Google launches Flight Search service, Kayak shrugs it off (video)

Google’s DOJ-approved acquisition of ITA has finally borne fruit, within the sort of Flight Search — a brand new tool that aims to streamline the chaos this is online travel booking. The Mountain View contingent unveiled the interface yesterday, with an “early look” at what seems to be a reasonably straightforward service. When you enter your place to begin, destination, budget and duration, a listing of results will appear in ascending order of fare and duration, below a map displaying each flight’s trajectory. From there, you could filter your results by airline, collection of layovers or specific departure times, before booking your itinerary at the carrier’s site (Google was careful to show that flight selection and results isn’t “influenced by any paid relationships”). Presently, the service is limited to a select group folks cities and only features round-trip economy class flights, but Google says future updates and expansions are at the way. We’re wanting to see how the corporate dresses up this relatively bare bones platform and, perhaps more importantly, how competing travel sites react to it. Kayak , for one, responded with confident nonchalance to Flight Search, explicitly describing it as an inferior product. “We’re confident in our ability to compete, and we believe our flight search technology is superior,” the corporate said, in an announcement. “We recognize Google is a powerful competitor but they haven’t been successful in every vertical they’ve entered.” Let the games begin. Demo video after the break.