[cynwoody]

Travel search is one vertical in which Google has a serious interest. In 2011, they acquired ITA Software,† which developed QPX, a widely used, Lisp-based airfare search and pricing system. They have since rolled out Google Flights, which competes rather directly with Kayak and Expedia.

†http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITA_Software

[mcarvin]

Agreed. I think that is the point the OP is making. As sites like Kayak grow in popularity, the usefulness of a discovery tool (search), diminishes.