Google fanatics, take note.
From September 30, it will no longer be possible to book a plane ticket through the dedicated service of the search engine.
According to the American media specializing in travel Skift, the American company will end this feature from this date everywhere except in the United States.
Then the service will definitely stop across the Atlantic on March 31, 2023. Please note: this stop only concerns the booking tool (
Book on Google
in English), not the Google Flights comparison.
The latter will still be in function after the deadline.
This search engine has been used since 2011 to compare several flight offers available for booking.
Since 2015 in the United States and since 2019 in Europe, it was even possible to book a flight directly via the platform.
Google did not derive any income from this device, but in return collected a lot of data relating to partner airlines (such as air traffic).
Not popular enough
According to Skift, Book on Google was not generating enough interest among Google Flights users: "
This feature was created to facilitate the purchase of tickets online and to help our partner airlines and travel agencies to increase their reservations.
We finally realized that Internet users preferred to book their flights directly on the sites of our partners
,” the American firm told the media specializing in the travel industry.
The shutdown of this booking tool is a relief for the tourism sector.
Some experts in the field saw the creation of this feature as Google's desire to become a travel agency.
This is the second time in less than a week that Google Flights has made the news.
The platform, which has been offering since the fall of 2021 to calculate the level of greenhouse gas emissions from a flight, changed its calculation methods in July.
Internet users and environmental associations have noted that the carbon footprint of many flights had suddenly been halved.
According to the BBC, Google would now only take into account CO² emissions related to the use of fuel.
This calculation in fact excludes certain polluting parameters, such as the white streaks that a device produces in flight and which contribute to global warming.
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