air France); what're quoted on GF very often are different from the airlines' website. Nevertheless it's a great tool for researching/planing your itinerary as well as price tracking.

Google Flights was accurate, the price matched what was on the website for VA. What was questionable was that it alerted me that the price was lower than it had been, which was not true at all.

The best news it that the price came back down and I have purchased our tickets! I am so excited for this trip!