Last May we told you that Google was getting into the travel business, with the Mountain View search giant having just acquired travel software company ITA. ITA provides the algorithms that power sites like Orbitz, Kayak, and CheapTickets - to say nothing of handling schedules for a bunch of airlines - and that's pretty much all it does. So Google's intentions weren't exactly inscrutable, even if the exact details of what they wanted with ITA weren't totally clear.
Then a few months later flight schedules started showing up in Google results. That wasn't particularly exciting in and of itself, but it banished any remaining doubts about whether Google was getting into the flight search game. And so no one was really surprised when, earlier this week, Google finally launched their new Google Flight Search. It's exactly what you think it is, and you can check it out here.]]>
The Fourth of July may be on Sunday, but we're already looking toward another nation's patriotic holiday, Bastille Day, on July 14. It's a big celebration, like the French equivalent of our Independence Day. If you want to party Parisian style for the big day, head to Paris.
The problem is, a last-minute trip to Paris is going to cost you, since it's in the middle of tourist season. But we found a couple of packages that will get you there in time for Bastille Day festivities.]]>
Memorial Day is about three weeks away, which means one thing: vacation time. While lazing on the beach is always tempting, you should probably go some place where you can learn something. We'll help you culture vultures can make the most of your extended weekend.
See our picks for Memorial Day culture getaways after the jump.]]>
If you thought that Spirit Air's new carry-on baggage fee makes airline fees confusing, then you should check out this chart!
The "Airline Fees" chart assembled by Kayak.com might seem like a just a bunch of numbers and airlines, but next time you book a flight and wonder exactly how much you'll be paying in hidden fees, it'll be a lifesaver. The chart is actually the best we've seen of fee charts, and it even allows you to filter the long list by specific airlines. For instance, if you're trying to decide between Southwest and Spirit, filter the list down to the two and you'll see that Spirit wants to charge you for both carry-on and checked baggage and Southwest lets you go free on both accounts (and they'll even throw in a small snack). ]]>
The goal of the ever-changing airline baggage fees is to put one over on the uninformed traveler, who arrives to the airport with two checked bags and is shocked that they charge for this now, but has to pay up anyway. One thing we try to do is get baggage fee information out to you, and help you to be informed travelers who either decide to go all-carryon or come to the airport prepared to sacrifice $30 to get your luggage on the same flight as you. But now thanks to their iPhone app, KAYAK is helping to untangle the web of baggage fees as well.
The travel booking site has a very easy-to-use (and free) iPhone app downloadable from iTunes, that recently underwent a sweet upgrade to include the ability to search hotels by name, send emails with search results, filter airport searches better and see a complete list of airlines and their respective baggage fees. ]]>
Anticipating next week's kickoff of Lost Season 6, the programmers at travel metasearch engine Kayak have buried a Lost-related easter egg deep in their site. If you've ever yearned to crack open the secrets to the Dharma Initiative—or not, as the case may be—you now have a chance to book a seat on Oceanic Flight 815, the route that began the entire mind-bending adventure. Via Mashable, all you have to do is punch in the right settings, hit Kayak's "Search" button, and an option for the self-evidently bad idea appears.
You can't really book the reservation, of course. Trying to lock it in will take you to a Lost Wikipedia entry on the doomed trans-Pacific flight. But it's still a nice little timewaster, especially if you're an obsessed fan. To unlock the easter egg, plug in a request for a SYD-LAX flight like you normally would. It has to be a one-way flight and the day has to be set for September 22, 2010, the series having aired for the first time on September 22, 2004. The price of the ticket is $4839 so you might want to sort by reverse price order after you get the results. If you've done everything right and you look down a couple rows, there it will be.]]>
Have you started using TripIt yet to organize your travel plans into one little online spot? Kayak hopes you haven't because they just went and started doing the same thing as TripIt with the new "Kayak Trips" feature.
No matter which you prefer, both will instruct you to forward your confirmation emails to them, and they will organize the information into an easy-to-reference itinerary page. This goes for car rentals, flights, hotel reservations and (on TripIt), attraction tickets. The only major difference right now is that TripIt already has an iPhone app that allows you to manage your itinerary via mobile, whereas Kayak's iPhone integration of Trips is still in the works. But then Kayak's been too busy dropping millions to get you to pay attention to them in the first place, so we suppose they're hoping to attract all those who both haven't heard of them nor TripIt.
Related Stories:
· Kayak Launches Free Itinerary Management Tool: Kayak Trips [Kayak News]
· Kayak Launches Massive Old-Fashioned Ad Blitz [Jaunted]
· Kayak coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Kayak]]]>