American Airlines pulled its flight listings from Orbitz when the two firms couldn’t agree on a new contract.
(Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images/File 2009)
Airline, Orbitz still discussing listings
American Airlines pulled its flight listings from Orbitz when the two firms couldn’t agree on a new contract.
(Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images/File 2009)
DALLAS — American Airlines is talking to Orbitz and Expedia about resuming the listing of its flights with the online travel agencies.
An American Airlines official said yesterday there are no immediate plans to restore listings on Orbitz. Expedia declined to comment on whether it was discussing displaying American flights again.
American pulled its flight listings from Orbitz when the companies couldn’t agree on a new contract. Expedia made American flights harder for consumers to find, then dropped them over the weekend.
“We still want to keep relationships with all our current travel agencies,’’ said Cory Garner, American’s director of distribution strategy.
Orbitz declined to comment.
American wants to reduce the cost of distributing tickets by requiring online travel agencies to get flight and fare information directly from the airline’s computer system rather than going through intermediaries called global distribution systems.
The GDS charge the airlines a commission of several dollars per ticket sold with the information they provide to travel agencies. American wants to avoid paying those costs.
Last week, American said ticket sales seemed unaffected by the absence of its flights on Orbitz.
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