Google Removes ads and Sponsored Listings From Flight Searches

Google has announced that this month it will “no longer add fees for referral links, on Google Flights” This has seen the removal of ads and sponsored listings from Google Flights, this also includes the Google Flights element in the Google search results.

Google has said that flight search results will still be ranked in the same fields, price, and convenience.

The ads and sponsored listing were required as Google took bookings referral fees from some of the airlines it partnered with. If this was not transparent the FTC would have classed this as out of disclosure guidelines.

Around 10 years ago Google purchased reservations platform ITA software, at a sum of an estimated $700 million. When this acquisition took place, Google said it wanted to use the software to create an overall better travel experience.

Now, after a lot of testing and product variations, Google is now delivering that promise. We can now enjoy richer hotel and flight results on the search engine.