Google Flights is an online flight booking service which facilitates the purchase of airline tickets through third party suppliers.

History

In April 2011 the Federal government of the United States

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 approved Google's $700 million purchase of ITA Software

ITA Software

ITA Software is a travel industry software company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by computer scientists from the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 1996. On July 1, 2010 ITA agreed to be acquired by Google. On April 8th, 2011 the US Department of Justice approved the...

. On September 13 2011 Google launched Google Flights, which used algorithms gained from this purchase.

Features

An innovation of Google Flights is that it allows open-ended searches based on criteria other than destination; for example, a user may search for flights within a range of times and a budget and be offered various destination choices.

Response

The service was immediately compared to competitors such as Expedia

Expedia

Expedia is an Internet-based travel website based in the US with localised sites for 21 countries...

, Orbitz

Orbitz

Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. is an Internet travel company headquartered in the Citigroup Center in Near West Side, Chicago, Illinois. Through its primary web site Orbitz.com, Orbitz Worldwide enables travelers to research, plan and book a broad range of travel products, facilitating 1.5 million flight...

, Kayak.com

Kayak.com

KAYAK is a technology company providing online travel tools through its global family of websites and mobile applications. Started by cofounders of Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity, KAYAK allows users to compare information from hundreds of other travel websites in one display when booking travel...

, and Bing

Bing

Bing is a web search engine from Microsoft.Bing may also refer to:* An onomatopœia of a bell sound* Bing cherry, a variety of cherry* Bing , Chinese flatbread* Bing , a German company that manufactured toys and kitchen utensils...

. Competitor Kayak.com issued a statement that their service was superior to Google's and that they would be competitive.

There was no immediate change in the price of stocks for Priceline

Priceline

Priceline may refer to:*Priceline.com, a commercial website which helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related items such as airline tickets and hotel stays*Priceline , a chain of health and beauty retail stores in Australia...

, Expedia, or Travelzoo

Travelzoo

Travelzoo is a global Internet media company. With 23 million subscribers in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific and 23 offices worldwide, Travelzoo publishes deals from more than 2,000 travel, entertainment and local companies...

 in response to the opening of Google Flights.

Shortly after the site launched counsel for Expedia testified to the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee

United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:...

that Google failed to keep a promise to rank Google Flight listings below the listings of competitors in a Google search.