Travelport, American reach distribution deal
Travelport and American Airlines have announced the signing of a new long-term distribution agreement and the end to all legal action.
The two companies had been embroiled in a long-running spat connected with American’s attempts to drive more traffic to its AA Direct Connect booking channel. American started legal proceedings against Travelport and Sabre in 2011, claiming GDS companies were in violation of US competition law. The case with Sabre was settled late last year, and now Travelport, which operates the Galileo and Worldspan GDS, has also reached a deal with the airline.
The new global agreement will give Travelport-connected agents continued access American Airlines’ full range of fares and inventory, and also positions Travelport to become the first GDS to offer access to American’s other products and services. This will include selling American’s new premium economy product, Main Cabin Extra.
“Travelport deserves praise for working with American to create a solution that can display all of our product options to travel agents in a transparent, customer-friendly way that also clearly differentiates American’s products from other airlines,” said Derek DeCross, vice president of global sales for American Airlines.
American and Travelport also revealed that all litigation will be resolved “between themselves”. The settlement must be approved however, by the US court overseeing American’s planned exit from bankruptcy protection.