As Google continues to slog it out with the Justice Department over its pending acquisition of travel search company ITA Software, Microsoft continues to improve Bing’s travel functionality. In doing so, Microsoft is sending a not-so-subtle message to Google: We’re winning the travel search battle.
Microsoft and Kayak, among many other travel-related Internet companies, are members of FairSearch.org, a coalition that opposes Google’s planned acquisition of ITA Software and asks the U.S. government to block it on the grounds that it will hurt competition and drive up prices. Microsoft makes this alliance very clear-it appears at the bottom of its travel blog post, in bold.
There’s no word on when or if Google will wrap its hands around ITA Software, so the battle to gain prominence in online travel searches is nowhere near complete. However, based on Bing’s progress, Microsoft has a head start.