vasantn

No love and no coupon for me. I'm just a 7-year EXP so they probably figure they have me anyway.

holtju2

Cannot see how AA could manage without the sales coming through Expedia and its affiliates.

AA sent me as well the 15% coupon. As I have said before I don't see any reason to book on AA.com unless I have a discount coupon or voucher to use. I am EXP, UA 1K, DL DM, and CO PLT (all earned). I love the ease of comparing the prices, flight times etc on Expedia's of the world.

TrojanHorse

I'm baffled at how AA think it can lose all the corporate sales that go through Orbitz and Expedia, that is where the money is

I use another OTA but if this is where AA is going, then I'm going to have to eventually say bye bye. While I book AA.com for personal stuff,60-80% of my EQM's are via work. Those are definitely at a higher fare basis than my leisure travel as well including paid J for Int'l travel

chewy3

I agree with most here. AA is no WN and they won't be able to survive without the various OTAs; their product is simply not differentiated enough.

We obviously don't have all the data here, but AA has got to be hurting from Expedia's move to depreference. Orbitz is one thing but Expedia is a major player.

GUWonder

AA and DL engaged in signaling to one another and other industry participants to wage battle against the online travel agencies?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ravel-etc.html

GUWonder

Have you booked AA tickets via Expedia and/or Orbitz in recent times? Other long-time EXPs got the coupons on the evening of December 24th, but all seemed to have used one, the other or perhaps both at some time earlier this year.

[Unfortunately for me, SAAnta came a few minutes too late, as just a few minutes before receiving this coupon I had just booked a rather expensive AA ticket -- for a flight that has since been subjected to a nearly 16-hour delay sparked by quite so ordinary weather conditions at this time of year -- so as to use one of the many remaining AA systemwide upgrades before they expire at February's end.]

beachfan

ARRRGH;

I deleted the email that announced the Orbitz thing without reading it since I knew what was up. Bet you it had a 15% discount in it.

Any suggestions on what I might do to try and get one? (It's not in my deleted email folder).

UPDATE;

Saved by a flyertalk Santa!

Thanks Santa and FT community!

Rojo

I support AA in their quest to regain control of its distribution channels. The only airline that has full control of it is Southwest and they can generate more revenue since they don't have to pay the GDS's for every booking. As a Hospitality and Tourism Management student, I have done research on how hotels lost control of their distribution channels. Hotel brands have been trying to regain control and make people book through their websites, but based on decision they made 10 years ago, now it is close to impossible. Volume now comes from OTA's which have been squeezing hotels with high markups. Airlines need to regain control now or they will face similar problems in the future.

By the way, I also received a 15% discount code. I normally don't book through Expedia, but this month I went to Las Vegas 3 times for free using the C$300 discount coupon of Expedia Canada. Therefore, AA thinks I started booking with Expedia insteade of using their own website. I will only use Expedia for airline mistake fares only bookable through OTA's or when they give coupons like the C$300!!!

elitetraveler

A better way to think about it is, "Horse, Barn, Out"

By the way as a 'hospitality and tourism management student' keep in mind overall industry growth is driven by deregulation and free market competition. Many suppliers would like to have it both ways. Industry growth not restricted competition will enhance your career opportunities.

denCSA

And do keep in mind that the GDS' cost structure and distribution model is in part due to AA itself. AA OWNED SABRE and milked that cashcow for decades before spinning it off. In doing that, AA created the GDS' pay to play model. Without any support from other carriers (the Delta case with smaller OTAs is a different core issue), AA will not find this battle sustainable.

During the GDS content negotiations of 2006 (I believe that was the year), the GDS' were in big trouble as all the airlines' contracts were up and all banded together to change the model (drop commissions, pay for content). That is not happening here...yet. I don't blame AA for wanting to change the model and reduce distribution costs, but they better have a good replacement/improvement to the distribution landscape. AA's present vision of 'direct connect' is laughable.

elitetraveler

The airlines just want to push the costs to the consumer/corporate client on an a la carte basis.

yogi4582

I'm guessing the e-mail with the discount promo to vasantn is just in queue.

I have never booked a ticket via Orbitz or Expedia, but I got the promo - probably because I'm EXP.

yogi4582

I have heard lots of people claim that AA's decision to avoid bankruptcy was "not a good thing". The argument being that it prevented them from being able to get out of all their too-costly-contracts the way the bankrupt carriers were, instead forcing them to have to renegotiate with the unions, thereby exacerbating all the already volatile management-labor relationship, yada yada.

I'm no captain of industry, but that does seem to make sense. I can see how bankruptcy is not good when you're the only one in your industry doing it. I guess I can also see how it is not good when you are the only one not doing it, and it leaves so many of your competitors stronger.

hillrider

Southwest is present on the US's largest GDS, Sabre, albeit with a sweetheart deal.

GDS are way too expensive, completely agree, and AA's solution (of going from agencies being paid by the GDSs for their bookings to agencies having to pay to make bookings--technology costs etc.) is a bit of a pipedream at the moment.

hillrider

According to Soleil Securities analyst Jake Fuller, quoted here, the economics are as follows: