Monday, January 3, 2011

Expedia Drops American Airlines

Bellevue-based online travel site Expedia removed the schedules and fares of American Airlines this weekend, as the tiff between the airlines and online travel agencies and aggregators continues to accelerate. Expedia had earlier downgraded American's listings, in sympathy with American's removal of its flights from competitor Orbitz. Expedia said the move came after failing to reach a business agreement with American over its direct connect model. American is looking to force Orbitz, Expedia, and others to move to its own travel booking systems, rather than the industry's current OTA systems.