American Airlines announced last week that it would end an agreement with Orbitz Worldwide in displaying American's inventory in search results of the online booking company. Orbitz will not be able to display or sell seats on American Airlines.
This move could be the beginning of a long anticipated move by airlines to redefine the diplays of availability and selling that travel companies have through their Global Distribution Systems (GDS).
American Airlines wants travelers and travel providers to book American's seats through a "Direct Connect" system bypassing the general display of showing all flights. If implemented, this opening salvo will have a profound change on the way air travel is distributed. American wants to have more control over its content and wants to cut their distribution costs even further.
But is this practical?
If all carriers adopt the same strategy, it will eliminate the platform of being able to compare availability and pricing throughout the system, and travelers will not be able to receive efficient information that would allow them to make the best decisions.
American is choosing to pick on Orbitz, one of the smaller online players. But nothing precludes American or other airlines to apply the same strategy towards larger or smaller travel management companies.
Clearly, this step would be a setback for the traveling public if adopted widely.
The cost of airline ticket distribution is at an all time low of less than 2 percent of the fare, among the very lowest in any industry.
www.premieretravel.com
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