A motion to note that of American Airlines in United States on two of the largest online travel agencies Expedia and Orbitz. A few weeks ago the airline's contract expired with Orbitz and took advantage to force a non-negotiated exit: the idea is to sell directly to the user from his own website, disinter mediated travel agencies. Expedia before this movement was the band before the injury and began to penalize American Airlines in the search results in place, and after negotiating, they have been removed completely. It is no longer possible to buy airline tickets from Expedia website.
The balance in the whole ecosystem that has formed around the travel industry seemed perfect: the new agencies (Expedia is an example, in Spain could think of Catch or eDreams) provide access to a broad base of airlines, hotels, rental suppliers and other means of transport. That role of aggregator of supply with specialization in the canal has become a big business online and probably the sector with more penetration of electronic commerce. But these agencies are left other intermediaries, price comparisons between agencies, Also add the indexing of the offer on the web the last link in the chain (the hotel, the airline). U.S. Kayak all the rage with this model, which in these latitudes has not worked as well but there are good examples as Trabber.
The airline, once passed the stage of adaptation to the online channel, is interested in direct purchase on its website for three reasons: a broker unless commissioned, ability to sell complementary services (eg rental cars) and out of the comparison price of the agencies. Short course have much to lose: the user is accustomed to going to Catch, not Iberia page because you various prices and the service you receive here is good. The AA movement is interesting because it leaves the agency, but apparently not fight to escape from pure price comparison (Kayak), so it follows that is a movement to force the final purchase on their website in any case or tighten committees and negotiate from a position of strength. In any case, a direct message to the entire sector of the online travel agencies.
