There's been a bit of buzz going around about the new "partnership" between Expedia and SeatGuru. The agreement will allow Expedia, which is owned by Expedia Inc. which owns TripAdvisor which owns SeatGuru, to integrate SeatGuru's plane-by-plane, seat-by-seat reviews into Expedia's interface. Here's the lo-down:
The partnership, announced today, integrates SeatGuru flyer reviews of airplane seats into the seat maps for most flights sold on Expedia.com. This development marks the first time user-generated airline content is available on an online travel booking site.
First things first. The reviews are not "user-generated reviews from real flyers." They're the same carefully crafted reviews that SeatGuru has always had. This is not "the first time user-generated airline content is available on an online travel booking site." Southwest has had an online community going for a while now. And it's not really an "exclusive partnership" since SeatGuru data will still be available even if you don't use Expedia.]]>