Flight meta-search era (2004-2011)
Kayak launched in 2004 as a flight meta-search engine, comparing prices across airlines and travel sites without taking bookings. Google bought airline-software maker ITA Software in 2010 and launched Google Flights in 2011, embedding flight discovery in its search engine.
Meta-search became the top of the travel funnel, with travelers clicking through to airline sites to book.
Discovery and booking split into separate layers, a structure that shaped how travelers start trips for over a decade.
The ChatGPT plugin repeats that split - discovery inside the assistant, the sale on Southwest.com - but the assistant sits earlier in the journey than any search engine.
