Travelport slams American Airlines over lawsuit
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Travelport has hit back at American Airlines after the US carrier filed a lawsuit against the GDS company and online travel agency, Orbitz Worldwide. American said it had taken legal action “to stop exclusionary and anti-competitive business practices of the defendants and recover monetary damages that American has incurred as a result of these harmful actions”. But in a statement released this week, Travelport dismissed the airline’s claims as “ludicrous and meritless”. This followed a similarly strong-worded statement from Orbitz, which had called American a “marketplace bully”.
In filing the lawsuit, the airline complained that Travelport “effectively controls the distribution of fares” offered to travel agencies and corporate customers, and that it “has engaged in anti-competitive conduct to protect its market position from new competition”. The new competition that American is referring to is its own AAdirect booking system, which it has rolled out in an attempt to drive more direct bookings. The lawsuit adds that the “illegal actions of Travelport and Orbitz have harmed consumers by suppressing innovation”.
In a retaliatory statement, Travelport said that it is actually American which is limiting customer choice. “Travelport’s aggregation, search and shopping allows travel agents and consumers a full range of choices across over 400 airlines. Travelport believes that AA’s plans to force a more restrictive distribution model would result in inefficiencies and considerable added costs,” the statement said. Orbitz meanwhile, called American’s system “unproven technology that does not meet the needs of our customers”, and accused the airline of “attempting to deprive consumers of the ability to compare prices across competing airlines”.
American Airlines has been embroiled in a row with Travelport, Orbitz and several other travel technology companies over its AAdirect website. Earlier this month it signed an agreement with Expedia, allowing it to continue offering American Airlines fares via a GDS connection.
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