Google ITA Launches Flight Search

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sept. 13 revealed Flight Search, which lets users search for airline flights and fares right from Google.

Google Flight Search is the first fruit of Google’s integration of ITA Software, the flight data provider it purchased in April after a protracted antitrust investigation by the Justice Department. The service will compete with popular travel search products from Microsoft Bing, Kayak and Orbitz, to name a few.

To access the service, users click a "flights" tab in the left-hand panel on Google.com, where they are whisked away to the company’s Flight Search. Users can also simply bookmark the google.com/flights Web page in their browser.

Google began surfacing summaries of flight schedule information right on its search results page. However, Flight Search lets users not only see flight schedules and prices and compare several travel dates at once, but quickly make changes to dates and destinations. Users may filter flights by airline, flight time and price.

Google said flights are chosen primarily based on cost and total travel time. The company sets the filters for price and flight duration options it "deems reasonable," though users may adjust the filters to see more flights.

Flight Search, rolling out over the course of the day, is limited to only coach flights to some U.S. cities. Google will improve both areas in the future.

The company also stressed that flight results are not influenced by any paid relationships meaning airlines that advertise on Google don’t get preferential placement on Google’s Flight Search.

To read the original eWeek article, click here: Google Flight Search Takes Off With ITA