FORT WORTH, Texas
American Airlines and its merger affiliate US Airways have announced plans to pull their fares from online booking agent Orbitz Worldwide, the airlines said in a statement on August 26. American’s move comes immediately, while US Air will withdraw their fares on September 1.
"We have worked tirelessly with Orbitz to reach a deal with the economics that allow us to keep costs low and compete with low-cost carriers," said Scott Kirby, president for American Airlines in the statement. "While our fares are no longer on Orbitz, there are a multitude of other options available for our customers, including brick and mortar agencies, online travel agencies, and our own websites."
American expects these changes will have minimal disruptions for its customers. Customers can continue to purchase tickets and all options for travel on American and US Airways through aa.com and usairways.com. American and US Airways fares are also available through reservations agents and other travel agencies.
Tickets already purchased through Orbitz websites remain valid for travel, but changes to reservations must be made through each airline's reservations department.
Orbitz issued a curt release in response that included the following passage:
“Our sites offer hundreds of airlines which are eager to capture the revenue American is choosing to forego and we will continue to show our customers a broad range of flight options to thousands of destinations in the U.S. and worldwide. Orbitz for Business [for corporate clients] is not impacted.”
While it’s too early to judge the exact ramifications of the move, some early speculation pointed to either a temporary move and/or negotiation ploy on the part of American; the large airlines made a similar move during 2010 negotiations with Orbitz before eventually returning its fares to the site.
