American Airlines is the big loser in its fight against Orbitz, Expedia and Sabre. With American Airlines’ perplexing move to cut fees earned by travel agents and giant ticket distributor, Orbitz, they have forced Expedia and Sabre to either remove or hide search results for flights and other travel services provided by the company. Other channels of distribution such as Kayak and Travelocity may be the next to follow.
Just how does American Airlines think cutting out these so-called “middle men” will increase sales upwards of 60% of their flights and services through them? The rationale behind this ridiculous move is that by cutting out Orbitz, potential customers will have no alternative than to book directly on American Airlines’ reservation system. American is trying to remove transparency to customers that want to compare flight prices before they make reservations but the plan will go down in flames. Business travelers and frequent flyers already know that the best prices on flights, or any form of travel for that matter, are almost always on the travel provider’s website. Further, frequent flyer programs encourage booking directly with company by offering incentives like double miles, complimentary upgrades and free travel. American Airlines’ AAdvantage frequent flyer program offers many of the same bonus offers as incentive to book directly on their website.
Passengers are still going to search websites for the cheapest flights whether American likes it or not. Expedia and Orbitz still show plenty of flight options without them. Travel consolidators such as Priceline and Kayak will continue to provide thousands of options on steeply discounted travel package deals. Finding the lowest prices on travel is always the leading indicator of how passengers determine their plans and make reservations. Even if passengers prefer are American Airlines they will compare prices with their competitors.
In this time of baggage fees, terrible service and security checkpoint woes this once favored airline is indeed the big loser.
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