Expedia has stepped into the row between American Airlines and Travelport by downgrading the carrier’s fares in its search results.
As Travel Weekly revealed yesterday American won a first round in a legal battle with Travelport allowing it to pull fares from its online retailer Orbitz.
The row centres on American’s attempts to impose cost on travel agents for booking fares through the GDSs and its attempts to drive bookings through its own Direct Connect service.
Expedia yesterday started to display American Airways at the bottom of its fair results and even then only with a link to the carrier’s website, as opposed to showing the actual fare.
The existing deal Expedia has with American is due to expire and the company said the move was partly a reaction to that as it was to the row with Travelport.
Expedia described American’s stance as anti-consumer and anti-choice and warned it will lead to less transparency and increased costs for travellers.
The move by Expedia was described as an “unprecedented show of support” for Orbitz.