Feature: Those hoping for an agreement between American Airlines and Orbitz & Expedia over use of American’s Direct Connect may be in for a long wait. For starters, both Sabre and Amadeus have weighed in against AA and it’ll be even more difficult for either side to back off now. Meanwhile, Priceline is having a field day.

Priceline AA

American Airlines still in talks with Expedia, Orbitz – Nasdaq.com
Sabre to drop American Air as ticket dispute widens – Bloomberg
AA statement in response to Sabre’s actions – AA.com
Amadeus: GDS still better than airline direct connect models – TravelPulse
More statements:-ASTA, NBTA, Open AXIS Group

Secondly, the OTA/GDS combine has called in the big guns by announcing the formation of the ‘Open Allies for Airfare Transparency.’

Its director is ITSA spokesman Andrew Weinstein, who doesn’t hold back in the launch statement – “We will not be told what systems we have to use, nor blocked from comparing prices between airlines, nor prevented from designing the best flight options for our customers.” – TravelAgentCentral

Stock impact:-
Expedia shares are ready for takeoff – Barrons
AMR call trades jump to record amid bets on 24% gain – Bloomberg

Noteworthy:-
American Airlines is right! Time to move travel into 21st century only one decade late. – Flightcaster
Airlines vs. the World – PhoCusWright

Here’s the rest of the week’s interesting news:-

CES: How Apple is present at the finest Vegas hotels - CNet
CES: Ford adds destinations application to Sync – Trucktrend
CES: Bing hits the road with Toyota Entune – Bing.com

Mobiata working hard to roll out apps for Expedia - Xconomy

USA Today partners with Foursquare for travel tips – USAToday

Party people fill KLM flight to Miami using twitter - Springwise

Restaurants uploading menus on iPads for diners - AP
Thoughts on handhelds in restaurants for 2011 - TourismKeys

Inspirato combines independent villa rental with private luxury vacation clubs – Inspirato.com
Spedia develops social network hotel concept – Press release