Google has entered the lucrative market of internet travel flights and packages.
September 15 ,2011- The internet behemoth launched its latest attempt into the field of travel. They announced their Flight Search product. This follows its buyout earlier in the year of ITA software for over $700 million that became very controversial.
To start, Flight Search will just have a selection of travel departures from the United States. Nevertheless, Google is expecting to launch in the coming months international departures.
When Google purchased ITA in April, an investigation into anti-trust was launched when concerns arose about their possible large market share. The investigation determined that customers of ITA such as Hotwire, Kayak and Orbitz would maintain ITA contracts through 2016.
Kayak released a prepared statement saying, “We have the upmost confidence in our technology and our ability to be competitive.” Adding that, “we know Google will be a strong competitor.”
A similar service involving hotels was launched earlier in the year by Google as they attempt to increase presence in the online travel sector.
One tool that Google is including that other sites have not is one to help the traveler looking to economize. By just shifting the date selector forward or backward, a bar chart will appear that compares a number of different dates and prices for each date.
