dogmom11

Any updates or insight from inside the company??

As a small business owner, this feature is (was) a key reason I fly AA vs. UA.

hillrider

Time to fly UA, then!

hillrider

It is always interesting to see how short corporate memory is: AA's success in the 80s/90s was 100% due to the novel application of information technology (computer reservation systems with biased screen display, multiple inventory buckets with yield management) and not to flying planes. AA's core competency was, like in many successful companies, technology, whose definition is "methods, systems, and devices which are the result of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes".

I am still of the opinion that the Wall Street fee-driven spin-off of Sabre was a strategic stumble.

RChavez

Yeah, I guess in some ways, I do agree with you. AA (by way of Sabre) was an incredible innovator in an airline's use of IT as a powerful business tool throughout the majority of the time it owned Sabre. The problem is that the CRS grew into the GDS which I think in their current incarnations would be quite a strategic distraction for an airline scrambling to turn a profit any way they can.

Then again, perhaps the revenue from the cash cow could help make AMR overall look more attractive, but there is still a great deal of expense in operating in the GDS space. Plus, segment fees have been under downward pressure for the last ten years or so, so that well will dry up soon.

That said, even if AA had held onto Sabre, I don't think they would have continued on the innovation front as aggressively as they had at the outset. It's unfortunate, or perhaps typical for a mature industry, but the innovation in the travel space seems to be coming from outsiders not traditional i.e. GDS insiders, e.g. ITA, Kayak, Priceline, Jetsetter/ideeli/ or other flash sale models, Hotels.com and general white-label distribution channels, etc.

I just don't see an airline-owned organization having the bandwidth to focus on anything other than survival in the current climate, and that's not very fertile ground for innovation. But I definitely do tip my hat at what Sabre and AA managed to accomplish in its heyday.

parioli

Did the search, but did not find the answers, yet.

Flyer_70

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...efinitely.html

jbcarioca

If there were more Max Hopper (the guy behind Sabre originally) and fewer investment bankers in AA decision-making we'd have many fewer complaints.

gemac

Search help: If you select advanced search, use the search term "flexible", and search titles only, this master thread is the first one returned. The thread is titled well, so it is apparent it discusses the topic you are interested in.

parioli

It is sad how AA handled this.

InPlaneSight

Totally Agree^ I miss this feature greatly.

anabolism

I appreciate how useful this feature was to people looking for the cheapest coach fares, but to those who wanted to find, say, the cheapest coach fare that earned 1 EQP per mile, or the cheapest business fare, it wasn't much use.

Some airlines do offer this. I happened to be playing with QF's business sale page, and it lets you see the fares in a nice calendar format.

sesimonsen1

I still use dates flexible.. Use this link...

http://www.aa.com/reservation/datesFlexSearchAccess.do

dstan

Welcome to FlyerTalk, sesimonsen1! (Your post has been released from the spam filter.)

TravelerMSY

Damm. I bet they wish they didn't spin off Sabre. Now they have to pay for CRS hits like everyone else.

gemac

Yes, we know. See post #40, dated February 1.