Airfare website disputes spread

By Charisse Jones
January 3, 2010

Expedia, the world's largest online travel company, will no longer list American Airlines flights on its website, lobbing the latest volley in a battle between the airline and some Web-based travel companies that could have a ripple effect on consumers.

Expedia stopped listing American's flights as of Jan. 1, after the two sides failed to resolve a dispute about a booking system that American prefers and that provides more information about services it offers for a fee, such as priority boarding.

American's fares are no longer available on Expedia-owned sites including Hotwire and TripAdvisor, but American flights remain on Expedia's corporate travel site, Egencia.

Expedia became the second major site in recent days to stop listing American flights. Delta stripped its fares from three smaller travel sites last month in an attempt to steer consumers to its own website and build brand loyalty.

The moves are prompting concern among some travel industry analysts that consumers will lose out as online booking options shrink and it becomes harder to compare fares between airlines.

"I think this is the beginning of a war," says Henry Harteveldt, a Forrester Research airline analyst. "My concern is, the customer is going to suffer."

Expedia said American's preferred booking system "is of questionable, if any, benefit to travelers, would be costly to build and maintain, and would compromise travel agents' ability to provide travelers with the best selection."

As of Dec. 21, American stripped its flights from travel site Orbitz because it also would not switch to the newer system. Two days later, Expedia began to make it more difficult for customers to get information about American's flights, listing its trips below other carriers' and requiring travelers to click on a link to see actual fares.

But American says fliers can find its fares on a variety of websites, including the airline's. "The type of fares that are sold by Orbitz and Expedia are fares we don't have a lot of difficulty selling," said Cory Garner, American's director of distribution strategy.

Disputes about the distribution of airline information are likely to continue as airlines and online travel firms renegotiate deals, says Harteveldt.

Still, some consumer experts say that if such battles result in more fliers having to go to an airline's site for information, carriers might be forced to improve service to woo online browsers their way.

"The decision ... for consumers will be, 'What airline's website should I go to?' and that's a question of loyalty," says Darron Billeter, an assistant marketing professor at Brigham Young University. "It will hopefully provide incentive for airlines to invest more in customer service and make it a more pleasurable experience."

In the meantime, Harteveldt says, American may have reason to worry. "This is not a move that helps American Airlines at this time," he says. "Because the travel agency sites are used so extensively ... (American) risks being overlooked by consumers who still have the option of hundreds of other carriers that travel agents sell."

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