[trip style = any]
If Google was a pilot, she just got her wings!
Until now, Google's been quietly working as a first officer, but last Tuesday the company who made the term googling a verb, soft-launched Flight Search, a full-featured extension of the quick flight lookup they announced in May.
Playing around with the feature I notice: a} it works very similarly to Kayak's flight search, b} is easy to use and c} is fast as lightning.
This is big news and a potential travel game-changer, but not a surprise. I've been waiting for the annoucement since last July when much to Expedia and other travel goliaths' chagrin, Google purchased ITA Software---the developer of airfare search and pricing software and the back-end behind Kayak, Orbitz and many airlines.
- Find the flights feature on the left-hand sidebar, or by typing in google.com/flights.
- Feeling spontaneous? Like Kayak's Explore feature, type in your home airport in the "from" search bar and you'll see flight prices for destinations all over the USA. If you find a flight you like leaving that day and book it, use the Hotel Tonight App to book a last-minute hotel!
- Locations outside the US are not currently supported, but likely will be in the coming months.
- It is not easy to book a one-way flight.
PS - Even if you can't search flights from other countries in google.com/flights, you can search flight schedules in google.com's search bar by googling "flights from YVR to LAX" {example}.
Video How Google Flight Search works in 1 minute, 56 seconds. Trouble viewing this video?
Related Kayak Explore {Visual Flight Search} Travel Apps :: On The Fly {ITA Software's App} Master Of Flight {Re}Search Google Hotel Finder
[Images of Google Flight Search]