You can book a cheap flight directly through Google without having to set up an account and never have to deal with popups or consent forms.

What? Google won't pop up a form, but the airline site it directs you to in order to purchase your tickets absolutely will. Most sites do. Americans complain about cookie consent forms all the time, this isn't an EU-specific problem, though it does stem from EU and California regulations.

Even when being directed to Delta or Alaska to purchase flights, I usually have the option of an expedited sign in or account creation through Oauth, which is largely what the author was trying to point out.

> What was different this time is that, for the first time in a while, I was traveling as a tourist with my family, and thus visiting things like museums, making restaurant reservations, etc.; what stood out to me was just how much information all of these entities wanted: seemingly every entity required me to make an account, share my mailing address, often my passport information, etc., just to buy a ticket or secure a table. It felt bizarrely old-fashioned, as if services like OpenTable or Resy didn’t exist, or even niceties like “Sign In With Google”; what exactly is a museum or individual restaurant going to do with so much of my personal information — I just want to see a famous painting or grab a meal!