As part of Google’s ongoing quest to know EVERYTHING about you so they can use that data to sell ads, they plan to launch a travel search service similar to that of Kayak, Expedia and Orbitz, where users can find the best deals on airfare.
This news comes in the midst of a battle between travel sites and airline companies over monetary matters, and will certainly add an interesting twist to everything else going on. Google won’t directly sell tickets, however. Instead, they’ll refer you another travel site or directly to the airline website. And beyond just showing you the cheapest available flights, Google wants to make travel planning ridiculously easy, by telling you where to go. From the NY Times article:
Google has said that it wants to develop a more advanced kind of flight search than those currently in use. The way it explained the new search, travelers could type in that they want to go to a warm, child-friendly destination in March for less than $US300 – and Google would present the options.
Predictably, Kayak and Expedia aren’t happy about this and are trying to block Google from purchasing, ITA Software, who make programs for flight price comparison. Would you use Google to book your next trip? [NY Times]