Google buys ITAsoftware

[JF Mezei]

http://www.google.com/press/ita/

700 million bucks ! Not finalised yet, but Google generally gets what
it wants.


I wonder if this will be a game changer for on-lie reservations. Googke
usualy doesn't buy something unless it has some grandiose plans t do
something "big" with the inbestmet.

If you do a search for flights on Google/ITA, will Google then charge
airlines and/or the various travel agencies like travelocity etc for
advertising their web sites as possible means to make that reservation ?
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[Miles Bader]

Post by JF Mezei
If you do a search for flights on Google/ITA, will Google then charge
airlines and/or the various travel agencies like travelocity etc for
advertising their web sites as possible means to make that reservation ?

Nice; Google's a lot better at software, and a lot more likely to remain
an "unbiased agent", than existing flight search sites (which almost
universally suck big time).

-Miles

[JF Mezei]

Post by Miles Bader
Nice; Google's a lot better at software, and a lot more likely to remain
an "unbiased agent", than existing flight search sites (which almost
universally suck big time).

The on-line travel agencies have not quite put the brick and mortar
travel agencies to death.

Could Google nearly put the online travel agencies (Expedia,
Travelocity, Orbitz etc) to death by giving people a comprehensive
search engine for flights/fares and point the people directly to the
airline web site for bookings ?
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[John Levine]

Post by JF Mezei
Could Google nearly put the online travel agencies (Expedia,
Travelocity, Orbitz etc) to death by giving people a comprehensive
search engine for flights/fares and point the people directly to the
airline web site for bookings ?

Possibly, but it's hard to see why they would want to. Orbitz was
ITA's launch customer and still pays them a lot of money.

Also, the online agencies have abandoned most booking fees, so the
price is the same as the airline itself, and in some cases the
agencies provide useful added value like SMS alerts when the flight
is delayed or changes gates.

R's,
John
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