In what could be a thawing in a cold war over how airline tickets are sold, Expedia Inc. settled its dispute with American Airlines Inc. Monday and put the Fort Worth-based carrier’s fares and schedules back on its online travel site.
Expedia had pulled American’s inventory from its Expedia.com travel portal Jan. 1 after American yanked its fares from Expedia rival Orbitz.com. At issue was how the travel sites obtained American’s fare information.
The new agreement, its terms undisclosed, restores American’s flights to Expedia immediately. What isn’t as clear is whether Expedia is agreeing to American’s position to work directly with its ticketing systems through American’s Direct Connect product.
In a joint statement, the two said Expedia will use Direct Connect, but by using technology provided by a traditional global distribution system, or GDS.
“Expedia said it plans to access American’s fares, schedules, and customized travel products and services via American’s Direct Connect link by using aggregation technology provided by a GDS,” the joint statement said.
The companies did not identify which global distribution system Expedia is working with to tap into American’s network. An American spokesman couldn’t comment beyond the statement Monday.
Expedia will use GDS technology to put American’s inventory back online; the parties will then develop a technology that is closer to American’s Direct Connect.
American wants a more direct relationship with its ticket sellers — outside the global distribution systems — to lower overall costs and improve its ability to sell to its best customers.
Carriers like American are making substantial profit from fees and additional services beyond just flying, and having more control over passenger information could let them sell more ancillary services to customers.
That approach has put American at odds with Southlake-based Sabre Group, which owns the largest global distribution system and was founded by American.
Sabre had threatened to pull all American inventory as well as change how American’s flights appeared on travel agent computers to make them harder to book. However, American won a restraining order against Sabre, and the two sides tabled their dispute until June 1 in hopes of reaching an agreement on how they sell airline tickets.
Sabre spokeswoman Nancy St. Pierre said the company remains in talks with American to resolve the dispute.
Shares of American parent AMR Corp. were down 12 cents to $6.27 in trading Monday, though up slightly in after-hours trading. Shares of Expedia, based in Bellevue, Wash., were up more than $1.25 in after-hours trading after closing up 17 cents to $22.43 in regular trading. The agreement was announced after markets closed.
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