Jaunted

Google / Orbitz / Kayak / Hipmunk / Technology / Travel Websites / Travel News / Travel Industry / Airline Industry / → All Tags

Google Unveils Flight Search, Provides Helpful Instructional Video

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.

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Bastille Day / Travel Deals / Paris Travel / Kayak / → All Tags

Jet Off to Paris in Time to Celebrate Bastille Day

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.

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Memorial Day Travel / Culture Travel / Travel Deals / England Travel / London Travel / Greece Travel / Australia Travel / Travelzoo / Kayak / → All Tags

Three Memorial Day Trips for Getting a Dose of Culture

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.

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Airline Fees / Checked Baggage Fees / Kayak / Spirit Airlines / Carry-on Baggage Fees / Airlines / → All Tags

Kayak Works to End the Guessing Game of Hidden Airline Fees

Just a small sample

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).

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iPhone Travel Apps / iPhone / Kayak / Checked Baggage Fees / Baggage Fees / Airlines / → All Tags

Kayak's Handy iPhone App: Now With Checked Baggage Fees

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.

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LOST / Lost-Season-6 / Television Travel / TV Travel / Kayak / Lost Travel / Travel Websites / Hotels / → All Tags

Book A Seat On LOST's Doomed Oceanic Flight 815

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.

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Kayak / iPhone Travel Apps / Travel Websites / Itineraries / → All Tags

Kayak Steps Into TripIt Territory With New Itinerary Feature

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]

Travel Advertising / Kayak / Travelocity / Travel Booking Sites / Travel Ads / Travel Websites / → All Tags

Kayak Launches Massive Old-Fashioned Ad Blitz

You'd think the recession would have catapulted price comparison engine Kayak.com into universal traveler awareness. The company's internal figures, though, tell a different story. Less than 1/3 of the more than 100 million Americans who use travel booking sites know about Kayak. Even less are able to differentiate Kayak from similar-on-first-look but significantly different competitors like Expedia. In a move that's bound to raise eyebrows in the travel industry and among travel advertisers, the company is shifting their resources into a massive offline ad campaign.

The new ad blitz was launched over the weekend and is set to blanket primetime cable through 2010. CNN, ESPN, and MSNBC have all been selected as venues, presumably on numbers promising that most coveted of travel industry demographics: 25-44 year olds with disposable income. Forbes.com has a full writeup on the campaign, including a description of one of the "witty 30 second spots":

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Travel Booking Sites / Kayak / Bing / → All Tags

Did Bing Totally Copy Off Of Kayak's Homework?

Microsoft's new Bing search engine hasn't even been available to the public for a month yet and already it's under fire for potentially copying the site's design from good old Kayak. We have to admit that we thought it looked a little too familiar, and the people at Wired recently tore it apart and aired claims on both sides:

There’s no question Bing feels like Kayak. When Microsoft showed us the search engine under embargo, this reporter’s first comment upon seeing the travel page demo’d was 'This looks like Kayak.'

Kayak noticed too. 'We have contacted them through official channels about concerns about the similarities between Bing and Kayak,' Kayak’s CMO told Wired.com 'From the look and feel of their travel product, they seem to agree with our approach to the market.'

That’s careful language for 'Microsoft copied our stuff wholesale.'

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Active Travel / Maine Travel / Races / Kayak / Canoe / → All Tags

Paddle Yourself Silly This Summer With Canoe And Kayak Championships

We don't know about you, but we've been craving to tackle some whitewater lately and a canoe is as good as anything. In only a couple of weeks, the Whitewater Open Canoe Downriver Championships takes place, and although we're pretty good with paddles, we not quite ready for this level. Nonetheless, things get underway on July 1 and finish up on July 5 in West Forks, Maine on the Lower Dead River. With a name like that, we’ll just be spectators for this one, thank you very much.

For those that prefer a kayak for their water adventures, the Kayak Downriver National Championships will also be heading downriver soon. All races are set along an almost 13-mile course where paddlers will run into about 30 different sets of class II and III rapids. If speed is more your thing, there will be sprint races on July 3. Here, competitors will be trying their best to get through a 1.2-mile course as quickly as possible.

From the details on the races, it sounds like anyone is welcome to register to compete (so long as you can swim), as registration only has to take place one day in advance. However, we’re thinking that this isn’t for those used to a casual paddle around a calm bay or through some wetlands. Officials estimate that the sprint races can be done in only seven minutes, depending on the water level.

Related Stories:
·2009 ACA WWOCD National Championships [Official Site]
·Canoe, Kayak Championships in West Forks, Maine, July 1-5 [MaineBusiness.com]
·Active Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of a different race: penguinchris]

Travel News Briefs / Shamrock Seeds / Dhani Jones / Kayak / iPhone Applications / Air Asia / → All Tags

Luck of the Irish Fails Shamrock Seeds at Dulles Airport

With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.

· Where's Your Lucky Leprechaun When You Need Him?: Just days before St. Paddy's Day, feds targeted an Aer Lingus flight arriving in DC and shook down passengers to find prohibited meat and SHAMROCK SEEDS. Yes, it is illegal to bring shamrock seeds over from Ireland. But those FBI t-shirts (Full Blooded Irish) are totally fine. [MSNBC]

· Move Over, Playboy Bunny: A new TV show premieres on the Travel Channel tonight--"Dhani Tackles the Globe." Tune in at 9pm to watch NFL lineback Dhani Jones explore the world through sports. [Travel Channel]

· Kayak Gets an iPhone App: While we haven't been quite thrilled with the iPhone travel apps put forth so far, Kayak has gotten in on the game with its airfare application. [CNET]

· Someone Else Flew Air Asia X Too: Maxton Walker of the UK's Guardian offers up his take on the flight from London to Kuala Lumpur which our own Julia Buckley also experienced here. [Guardian]

[Photo: Xanovsky]

TravelPost / Kayak / TripAdvisor / Travel News / Travel Websites / → All Tags

Kayak's TravelPost Tries To Win Our Hotel Review Hearts

Not to be outdone by TripAdvisor’s latest offering, Kayak has a little something up its sleeve. After hearing about what the competition has to offer, the travel meta-search king sent out a press release to illustrate what still makes it number one.

CEO Steve Hafner lets us known that he’s flattered that TripAdvisor has mimicked his site’s design, but tells us that Kayak’s caliber of results still sets it apart. Uh-oh, the travel bookings/review site feud is on!

Now, Kayak is creeping in on TripAdvisor's turf by launching their own hotel review website. TravelPost is going to, or at least hope to, take travel reviews to the next level. It promises to search over 200 travel sites to bring you the latest in reviews, information, and rates.

If we were TripAdvisor, we’d be worried. Sure, they have all the review mojo now, but they’ve kind of been resting on their laurels and Kayak is definitely up to the challenge.

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