Project Purple Demon
 

Six major airlines to form "Hotwire.com" to compete with Priceline :
http://www.msnbc.com/p/cnbc/426928.asp?bt=cnbc#BODY

Actually, this is LIKE "Orbitz", formerly referred to as T2 (Travelocity Terminator) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000805.html


Thanks Ron,
You are right of course! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
Corrected and clarified! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif

DL, UA, NWA and CO announced plans for a Web site to sell published-fare leisure tickets, competing with established sites Travelocity.com, controlled by Sabre Holdings Corp., and Expedia.com, controlled by Microsoft Corp. Initially dubbed T-2 — short for "Travelocity Terminator" — the venture now is called Orbitz. AA has now joined this venture, expected to launch by September. About 25 other airlines have signed up to make tickets available on Orbitz, including special Internet fares.

By contrast, minority equity investors in Hotwire.com include UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. and America West Holdings Corp.'s America West Airlines.

Customers don't name their own price to get tickets but rather Hotwire will let them select an actual discount fare based on a chosen route. Like Priceline, Hotwire will mask the identity of the airline, the routing (nonstop, 1-stop or connection) & precise time of flights, until AFTER the consumer makes a purchase.

I posted a link to the WSJ link this morning- http://public.wsj.com/news/personalE...574188353.html


I had, in fact, initially and wrongly thought that they were the same or somehow related! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif That's why I'd added the post to the initial T2 thread with the same title "Airlines join forces in new website" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000805.html


UPDATE:

Users of the Hotwire service, expected to be available in September, will simply designate when and where they want to fly. Within hours, Hotwire then will offer to sell an airline ticket at a set price. Unlike Priceline, Hotwire customers will not obligated to buy the ticket.
http://www.aviationnow.com/TwoShare/...30190734992772


[This message has been edited by doc (edited 06-29-2000).]

Hi!

I think Orbitz and Hotwire are different.

-Ronald

It would certainly appear that they're different ... different sites, different logos ...

Yes.. they are indeed different.

The following is from the url I posted above:

Airlines have already banded together to take back sales from others' Web sites. Last year, Delta Air Lines, United, Northwest and Continental announced plans for a Web site to sell published-fare leisure tickets, competing with established sites Travelocity.com, controlled by Sabre Holdings Corp., and Expedia.com, controlled by Microsoft Corp. Initially dubbed T-2 — short for "Travelocity Terminator" — the venture now is called Orbitz. American has since joined the venture, which is expected to launch in September. About 25 other airlines have signed up to make tickets available on Orbitz, including special Internet fares.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Orbitz is anticompetitive. Orbitz officials say it isn't, because it has independent management and its search-engine technology is neutral.

Hotwire isn't worried about Justice Department scrutiny, says Mr. Peterson, the CEO. That's because Hotwire's governance resides with Texas Pacific and Hotwire's board, which includes no airline representatives. The founding airline partners won't receive any favoritism over other carriers or travel suppliers that sign up later, he says. Hotwire management will decide which vendors to allow in.