Fact-Checking Google: ITA Powers Most of the Web's Most Popular Travel Sites

Google concedes that “ITA’s QPX tool powers many websites” and acknowledges that it is important for Google to honor all of ITA’s existing agreements. Nevertheless, Google claims that there are alternatives to ITA’s online flight search services.

But the truth?

Google’s claims about the ITA alternatives are “extremely misleading” because three of the companies cited as ITA competitors, including Expedia, don’t currently have an airfare shopping and pricing product available on the market.  ITA controls 65% of the online airline search market, and an estimated 80% of metasearch queries flow through ITA’s software.

Online travel and metaseach sites have spent years building their proprietary software around the ITA platform, and as a result, ITA’s longevity and dominance have given it unique knowledge of this very specialized search vertical.

Don’t take our word for it – just take a quick look at ITA’s customer list.  American Airlines, Bing, Continental, Hotwire, KAYAK, Orbitz, Southwest, TripAdvisor, United, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic (among many others)…

Looks like “most of the web’s most popular travel sites” to us.