American Airlines drops out of orbitz
 

I don't often buy tickets on orbitz but I do use it as a tool for comparing fares. Be advised that AA no longer participates. I just logged on to AA's web site and there is a notice at the top that they have removed their fares from orbitz.

Just FYI.

From what I understand, it is AA that gets a favorable ruling today from a judge. AA wants Orbitz or other sites to get their fares from their own system rather than from Sabre or other "global" system, which I presume lower AA's cost.

But of course one wonders if that's going to lower their revenue since a lot of people still book their flights through Oribtz. Will see.

When you buy an AA ticket through Orbitz, Orbitz insists on taking inventory via Sabre or more particularly Travelport. Travelport then charges a fee to AA as a middleman. AA doesn't like paying this.

Travelport happens to own a big piece (almost half) of Orbitz.

dropped out of orbitz all together? huh. wouldn't all the travel websites (expedia, travelocity, etc...) be getting the fares from the gds's as well?

Airlines have traditionally paid online travel sites such as Orbitz a commission when they sell a ticket. American also pays fees to the global distribution companies that provide the flight information. American wants Orbitz to get that flight information directly from the airline, cutting out the global distribution systems.American says that will reduce costs and also allow it to make more personalized offers to customers.Travel industry advocates have said American's move will make it harder to comparison shop.

www.kayak.com/buzz

www.farecomapre.com

2 others I use better than Orbitz for me...

Assumign this ends up impacting Expedia and Travelocity as well - I think this is a real shame. I use Orbitz to comparison shop - just like everyone else. But - the real value of sites like Orbitz is that is allows you to construct trips on a single ticket that one simply can not replicate on the carrier's site. I just purchased a ticket to Italy that has a leg on United and a leg on KLM. I don't believe you can make the connection on the carrier's sites on one single ticket.

Perfectly understandable move on AA's part. If it hurts their business then there may be pressure for them to reverse the decision - free market forces at work.

AA.com is one of the few airline websites that lets you construct itineraries on multiple, non-partner airlines.

I find orbitz handy for rental car comparison, but I too use kayak for airline searches. I've found that no single search gives me all the info I need (haven't tried the ITA) so I end up looking at kayak to find which airlines fly a route then do most of my detailed work on individual airline websites.

According to aa.com Expedia no longer offers AA flights.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/ota.jsp

"Expedia has chosen to no longer feature American Airlines fares on its website. Customers looking to compare flights or fares online should visit other travel sites such as Kayak.com or Priceline.com for the most accurate and up-to-date information, or you can always find our Lowest Fares Guaranteed and No Online Booking Fee at AA.com. "

<i>According to aa.com Expedia no longer offers AA flights.</i>

No, the key word here is "features." That means when you look for fares, Expedia banishes AA's fares to the screen you get when you click the "Show more airlines" link at the bottom right of the airlines table. You can click "show flights" for AA and then proceed to ticketing.

Look for the airlines and online agencies to be arm-wrestling in the new year as more airlines go to new distribution systems. Travelport, the big GDS that will be left behind as AA moves its fares to its own system (and which probably triggered the current situation with Orbitz) is also losing United/Continental, who are developing their own system using H-P technology. AA has also contracted with H-P to design the next generation booking system for its res system. The links (corporate and investor) between the online travel agencies and the old-school GDSs like Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport, are going to be getting a real stress test. Will Expedia and Orbitz continue to banish airlines as they exit the old GDSs? At what point does it start really hurting their own business as consumers continue to go to airline websites directly (e.g. Southwest) once they get the sense that Expedia is editing their choices?

You guys know all the lingo and the background, and I don't. I am one who always starts my search process with itasoftware because I always use the flexible dates and number of days option to find better days to travel. Then, I go to another search engine. Will ITA no longer pick up all of these options now too? Thanks.

ITA will still be able to show fares if the airlines participate in any GDS. I don't foresee AA or any other legacy carrier abandoning all its links with the GDSs any time soon. Probably different financial arrangements will be in the works, though.

And it was announced today that AA will drop Expedia...

Does anybody know what % of AA revenue is booked through OTAs? Or what % of Expedia or Orbitz revenue is on AA?

I'm getting a feeling this isn't the last news we'll hear about this.

Will they still show up in www.kayak.com?

<i>Will they still show up in www.kayak.com?</i>

Yes.

and now Delta is dropping some sites...

I believe it's the trend. Either the sites have to make a new deal with the airlines or it will be like Southworst, only airline home sites for purchasing tickets.

Do you think that having the airlines sell directly from their websites will result in cheaper tickets for us? Or will they just pocket the savings?

NY Times has an article on this online today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/business/05air.html

Not too worried about all this. I avoid flying American Airlines.