The reasons for American Airlines flight displays disappearing from kayak.com are still a bit cloudy, but it appears that Kayak removed the flight listings because American demanded an all-AA-fares-or-nothing display. They got nothing.
Yesterday, Tripso Columnist Charlie Leocha wrote about American Airlines’ spat with Kayak. At about the same time American Airlines sent a missive to their frequent flyers with no mention of why the airline was ending its relationship with Kayak. The AA email also mentions Sidestep because the two companies are merging.
In response to the American Airlines statement, Kayak released their own statement saying that American Airlines made it sound like the airline was the one that terminated the relationship. The truth of the matter, according to Kayak, is that Kayak was the one that ended the relationship because Kayak refused to concede to American Airlines’ demand that only fares from American Airlines’ website be displayed rather than fares from other sites for the same itinerary.
As Charlie mentioned, Kayak and Sidestep will continue to display American Airlines’ schedules, but if travelers want to book, they need to click on the Info link. They will then be routed to Orbitz to book their travel.
Of course, this begs the question: Is American Airlines afraid? Are they afraid of being undersold by sites such as cheaptickets.com? If they are they shouldn’t be. What are they hoping to accomplish?
Comparing a flight from LAX to JFK leaving November 26 at 9:30 pm, arriving at 5:40 am November 27, with a return on November 30 at 9:00 am, AA’s website still has the best fare. The American Airlines’ Super Saver fare booked on their site was $719.00, which includes all taxes and fees except baggage (including first-checked-bag) and meals. Using Orbitz, Travelocity, and cheaptickets.com, the least expensive fare I could find for the same flights is $724.99 (the AA fee plus their $5 booking fee).
Some commentators are murmuring that AA may be getting ready to pull its listings from Orbitz as well. Is American trying to squeeze the online travel agencies just as they slowly squeezed the commissions from their traditional travel agency sales?
Some reports seem to indicate that some other online travel agencies have complied with the AA demands, but those sites are not considered “metasearch engines” — they only display their own fares rather than attempting to send Web users to the best online fares.
What American is hoping to gain remains a mystery. Maybe they’ll release more information in the coming weeks. If this move and their threat works for AA, expect the other major airlines to follow suit and consumers will lose again.
