Google going to new heights with its newest acquisition

I had always found it a little ironic that I could search Google for just about anything I could possibly imagine… except for airline tickets. 

Searchengineland.com

According to a July first 2010 press release made by ITA, those who were unhappy with this situation will be given reason to rejoice: Google, which had been looking to acquire ITA software for a while, was given a green light to purchase the software company. The only thing that stood in the way was the US Department of Justice.

Even if this software doesn’t sound familiar, chances are high that if you’ve ever booked your own flight, you have worked through the ITA system. This software is what runs the big online booking agencies like Kayak, Bing and Oribitz. ITA is also what airlines such as Continental, Southwest, and American Airlines use to book flights. 

Jia Lynn Yang announced in the Washington Post on April 8^th, after quite a few months and a few added constraints to the agreement, the DOJ as agreed to let Google make the $700 million purchase of the software! 

The Associated Press outlined a few of the newly added features to the purchase in this video:

What does this mean for you? All-in-all, not too much actually. 

Travelers just have one more place that they can look for their flights, and the regulations ensure that they will still be able to get competitive prices.

Google’s Senior Vice President of Commerce & Local Jeff Huber made it clear, both in Google’s official blog and in corporate negotiations, that the transition would be smooth and shouldn’t have a great negative effect on any of the parties involved:

It’s important to us that ITA continue with business as usual, providing great service to its business partners. We indicated last July that we would honor ITA’s existing contracts. Today we’ve formally committed to let ITA’s customers extend their contracts into 2016. We've also agreed to let both current and new customers license ITA’s QPX software on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms” into 2016

thenextweb.com

Being fair seems to be what much of the negotiations consisted of. David Grossman stressed in his March 1 article for USA Today the risks that would be run through the merger if it were to be handled as a Google takeover. If Google gave only its own fares preferential treatment over those of other ITA companies, all competition would be lost in creating affordable travel. This would hurt other companies and travelers.

Thankfully, this is not the case. Fair Search applauded the DOJ’s restraints by releasing a statement April 8 saying, “Today’s decision by the Justice Department to challenge Google’s acquisition of ITA Software is a clear win for consumers.”

There you go, travelers and Google lovers alike: a potentially perfect fusion between the world’s most popular search engine and the world’s premier ticket finder.

Should we celebrate with tickets to somewhere wonderful (bought through Google of course!)?