In a first for air travellers, British Airways and Google have teamed up to make travel preparation even easier by launching a new interactive service through the airline's website, ba.com.

To celebrate its 'World Offers' fare sale, with more than 3 million seats available, which launched on August 31, the airline will feature Google Earth satellite technology on ba.com, allowing travellers to zoom in on their destination of choice as they take advantage of the excellent discounts available on flights and hotels.

British Airways has created special 'layers' of information for Google Earth to enable visitors to ba.com to see popular tourist hotspots and their proximity to their chosen hotel - the ultimate planning tool for holidaymakers, so they can organise their itinerary before they arrive.

Jayne O'Brien, head of brands and marketing communications at British Airways, said: "Not only is this a great sale with discounts to more than 110 destinations but it also has the added customer benefit of allowing them to familiarise themselves with the local area, hotels and amenities through Google Earth. Be it families checking how near their Florida hotel is to Disney World, their Caribbean resort is to the beach or avid skiers comparing the topography of different pistes - there's something for everyone."

Obi Felton, Head of Consumer Marketing at Google, said: "We hope holiday-makers have fun with this specially created tool. 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."

The Google Earth layer is a further extension to ba.com's host of holiday planning tools such as the travel checklist and online check-in, all aimed at enabling travellers to prepare for their trip in advance and arrive at the airport relaxed and ready to fly.

British Airways's website is at www.ba.com.

Google Earth and the British Airways Layers can be downloaded here.

Google Earth's website is at: http://earth.google.com.