Google Flight Search: The New Normal?

We have all looked online to compare flight prices using websites such as: Expedia.com, skyscanner.co.uk, and swoodoo.com.  Since last year, the European population has been given access to Google’s new pet project, Google Flight Search.  Initially available in the USA since 2011, it was only in March of 2013 that Google brought this flight comparing software to Europe.  Basically, it works very similarly to the existing websites in that a user can input their city of departure and their destination, and the software will come back with the ‘best’ flights available for the selected dates.  As it is quite a recent project, a lot of the functionalities are very limited relative to the other websites available, but these limitations can also be seen as a simplification of the process to make it more user friendly for all customers.

Yesterday the low-cost carrier Ryanair have confirmed a partnership with Google to allow the latter to post results relating to Ryanair’s flights on Google Flight Search, as revealed by Travolution.com.  As of today, some low-cost carriers are still not part of the Google Flight Search’s results, such as Easyjet.  This partnership between Ryanair and Google will enable the former to help increase their visibility on the web, as well as giving Google more credibility as a flight search engine provider.  As Google Flight Search is still on its training wheels, we believe it should improve its networks within the airline community, in addition to expanding its services worldwide.

Nowadays, Google has become one of the main search engines used, to such an extent that it has become a verb to replace the word search (when talking about an internet search): ‘Google it’.  As mentioned on Statisticbrain.com, in 2013 the average daily number of Google searches amounted to 5,922,000,000.  These numbers also seem to be steadily rising each year.  Additionally, Google has managed to diversify into many different fields such as Android smartphones, Gmail, Google+, YouTube, and Google Glass.  Therefore it appears logical to us that Google would aim to reach the flight searching market.  Should they follow in their previous footsteps for their other endeavours, soon it will be normal for people to say ‘Google Flight it!’

Recently, it has been revealed by Businessweek.com that Expedia has suffered a drop in their visibility on Google.  It is speculated that Google are penalising Expedia for adding tags and links to various blogs and websites to increase their search engine ranking.  Indeed, when tags such as ‘low cost flights’ or ‘budget airlines’ are added to more and more web pages, these will make websites such as Expedia which are linked to such tags more popular.  It is also possible however, that Google is grasping at straws to put their competition at a disadvantage so that they can increase the visibility of their own Google Flight Search.

Although it appears that for the time being Google Flight Search is still far from being the foremost flight comparing software available, especially given the limited number of airlines that it includes in its results, it is well on its way to establishing a foothold in this industry by partnering with Ryanair.  In the past, Google have shown to be quite aggressive in their development strategies (think Android vs. iOS), and so we believe that with some improvements with the current version of Google Flight Search, they will be able to obtain a comfortable market share. 

Sources: 
http://www.travolution.com/articles/2014/01/22/7479/ryanair-partners-with-google-flight-search.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-23/expedia-books-a-painful-trip-down-googles-search-results

http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/

Pictures courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

New "cuddle class" for Air New Zealand

When booking a flight from point A to point B, the customer has the option to book either economy or business class. Economy is cheaper and offers little space to make oneself comfortable, while business is most of the time unreachable for the average traveler, due to its price, but offers a bit more legroom and higher service quality. But the question remains; what will the average traveler do to be able to have a bit more comfort for a reasonable cost now a days? The answer to this question is provided by Air New Zealand. Beginning with the 2^nd of April the current year, the airline will introduce the so-called “cuddle class”.

The “cuddle class” is meant for couples or for kids that are boarding a long haul flight. With the touch of a button, the footrest will come out of the three seats, the armrest will disappear between the seats, converting the space to a bed similar seating area where one can get some rest during the flight. These seats are only available for a couple, not allowing two strangers to share this “coach”.

Price wise, Air New Zealand, will try to keep it as flexible as possible, meaning that for the purchase of the three seat row, the couple will pay the economy price for the two seats, plus 50% of the economy price for the third one.

It seems very convenient to be able to buy three seats with your partner and have a make shift bed, but this innovation raises a few questions and problems.

1. How many can get this seating area? For the moment it is mentioned that only the Boeing 777-300 aircraft will be converted to have the seating area, yet it fails to mention how many will be installed and available. In long haul flights, most of the passengers travel with their families, meaning the couple plus children. Although the upgrade is done online, how will the airline guarantee that all the travelers have access to this type of seating?

2. Will this modification prompt airlines to purchase new aircrafts that can sustain this type of seating? As mentioned before the demand for the “cuddle coach” might not be sufficient for the supply that the airline has. It is only safe to assume, that the airline might be forced to order specific build aircrafts.

3. What are the economic impacts on the airline? With only a few rows of this new seating, the airline might be forced to take out standard economy seats to make way for the “cuddle coach”. This in a way might impact the traveler since the number of sold seats is diminished, potentially leading to a fail in the selling of the seats.

4. What is the impact on the business class? With this new type of seating, business travelers that travel in two’s might see it as more affordable to buy three seats in economy instead of two seats in business. This might lead to lower number of seats sold and it also forces the airline to come up with alternatives to attract the business traveler once again.

As a conclusion, it can be said that the “cuddle class” is an interesting alternative with the potential to become indispensable and lead to new developments in the airline industry.