6 Reasons Why Google Is Fine With its Irrelevant Flight Search

Google's Nikesh Arora, chief business officer, recently told analysts the company is happy with its Google Flight Search product and ITA Software, acquired for $700 million in 2011. There probably isn't a hotter segment of the travel business these days than metasearch, or price comparison, with Kayak, Skyscanner, Trivago, and TripAdvisor all involved in high-profile mergers, funding transactions, or product launches this year. But by all accounts, the flight comparison product Google Flight Search has hardly made a dent in the market since its much-feared debut more than two years ago. Companies such as Priceline and Expedia have repeatedly said they haven't felt an impact from Google Flight Search. Henry Harteveldt, Hudson Crossing's travel industry analyst, recalls a recent conversation with an airline executive who, referring to Google's flight metasearch product, said that sometimes the airline forgets that it even exists. There are lots of theories about why Google