American Fires Back First Salvo Against Impending Virgin America DFW Invasion

American Airlines announced a new program squarely aimed at Virgin America's impending launch of flights from SFO and LAX to DFW.

The usual bag of tricks includes double AAdvantage miles and double elite qualifying miles. Somewhat unusual is the relatively long earning period - from tomorrow all the way until the end of February.

Slightly more original is the "15 Days of Giveaways" in which American is offering prizes on "mystery flights" between DFW and SFO/LAX free stuff such as 5K AAdvantage miles, Admirals Club Passes and AA Vacations discounts and AAvis car rental coupons.

A more original giveaway by American would have been a week on Necker Island...

Of course, Virgin still offers WiFi on every flight (free right now thanks to Google) and brand spanking new planes - two things, alas, AA can't come close to offering.

That said, penetrating a fortress hub like DFW is difficult for any upstart carrier, Richard Branson or not. American has already announced increased frequency on the LAX-DFW route and these programs will help ensure that AAdvanatge loyalists stay with Something Special in the Air.

Dueling Delta and Airtran BOTH Announce Free Holiday WiFi with Google/GoGo

Have to laugh at this one. Delta and AirTran, arch enemies extraordinaire have apparently both been played by Google for the holidays.

In press releases issued minutes apart, both senior marketing types at Delta and AirTran announced free GoGo wifi for the holiday season courtesy of Google Chrome. A great boon for travelers but how ironic Google managed to get both AirTran and Delta signed up for the same deal.

Delta opines about their 540 aircraft that have GoGo installed (including a DC-9 I was recently on!) while AirTran states they are the only major airline with 100% GoGo on their entire fleet.

The promotion dates are even the same - November 20th through January 2nd.

Lets hope we can use Firefox and still get it free.

Google: Organize the World's Information; TripIt: Google 's App Pick For Travel Organization

Today, at Google's Campfire One "mega-do" TripIt's new Groups App was the only travel app included in the new Google Apps Marketplace.

TripIt Groups brings transparency to business travel allowing registered users (who choose to share their plans) to collaborate on their travel plans. The product provides business travelers within a company, division etc an easy way to see when, where and how fellow employees are traveling.

In keeping with Google's mission to organize the world's information, TripIt is Google's choice for organizing travel.

Orbitz Adds "Street View" Google Content to Hotel Product

This morning, Orbitz launched new mapping functionality which leverages the highly acclaimed Google "Street View" product to give consumers a peek at the hotel before they buy. This is a great way for consumers to take a look (from an un-biased source like Google) at what the hotel actually looks like - curb appeal anyone? Finally, you'll be able to tell if a Starbucks really is "next door" or down the street a bit.

This is an interesting application of the Street View and much more interesting than the typical, basic mash-up of Google maps that several supplier.com sites (Hyatt and Starwood, for example - although Starwood has since removed it) have added lately.

Take a look at the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square:

Google isnt perfect, however - witness the view for the Waldorf=Astoria:

Talk about porte cochere! We may have just picked a bad example - many others worked just fine.

You'll have to look hard to find Street View - it is hidden in tiny letters on the upper right of the "map" tab. Once you find it, it is pretty cool.

Another holiday, another rumor that Google is interested in buying Expedia

Remember last April Fools Day when shares (and options) of EXPE shot up on rumors that Google was interested in buying Expedia? Well, yesterday was St. Patricks Day and yet again, the rumor mill was active that Google was going to take out Expedia.

Come on folks, this is just silliness.

First of all, while EXPE is clearly firing on all cylinders right now, its hardly the high-growth, new business model type of business that Google typically buys. Expedia is a great company for sure, with a great brand and great leadership but it is a big travel agency at heart - hardly very Google-esq. Of course Google would like to be deeper into travel but this isn't how (if they even decide to) they will do it. Just look at how things worked out for Yahoo! and Farechase as an example - not that we would hold up Yahoo! as an example of how to do much of anything right.

But more importantly, travel is one of Google's largest ad sales verticals. Do you really think they would potentially jeopardize the huge revenue stream from Expedia's current competitors (e.g. Priceline, Travelocity) and the suppliers themselves to own Expedia? Not a chance.

True, Google's Head of Travel, Rob Torres is an Expedia veteran and even still lives in the Seattle area, but we doubt he is looking to return to his old commute to Bellevue.

So, how will TripAdvisor do it? Here's how....

Many in the travel industry are questioning if TripAdvisor's new flight meta search product can change TripAdvisor's position in the "travel funnel." Today, TripAdvisor sits at the top of the hill during the hotel planning process which generally follows air. Google any hotel or city and TripAdvisor is more than likely at the top or near the top of the organic (non-paid) search listings thanks to great content and years of SEO.

But for hotel bookers who have already booked their air, TA is too late. Compete.com did a nice piece today detailing air visits pre- and post-TA visits. According to their numbers, "when TripAdvisor users shop for flights, only 13% will do so on the same day as their TripAdvisor.com usage"











Here is where TripAdvisor's huge advantage in organic SEO comes into play. Try a simple google search such as "Boston to Miami Flights" Guess who is #3 in this search - Yes, TripAdvisor. Not bad to be number three in organic search three days after launch! (Note: I don't search for flights this way but I think my mom does.)

Clearly, these strong organic (and free) search results will give TA a big head start in the meta-wars with Kayak.com and Fly.com