Southwest pulls flight data to hinder Orbitz

From...

By Jennifer Disabatino

(IDG) -- Southwest Airlines Co. has upped the ante in its fight with Orbitz LLC by withdrawing its flight data from the Airline Tariff Publishing Co. (ATPCO), a company that supplies airline flights and fare information to travel agents, airlines and travel Web sites, including Orbitz.

"We are doing this to send a clear message that Southwest doesn't want to be associated with Orbitz, a site that we feel seeks to eliminate consumer choice through its exclusive agreements with the carriers it is supported by. It seeks to become a monopoly," said a spokeswoman for the Dallas-based economy airline.

Travel agents and Internet travel sites, including Chicago-based Orbitz, use ATPCO for flight and fare information, but don't make reservations.

IDG.net INFOCENTER Computerworld main page Computerworld's topic-oriented communities Computerworld's IT career center Free daily newsletters Related IDG.net Stories Southwest sues Orbitz over flight information Southwest pulls plug on Travelocity ticket sales deal Southwest cracks $1 billion mark in online ticket sales Features Cool gifts for cool nerds Mastering e-commerce by degrees Fast-track training puts nontechies in IT jobs Visit an IDG site Choose a site: IDG.net CIO Computerworld Darwin Dummies.com GamePro.com The Industry Standard ITWorld.com InfoWorld.com JavaWorld LinuxWorld Macworld Online Network World Fusion PC World Publish.com UnixInsider IDG.net search

From now on, only the global distribution systems from Dallas-based partner Sabre Holdings Corp., an Orbitz rival, will publish Southwest routes and fares, the spokeswoman said. Southwest doesn't open its live, proprietary reservation system to anyone, the spokeswoman said, and online users will have to go to the Southwest Web site to make a reservation.

A spokeswoman for Orbitz, the online travel agency developed by the nation's five largest airlines, said the decision by Southwest would hurt consumers.

"We were not the only people getting their fares through ATPCO. Non-Sabre global distribution systems were getting their fares on the Internet," and then referring customers to book flights directly with Southwest, said Orbitz spokeswoman Carol Jouzaitis. "Southwest's decision will ultimately harm consumers. It will now be more difficult to compare fares with other airlines."

In May, Southwest filed suit against Orbitz, alleging the airline-backed flight search engine was giving its backers preferential position on the search results by posting circuitous Southwest flight plans when comparing prices. Orbitz was financed by Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc., Northwest Airlines Inc., United Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Inc. and supported by 450 other U.S. and international carriers.

Jouzaitis said Orbitz offered to sit down with Southwest and work out exactly how the airline's flights should be displayed, but Southwest refused. She added that Southwest paid nothing to Orbitz for posting its flight information.

However, Southwest is committed to promoting its flight information from its own site, which accounted for 36 percent of all bookings in the first quarter, the Southwest spokeswoman said. She also said Southwest relies on travel agents for little of its booking information.

Sabre owns and runs Travelocity, one of the leading Internet travel sites and an Orbitz competitor, but Southwest's fares are no longer published even there due to booking problems. Flights confirmed with Travelocity sometimes couldn't be confirmed with Southwest, the spokeswoman said. As a result, travelers would arrive at the gate with a Travelocity confirmation but without having been booked on the flight in Southwest's system.