Google Wants To Book Your Flights

Currently only Cape Air, operating out of New England, uses the Google-owned ITA Software platform to sell tickets.

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ow that Google has tried its hand at social networking, cloud-based music hosting, and interactive TV platforming, it’s hardly surprising that they’re now looking to get into the airline ticketing business.

But unlike some of their previous brand expansion attempts (been on your G+ account lately?), this one seems to have some potential, although given Google’s track record, there’s no point in prognosticating. But given that one might already be on Google searching for travel information, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine booking your entire trip through the search engine.

Google has begun to roll out their new venture by starting small. Currently only Cape Air, operating out of New England, uses the Google-owned ITA Software platform to sell tickets.

Google acquired ITA Software in 2010 for $700 million.

Working with ITA, Google developed flight searches for desktop and mobile, and as of now you can plan your flights using Google, but you can’t buy the tickets through Google.

This is why Google now asks people creating Gmail accounts to provide their credit card information (this is not mandatory). It’s the first step toward being able to make purchases, presumably beyond airline tickets, without leaving Google.