The American Airlines vs. Global Distribution Systems (GDS) fight over American’s Direct Connect is devolving into a messy fight to be decided by the courts instead of market demand, new technology or mutual agreement.

AA Orbitz Distribution Update

On June 1, 2011, the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County issued a ruling in favor of Travelport, granting injunctive relief against American Airlines.

American had banned Orbitz from displaying AA fares and schedules on Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business since December 2010, and the matter is being argued in the courts.

Effective immediately, the new ruling restores American’s full schedule of flights on Orbitz pending the outcome of the litigation.

“Travelport is delighted with the Court’s ruling requiring AA’s fares to be reinstated on Orbitz and enabling consumers to book AA tickets through Orbitz,” said Travelport’s Chief Commercial Officer, Kurt Ekert. “We view this as a significant ruling.”

The timing of the court ruling is ironic, considering that American just released a private video on its YouTube channel that tells Orbitz customers “A Whole World is Missing” because American Airlines fares can’t be seen on Orbitz.

It’s also rather inconvenient timing, because American’s Direct Connect fight with Sabre Holdings is heating up again. The AA vs. Sabre litigation was put on hold until June, but the truce is apparently over. American has now added Sabre to the anti-trust lawsuit it had filed against Travelport in April 2011.

American’s statement defending Sabre’s inclusion says that its decision to “include Sabre to the antitrust lawsuit comes after American attempted for several months to resolve disputes over distribution of the airline’s fares and schedules, as American sought commercially reasonable terms for distribution through the Sabre GDS, but Sabre has been unresponsive to those requests.”

Sabre responded in kind, filing an antitrust lawsuit against America Airlines, seeking damages and an injunction preventing AA from continuing to force travel agents and other customers to use Direct Connect.

“Our preference was to extend the current legal ‘stand down,’” said Chris Kroeger, senior vice president, Sabre Travel Network. “However it is apparent based on AA’s actions that Sabre has no choice but to pursue legal remedies. In parallel, we will continue to pursue through negotiations a distribution agreement with AA that meets the needs of all constituents.”

In the statement defending their lawsuit, Sabre accused American Airlines of “attempting to eliminate the GDSs.” When the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting its own anti-trust investigation of the GDSs and the concerned players are busy filing anti-trust lawsuits against each other and attempting “elimination,” it’s fair to say that this won’t end well.

Read full statements: Orbitz, Travelport, AA, Sabre

Photo – AA Distribution Blog

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