In a rare cooperative alliance move, Expedia announced that, in light of the AA action against Orbitz in not making its inventory available, that Expedia would drop AA fares and selections to a second click thru level (non preferential display). This is a preemptive move that is almost unprecedented.
In response, American Airlines spokesman Ryan Mikolasik called the action "discriminatory" and "unwarranted."
"This is especially considering that American has taken no action against Expedia and continues to operate in good faith with Expedia," Mikolasik said.
Mikolasik said American would explore its options to "correct" the situation.
It is against distribution contract to actively refuse to sell one airline, it is not illegal to make it non preferential.
I think that all consumers and the distrubution model for airline ticket sales should be watching closely AA's actions and respond as a collective market to communicate and express their feelings about AA's decisions. We cannot support efforts that we believe are fundamentally bad for travelers and the open market. I acknowledge that airline, as any business, can make many business decisions without influence and that is their right. However, with air service being a fundamental back bone of our economy, we have to pay attention to airlines decisions and how they affect the market. In this case, their business obligations go beyond the boardroom and shareholders and reachs our entire nation/economy.
Pothos: Travel news, travel industry updates, corporate and business travel
Monday, December 27, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
American Airline's pulls inventory from Orbitz
You can no longer book American flights on Orbitz or Orbitz for Business!
A court ruling authorizing American Airlines to withdraw its content immediately from Orbitz is merely the opening salvo in a bigger battle that may extend to other GDSs and airlines.
Reaction to yesterday’s ruling by the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois was swift and came from all quarters of the travel sector.
Paul Ruden, ASTA's president for legal and industry affairs, said that although the ruling did not spell the end of the case, it was "not a good sign." predicting similar moves “before long”.
"What the ruling effectively does is give American Airlines the freedom to execute its threat to remove its inventory from Orbitz, but it is putting at a risk a great deal of its business," he said
American Airlines responded within hours of the decision, discontinuing the listing of fares on Orbitz and Orbitz for Business.
Travelport, which owns a 48% stake in Orbitz Worldwide, said although the motion for a preliminary injunction was denied, the case will continue on its merits until the request for a declaratory judgment is adjudicated. Orbitz said it would continue to seek an arrangement with AA to distribute the airline’s tickets.
Revenue earned on American Airlines tickets and the associated ancillary products – including destination services, car, hotel and insurance – booked on our Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business sites accounted for approximately 5% of Orbitz Worldwide's total revenue for the nine months ended Sept.30.
Ruden said AA must either believe it can recover the lost Orbitz business through other channels or does not consider this revenue to be significant. He also said the general public would in some cases not even realize that American Airlines’ fares do not appear in the Orbitz search results.
"The general public isn’t aware of the Orbitz-American Airlines issue and also doesn’t know which carriers fly in which market, so I think they may well lose business as travelers use Orbitz for their fare searches," Ruden said.
The Business Travel Coalition meanwhile said single-supplier direct connect proposals, like that of American Airlines, can cause "massive fragmentation of airfares and ancillary fees, depriving consumers of the ability to compare the total cost of air travel options across all airline."
Describing the battle as an "unprovoked assault" on Orbitz by American, BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell alleged that the airline has repeatedly changed its rationale for why its direct-connect solution is needed.
"The failure of these shifting explanations to convince airline industry stakeholders to embrace the unproven system then led to a new strategy from American Airlines of blunt threats aimed at Orbitz," Mitchell said.
The Consumer Travel Alliance added its voice to the fray, criticizing American for its "heavy-handed attempt" to prevent consumers from easily searching and comparing its fares against those of other airlines.
CTA Director Charlie Leocha said the move would prevent comparison-shopping and "hide the real cost" of travel.
GDS company Sabre Holdings put its support behind Travelport, saying American's actions will make it "much harder and more costly" for agents and consumers to easily comparison shop among airlines, which will result in increased prices for consumers.
Travelport predicted AA’s plans to "force a more restrictive" distribution model would result in "inefficiencies and added costs" and would be "detrimental" to airline customers, travel agencies and consumers. American Airlines denied this.
"In today's competitive marketplace, it is important for American to be free to customize its product offerings to improve the customer experience as well as distribute its products in a way that does not result in unnecessary costs," said Derek DeCross, American's vice president of sales.
DeCross added that the airline would continue to provide its fare content to travel agency partners, both through GDSs and through American’s own direct connection powered by Farelogix.
While there is no charge for using American’s direct connection, there is an initial technology cost to integrate agency’s systems with the airline’s direct connection.
It is interesting for me to remember that, when launched, Orbitz was the development child of the airlines (just like the GDS's were orginally developed by the airlines as the distribution channel) and the darling of the beginning of OTA's (online travel agency's). It was the first and "go to" website for leisure and shortly after, business travelers.
I urge all consumers (individual's and businesses) to recognize that when the airline try to drive you to only their website/distribution network, you are NOT guaranteed of the lowest fare! This practice is not good for the open market. Only travel agencies can give you the fair & unbiased picture.
A court ruling authorizing American Airlines to withdraw its content immediately from Orbitz is merely the opening salvo in a bigger battle that may extend to other GDSs and airlines.
Reaction to yesterday’s ruling by the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois was swift and came from all quarters of the travel sector.
Paul Ruden, ASTA's president for legal and industry affairs, said that although the ruling did not spell the end of the case, it was "not a good sign." predicting similar moves “before long”.
"What the ruling effectively does is give American Airlines the freedom to execute its threat to remove its inventory from Orbitz, but it is putting at a risk a great deal of its business," he said
American Airlines responded within hours of the decision, discontinuing the listing of fares on Orbitz and Orbitz for Business.
Travelport, which owns a 48% stake in Orbitz Worldwide, said although the motion for a preliminary injunction was denied, the case will continue on its merits until the request for a declaratory judgment is adjudicated. Orbitz said it would continue to seek an arrangement with AA to distribute the airline’s tickets.
Revenue earned on American Airlines tickets and the associated ancillary products – including destination services, car, hotel and insurance – booked on our Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business sites accounted for approximately 5% of Orbitz Worldwide's total revenue for the nine months ended Sept.30.
Ruden said AA must either believe it can recover the lost Orbitz business through other channels or does not consider this revenue to be significant. He also said the general public would in some cases not even realize that American Airlines’ fares do not appear in the Orbitz search results.
"The general public isn’t aware of the Orbitz-American Airlines issue and also doesn’t know which carriers fly in which market, so I think they may well lose business as travelers use Orbitz for their fare searches," Ruden said.
The Business Travel Coalition meanwhile said single-supplier direct connect proposals, like that of American Airlines, can cause "massive fragmentation of airfares and ancillary fees, depriving consumers of the ability to compare the total cost of air travel options across all airline."
Describing the battle as an "unprovoked assault" on Orbitz by American, BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell alleged that the airline has repeatedly changed its rationale for why its direct-connect solution is needed.
"The failure of these shifting explanations to convince airline industry stakeholders to embrace the unproven system then led to a new strategy from American Airlines of blunt threats aimed at Orbitz," Mitchell said.
The Consumer Travel Alliance added its voice to the fray, criticizing American for its "heavy-handed attempt" to prevent consumers from easily searching and comparing its fares against those of other airlines.
CTA Director Charlie Leocha said the move would prevent comparison-shopping and "hide the real cost" of travel.
GDS company Sabre Holdings put its support behind Travelport, saying American's actions will make it "much harder and more costly" for agents and consumers to easily comparison shop among airlines, which will result in increased prices for consumers.
Travelport predicted AA’s plans to "force a more restrictive" distribution model would result in "inefficiencies and added costs" and would be "detrimental" to airline customers, travel agencies and consumers. American Airlines denied this.
"In today's competitive marketplace, it is important for American to be free to customize its product offerings to improve the customer experience as well as distribute its products in a way that does not result in unnecessary costs," said Derek DeCross, American's vice president of sales.
DeCross added that the airline would continue to provide its fare content to travel agency partners, both through GDSs and through American’s own direct connection powered by Farelogix.
While there is no charge for using American’s direct connection, there is an initial technology cost to integrate agency’s systems with the airline’s direct connection.
It is interesting for me to remember that, when launched, Orbitz was the development child of the airlines (just like the GDS's were orginally developed by the airlines as the distribution channel) and the darling of the beginning of OTA's (online travel agency's). It was the first and "go to" website for leisure and shortly after, business travelers.
I urge all consumers (individual's and businesses) to recognize that when the airline try to drive you to only their website/distribution network, you are NOT guaranteed of the lowest fare! This practice is not good for the open market. Only travel agencies can give you the fair & unbiased picture.
5 thousand Moscow debtors refused departure from Russia to go abroad
It seems that the Russian tourists, who didn’t return the debts to the creditors, have to forget about New Years holidays abroad. It’s interesting to note that the majority of the debtors found out about the prohibition of departure only on passport control in the airport. At the same time, it’s likely impossible to pay on the spot and the prohibition is valid at least for 1 week after payment of the debt. So, it will be hard to depart even for those who paid the debts.
So the tourists can only rely upon themselves: it’s possible to find out about the debts by the special notification of the bailiff or by contacting the bailiff’s service office in Moscow.
So the tourists can only rely upon themselves: it’s possible to find out about the debts by the special notification of the bailiff or by contacting the bailiff’s service office in Moscow.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
need more reasons to use a travel agency?
With the first big seasonal snowstorm to hit the US, can you imagine that the travelers that did what the airline seem to "want" them to do, which is book on their websites, called to change flights and got a recording that said in essence "we are busy now, call back later" and hung up on you. This was the experience with many of the major carriers and OTA's (online travel agencies) as they are just simply not set up for a high call volume model anymore. Travel agencies changed staffing and answered their phones to service the clients & customers.
What do you do when at the airport and the airline tells you that due to bad weather, the earliest you can be rebooked on next flight is 3 days from now? (With airline running at 80%-90% capacity, if just a few flights cancel and they do not run additional service, this is the scenario you will be faced with). You call your travel agent to find the best value hotel room available and maybe even use the benefit from the travel insurance you purchased from that agency. Now, except for the inconvenience of time, (which you cant avoid with weather), you are out of pocket zero additional money and have received quick customer service. If you think the airline agent at the airport is ready, willing & able to help you source a hotel to go to, think again. That is just not something they will do.
Use travel agencies, Use POTHOS!
It is smart business!
What do you do when at the airport and the airline tells you that due to bad weather, the earliest you can be rebooked on next flight is 3 days from now? (With airline running at 80%-90% capacity, if just a few flights cancel and they do not run additional service, this is the scenario you will be faced with). You call your travel agent to find the best value hotel room available and maybe even use the benefit from the travel insurance you purchased from that agency. Now, except for the inconvenience of time, (which you cant avoid with weather), you are out of pocket zero additional money and have received quick customer service. If you think the airline agent at the airport is ready, willing & able to help you source a hotel to go to, think again. That is just not something they will do.
Use travel agencies, Use POTHOS!
It is smart business!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Southwest policy update
BREAKING NEWS
This past week we were advised that Southwest will no longer allow unused ticket credits to be used by other passengers. In the past Southwest was the only airline that would allow an unused ticket for John Doe to be credited and used by John Smith. This new policy goes into effect on January 28, 2011. The good news however, is that Southwest still is one of the only major airlines that does not charge a $150change fee to change a ticket. Add the fact that Southwest does not charge for luggage and you can see why many people love Southwest.
However, dont be fooled by their slick "low fare" campaign's. For the last minute corporate traveler, POTHOS has proven time & again that this is not necessarily true. Since SWA doesnt participate in any GDS or comparative service, it is almost impossible to see this at first glance.
Another reason a good corporate travel agent is so important.
This past week we were advised that Southwest will no longer allow unused ticket credits to be used by other passengers. In the past Southwest was the only airline that would allow an unused ticket for John Doe to be credited and used by John Smith. This new policy goes into effect on January 28, 2011. The good news however, is that Southwest still is one of the only major airlines that does not charge a $150change fee to change a ticket. Add the fact that Southwest does not charge for luggage and you can see why many people love Southwest.
However, dont be fooled by their slick "low fare" campaign's. For the last minute corporate traveler, POTHOS has proven time & again that this is not necessarily true. Since SWA doesnt participate in any GDS or comparative service, it is almost impossible to see this at first glance.
Another reason a good corporate travel agent is so important.
Fiji VAT tax increases
Seems like most governments are getting on board for fee & tax hikes.
On November 25, 2010 the Fiji Government announced it will increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services from 12.5% to 15%. There was no grace period granted for existing bookings and the increase will affect all clients traveling to Fiji effective January 1, 2011.
On November 25, 2010 the Fiji Government announced it will increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services from 12.5% to 15%. There was no grace period granted for existing bookings and the increase will affect all clients traveling to Fiji effective January 1, 2011.
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