On Sept. 13, Google released the new Google Flight Search feature, but how does it stack up to competitors?
Google has slowly entered the travel market with a similar hotel search and the acquisition of Zagat, a popular restaurant guide. However, when Google bought ITA Software, specialists in organizing flight data, it was rumored that something big was in store.
Bing Travel is the closest competitor to Google. It too is a search engine gone travel. Bing is a fairly new company created by Microsoft to take over MSN Search and Live Search. Bing Travel rose to prominence in the travel industry after buying FareCast, a previously popular travel site that predicted the best time to buy a flight.
The two competitors in the travel search showdown will be competing in five categories to determine the best flight search Web site. Let the games begin!
Design
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Known for its simplicity, Google takes the win in the design category. It's refreshing to view a screen without advertisements, and users can search by either clicking destinations on a map of the U.S. or manually entering destinations. Search results appear in a simple linear fashion.
Speed
Google search results are many times faster than those of Bing. Google's "super-fast" technology loads search results instantaneously whereas Bing results could take up to a minute.
Destinations
There's no competition in the destinations category. Bing has the search ability for both international and less-popular U.S. airports, unlike Google.
"We're working hard to improve this feature and look forward to sharing more updates," Google said on its official blog.
Price
Both sites have similarly priced flights. However, Bing is able to search more airlines and outside travel Web sites. On Bing, a customer can mix and match flight companies because customers can buy their flights through other travel search companies such as Vayama or CheapOair. Boxes can also be checked that will upload a comparison site such as Expedia or Priceline.
