Once again, an airline is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with the old "improved customer service" trick. American Airlines has rolled out the AA Direct Connect, which they say provides travel companies and agencies "a direct link into AA's host reservation system for the facilitation of availability, shopping and pricing, booking, ticketing, and post-ticketing servicing transactions." Sounds good, right?
Then why doesn't internet travel company Orbitz think so? Why do they refuse to redirect their users to that site for AA tickets, and why does American Airlines want to terminate their relationship with Orbitz? And why, as reported by the Wichita Business Journal, has a court blocked AA's attempt to cancel their contract with Orbitz?
Here's a little background. Flyersrights.org has long fought against the airlines' seemingly ever-increasing use of unbundled "ancillary fees." This is the practice of quoting a ticket price, and then tacking on as many "fees" as they can get us to swallow. First came the checked baggage fee. When the travelling public rolled over for that, others soon followed. Now, various airlines charge for such things as blankets and pillows, and "premium" (exit row, window, and aisle) seats. American would also like you to pay for the privilege of sitting in the first few rows of coach.
As a result, it is now amazingly difficult to figure out the true cost of a ticket. A current Department of Transportation Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would address this issue to some extent, and Flyersrights.org supports that effort; however, in the meantime, comparing various airlines' offerings for a given trip is a challenge.
The AA Direct Connect idea seems to be a solution to that problem, but it's actually a threat to competition. AA wants to control the way we make buying decisions. By taking Orbitz directly to their site for pricing information, they prevent the travel site from comparing their prices to other offerings. Their aim is clearly to make comparative pricing as difficult as possible for consumers. Since Orbitz refuses to relinquish the feature that is the core of their business, American wants to be done with them.
We at Flyersrights.org believe that comparison shopping is a vital need for all airline passengers. Until the day comes that airlines either voluntarily disclose full pricing information to all of us, or DoT regulations force them to do so (their choice), we urge you to fly airlines who provide complete information and avoid those who do not.