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Online travel sites: Google flight search violates agreement
Well-known online travel sites such as Expedia, Orbitz and others are increasingly complaining that Google’s new flight search tool is unfairly putting them out of business.
Google’s new flight search tool “has caused rivals to claim that Google is "violating the spirit" of a commitment it made to the Department of Justice when it acquired travel software company ITA Software, says a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Google's purchase of ITA, completed in April, was accepted by the Department of Justice after Google promised to make travel data available to competitors. Google also promised to build tools to drive more traffic to airline and online travel agency sites.
The travel sites accuse Google of abusing its power in an effort to grab itself a big piece of the $110 billion online travel market, according to the Journal
“Searches like ‘NY to LA’ now produce a Google chart of airfares, with links directly to airlines, that appear above the results for middlemen,” explains Newser.
It costs airlines some $10 more to process flights booked through online travel agencies than ones booked through their own websites. Google—which classes its flight links as advertisements—has declined to comment on how much it is making by steering customers directly to airlines, according to Newser.
Google's flight searches are powered by ITA Software.
The travel sites say Google, at the behest of airlines, is violating its promise to use the new function to send more traffic to online agencies as well as airlines.
A Kayak executive speaking to the Journal claims Google "just sort of ignored" the agreement it made to drive more traffic to online travel agencies, but Google said it did so out of necessity.
By David Wilkening
David
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