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Technology Stocks : Google - Moderated - Information and discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (88)	8/31/2006 11:47:19 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 348

British Airways Flies With Google Earth Parmy Olson, 08.31.06, 1:13 PM ET Google Earth might be more than a handy application for geography teachers or someone who wants to inspect his roof. On Thursday, British Airways (nyse: BAB - news - people ) became the first airline to pin the technology to its Web site, allowing visitors to not only book their flights, but find nearby hotels and car rentals on a 3D map. Once users have zoomed in on their chosen locale, the Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) service provides a link through which they can make a booking back on the British Airways site. "People have always enjoyed finding their own home on Google Earth and now they can see where they'll be laying down their beach towel or enjoying après ski before they fly," said Obi Felton, Google's head of consumer marketing. David Soskin, chief executive of the airfare comparison site Cheapflights.com, said BA was making its Web site more functional in order to lure its customers online. "Margins in flights sales are not enormous," he said. "So in order to keep profits up it's very lucrative to go into higher margin areas, like car hire and accommodation." The airline's strategy of cross-selling such related services via its Web site is one that travel agents have already enacted. forbes.com