Comments

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  Charlie Leocha January 6, 2011 at 4:18pm

  Here is the next story about the epic battle - http://snipr.com/1s9pcm

  It will eventually affect everyone. Even FFs don't ourchase blindly. If AA's prices are higher than others they will book away from AA. Business travelers are the big kahuna here. Corporations want to work with a system that gives them interconnectivity across the travel spectrum.

  Honestly, I don't know what AA was thinking. They are getting slammed IMHO,
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  Anil January 6, 2011 at 4:04pm

  @Charlie: Some questions linger - Does AA want IT & TAs not using their system to pay more in transaction fees ? Sabre's de-preferencing means that in the past, Sabre would display AA fares first, and no it no longer does ? Certainly AA must have done extensive market research as well as some simulations before moving ahead.
  
  Elite flyers will still stick to their alliance/group, so it is a matter of luxury and budget travelers, is it not ?
  
  I agree with your article that hidden pricing and opaque fees are a major irritation, and need to be spelt upfront. I also want to do away with hidden-city pair business.
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  Charlie Leocha January 6, 2011 at 5:21am

   Here is my latest post on this issue from ConsumerTraveler.com - - http://snipr.com/1s5bzd.

  Basically AA wants to save money by moving transactions between passengers directly with the airline rather than through intermediaries. Unfortunately, the current system that AA wants to use does not allow for across airlines comparisons of prices, interlining (selling tickets between airlines), transparency of fees, building packages, and other deficiencies. The online travel agents and the IT companies that currently power almost every travel agent transaction are not amused and are against the whole idea. These companies lose business to AA and consumers lose transparency and the ability to compare pricing and businesses lose much of their flexibility. There is more, but that is it in a nutshell.

   

  Today Sabre decided to de-preference AA tickets and that will be a major blow to AA representing a loss of something like $5 billion in revenues, I estimate. We'll see how long they keep fighting.
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  Anil January 4, 2011 at 2:22am

  Could someone who has a better (travel industry) perspective on what this AA Vs GDS/orbitz & now Expedia  snafua laa about, give an ovrview of the issues involved ?
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  David Paul Appell January 3, 2011 at 6:53pm

  With American Airlines pulling its fares from Orbitz and pushing its own booking database for OTAs; Delta withdrawing from BookIt.com, OneTravel.com, and CheapOAir.com; and Expedia downgrading and now dropping AA fares altogether -- all amid conflicting claims and accusations -- it looks like 2011 will bring some rougher sledding between some airlines and the OTAs.  Is this good or bad for consumers?
  
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  Anil December 28, 2010 at 11:40pm

  Charlie: I do want to know how, a current back-engine database company hampers consumer/traveler ?  My classic problem-set question is how come no engine, gives me the answer for this:

  "I have 1000USD, and I want to travel from NYC{EWR,JFK,LGA} to any caribbean island for a week starting Feb XXXXX "

   

  Currently no portal (for lack of a better word) does that. I will get periodic targeted emails from say CheapCaribbean.com or Airfarewatchdog etc - It is no cigar !!

   

  I hope google/itasoftware solves this problem-set for me. 

   

   ITA Software never sold any product or services to the consumer.  matrix.itasoftware.com  gave consumer /traveller the various options between a pair of routes. Then one had to go hunt for a travel agent or to the airline to get it ticketed on the farebasis. If the google/ITA combination reduces or simplifies it further is better for a onsumer no ? You have to be a Frequent flyer now, to use ITA + expertflyer + seatguru to get what you want. 

  What do you think ?

   

   
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  Charlie Leocha December 28, 2010 at 5:54pm

  @ Anil I see you say consumers benefit. How?
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  Anil December 28, 2010 at 5:25pm

  Way back in July in this Group I speculated that currently the travel search is very route pair sensitive. Or fare sensitive. If you recall the  Congressional/Senate hearings few years back about orbitz when the airlines joined together to put orbitz together based on ITA software, the players - Travelocity and Expedia protested. Its the same repeat. 

   

  The difference is that ITA is the google of Travel search, and Orbitz was the commercial venture of US airlines using ITA's backend engine.

  Bottom Line: Consumers do benefit.
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  Charlie Leocha December 28, 2010 at 2:45am

  @NortheastNews You are exactly right. I have a chance to meet with DOJ last week and have also met with Google and DOT. This is a reality. We will see what pans out.

  I fear that Google may take DOT to court ... that will be interesting. This is better than a contact sportl
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  Northeast News December 27, 2010 at 10:51pm

  Charlie, you sure got my attention with this sentence: With an approval of the Google purchase of ITA Software, the Internet world may get its first peak behind Google’s search processing curtain.  This possibility -- that the combined authority of the departments of Transportation and Justice might compel Google to either reveal its algorhythm or drop it when it comes to booking flights -- is tantalizing. Is it possible that this threat would convince Google that the disadvantages of acquiring ITA outweigh the advantages?