Judge Rules Against Temporary Restraining Order To Prevent The
Move
American Airlines has pulled its fares off the Orbitz website,
effective immediately. The move comes following a dispute over how
the airline sells fares and other services through the site. A Cook
County, IL judge ruled that American could sever its
relationship with Orbitz Tuesday.
In a news release, American said it will discontinue displaying
and selling fares through Orbitz and its subsidiary Orbitz for
Business. Tickets for travel already purchased through Orbitz
remain valid but changes must be made through American Airlines
reservations.
Tickets for travel on American Airlines and American Eagle
– including all international and domestic classes of service
– are widely available through a number of outlets, including
American's own website, AA.com, which features our Lowest Fare
Guarantee. Tickets, fares and schedules are also available through
American's reservations agents, thousands of travel agencies in
locations worldwide, other online travel agencies such as
Priceline.com, and metasearch engines such as Kayak.com.
"American Airlines regrets any inconvenience this may cause our
customers. While we could not reach an agreement with Orbitz, we
are committed to letting customers know of the multitude of options
they have to purchase travel on American Airlines," said Derek
DeCross, Vice President - Sales. "In today's competitive
marketplace, it is important for American to be free to customize
its product offerings to improve the customer experience as well as
distribute its products in a way that does not result in
unnecessary costs."
American also continues to provide its fare content to travel
agency partners, both through global distribution systems and
through American's own direct connection technology that is powered
by Farelogix. There is no charge to agencies for using American's
direct connection, which allows travel agencies to offer their
customers more complete and tailored travel choices, including
fares and optional services.
The Chicago Tribune reports that American's dispute with online
fare sites extends beyond Orbitz. The airline has established a
system it calls "Direct Connect", which would reduce distribution
costs to the airline, but also reduce the role played by fare
comparison sites like Orbitz and others. American says allowing the
airline to directly communicate with its customers gives them the
ability to tailor fares and perks based on the customers' needs.
Consumer advocates say that bypassing the services for transactions
would limit the fare comparison sites ability to display the best
fares available.
Other airlines are reportely watching the situation very
closely. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Wednesday that
Delta had severed its relationship with three small fare comparison
sites ... CheapOAir.com, OneTravel.com and BookIt.com ... as of
December 17th. Delta is honoring tickets purchased through those
sites, but no longer makes flight information available to them.
Delta said it was trying to increase bookings directly through
Delta.com.
One consumer group was quick to blast American's move. In a news
release, Charlie Leocha, director of an organization called the
Consumer Travel Alliance, said "At its core, this dispute has
nothing to do with business agreements, legal arguments, or
distribution technologies. This is simply a heavy-handed attempt by
American Airlines to prevent consumers from easily searching and
comparing its fares against those of other airlines. In short, the
only 'direct connect' American really seems to want is a 'direct
connect' to consumers' wallets.