FairSearch member Foundem scrapped its flight, hotel and car rental services last March in a scrape with Google over its Panda penalties. The FTC isn't spanking Google, but Foundem seeks compensation for Google's alleged "anti-competitive" behavior.
It is one of the most fascinating battles in tech right now, with huge amount of money involved, and one that will also define the future of how we travel.
Travelers overwhelmingly search international destinations that fall close to home with the exception of classic tourist destinations like London, Paris, Rome, and Manhattan.
It will be interesting to see how the relatively downbeat price that Google paid for Frommer's will impact BBC Worldwide's efforts to find a buyer or partner for Lonely Planet.
Several startups are leveraging tech to connect strangers with a common goal in another case in which technology (like Google Street View) is replacing the need to actually board a plane.
Whether Google has violated antitrust laws may be up to the courts to decide, but it is clear that cluttering flight and hotel search results screens with results predominantly from its own products harms consumers.
Kayak for Priceline in some ways is like TripAdvisor for Expedia, although Priceline is eager to acquire Kayak, and has no intent on buying it in order to spin it out, as Expedia did with TripAdvisor.
Getting the technology right is just part of the challenge for Google Flight Search. Working on those airline partnerships around the world takes time.