It only seems appropriate that it is a good time for travel sites to complain about Google. The charge: that Google is using its popularity in search to gain an unfair advantage over the rest of the industry. When users type in a travel query — “San Francisco to Los Angeles flights”, say — the first search result is a listing of the cheapest flights for the given trip. Beneath the chart is a link to “more Google flight search results.”
According to The Wall Street Journal that indicates to a practice initiated by the search giant earlier this month, which provides results for travel-related searches–such as domestic flights–from right within Google, as opposed to pointing searchers towards places like Priceline, Expedia, and Orbitz.
The flight search was originally available via the left-hand navigation panel on Google search result pages, but now with the latest technique of putting links to airline sites right up top, there is a chance visitors would not scroll down to try their search from one of these other sites, the Journal argues. The move poses a serious threat, the Journal says, for these competing travel sites, which can depend on Google for 10 percent to 20 percent of their incoming traffic.
“For instance, if you search for [flights from San Francisco to Las Vegas] you will see a table that shows available flights, including duration and prices,” explained Emmet Connolly, UX designer on Google’s Flight Search feature. “You can adjust dates on the page, or click any flight to further research and book your trip.”
Kayak executive Robert Birge speaking to the WSJ stated that Google has already shown “an explicit policy to intercept general search queries with their products,” so “their argument that they are not engaging in anticompetitive practices does not hold up to basic logic.”
There is another interesting segment from that report, talking about how Google said in talks with the Department of Justice around its ITA acquisition, that it would “build tools that drive more traffic to airline and online travel agency sites, and that competitors think Google is not living up to this promise.” The report says:
Google acknowledges it has failed to make good on assurances it would link to the travel sites, but the company says it had no choice. “The airlines told us that they would not give us [travel data] if we provided booking links to” online travel agencies, Jeremy Wertheimer, ITA’s founder and now a Google vice president, said at an online travel conference last month.
Moreover, Google said in an email to Mashable that its new tool is only the latest in a series of services making life easier for consumers.
“When people come to Google looking for travel information, our aim is to show them the most relevant results as quickly as possible,” Google spokesman Sean Carlson wrote. “The response to our new flights feature has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are continuing to focus on developing and delivering the best possible experience for our users.”
It is important to note that the DoJ did not require Google to link to the travel sites. However, Google made serious moves to enter into the travel business in the middle of last year, announcing plans to buy travel software company ITA as part of a $700 million deal.