Expedia Files Lawsuit Against United on UA exit (settled)
Apr 21, 2019, 7:19 am
#16
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Doesnt sound good for either party. This will be a mess for anyone booking on Expedia for Oct. and beyond. And while UA may think they can get away with delisting their fares from Expedia and just selling them on their own site, it’s just marketing exec spin and they will lose a lot from that. In the bubble of FT, sure they can, but there are many folks, who travel less then most of us on here and just use Expedia, etc. to get fare comparisons and buy there, and won’t go to United.com (or delta.com, or wherever). The only airline that can make this work is Southwest, who is perceived as ‘low fare’ (even though they haven’t been been low fare in probably 10-15 years).
Maybe UA is hoping they can replace some of these lower fare Expedia buyer with the same fares or higher through UA.com, but I doubt all of them. While UA may think they can convince everyone to book through UA.com, the business just doesn’t work that way, and just like they need a mix of low/mid/high fare buyers to fill their planes, they also need a mix of those booking directly and through agency. If they fail to renew the contract, it will hurt UA (more than it will hurt Expedia), and it may take some time to figure that out, I suppose. AA seemed to figure this out a few years ago the hard way, and if they don’t strike some sort of compromise, it appears UA will learn this lesson the same way.
Apr 21, 2019, 8:58 am
#17
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Apr 21, 2019, 1:37 pm
#18
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While Chase may be one of UA's problems, I don't think Chase is the issue in this matter.
The document related preliminary injunction gave some ideas. In a nutshell, it seems that UA wanted to cut off Expedia's access to certain fares. My guess is UA wants to monetize the BE even more by cutting off access. So that travelers will have to buy BE fares directly through UA.
The document related preliminary injunction gave some ideas. In a nutshell, it seems that UA wanted to cut off Expedia's access to certain fares. My guess is UA wants to monetize the BE even more by cutting off access. So that travelers will have to buy BE fares directly through UA.
Apr 21, 2019, 1:57 pm
#19
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We don't know enough details to say why UA did it
Maybe......
The vast majority of people using Expedia were SFO based or other UA hubs and knowing that they would get much crappier routings from other programs delisting made sense as most would know it is a UA hub and buy direct from UA.com.
Could be.....
something else
we just don't know and there is no way to speculate on UA's motives
Maybe......
The vast majority of people using Expedia were SFO based or other UA hubs and knowing that they would get much crappier routings from other programs delisting made sense as most would know it is a UA hub and buy direct from UA.com.
Could be.....
something else
we just don't know and there is no way to speculate on UA's motives
Apr 21, 2019, 8:15 pm
#22
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Doesnt sound good for either party. This will be a mess for anyone booking on Expedia for Oct. and beyond. And while UA may think they can get away with delisting their fares from Expedia and just selling them on their own site, it’s just marketing exec spin and they will lose a lot from that. In the bubble of FT, sure they can, but there are many folks, who travel less then most of us on here and just use Expedia, etc. to get fare comparisons and buy there, and won’t go to United.com (or delta.com, or wherever).
Maybe UA is hoping they can replace some of these lower fare Expedia buyer with the same fares or higher through UA.com, but I doubt all of them. While UA may think they can convince everyone to book through UA.com, the business just doesn’t work that way, and just like they need a mix of low/mid/high fare buyers to fill their planes, they also need a mix of those booking directly and through agency. If they fail to renew the contract, it will hurt UA (more than it will hurt Expedia), and it may take some time to figure that out, I suppose. AA seemed to figure this out a few years ago the hard way, and if they don’t strike some sort of compromise, it appears UA will learn this lesson the same way.
Maybe UA is hoping they can replace some of these lower fare Expedia buyer with the same fares or higher through UA.com, but I doubt all of them. While UA may think they can convince everyone to book through UA.com, the business just doesn’t work that way, and just like they need a mix of low/mid/high fare buyers to fill their planes, they also need a mix of those booking directly and through agency. If they fail to renew the contract, it will hurt UA (more than it will hurt Expedia), and it may take some time to figure that out, I suppose. AA seemed to figure this out a few years ago the hard way, and if they don’t strike some sort of compromise, it appears UA will learn this lesson the same way.
Expedia does not cater to frequent business flyers but rather to leisure travelers who want to go to one site and find the cheapest fare easily. Many of these people are not going to check UA separately, and I bet many won't even notice the UA flights aren't on the Expedia site at all. UA's going to lose money, clearly.
Haha - so true. I don't really fly domestically, but when I've compared Southwest flights to MEX to other airlines, they're frequently more expensive than DL, B6, AM... No thanks.
Apr 21, 2019, 10:24 pm
#23
Join Date: Sep 2014
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Expedia does not cater to frequent business flyers but rather to leisure travelers who want to go to one site and find the cheapest fare easily. Many of these people are not going to check UA separately, and I bet many won't even notice the UA flights aren't on the Expedia site at all. UA's going to lose money, clearly.
Apr 22, 2019, 6:56 am
#24
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I have a very credible source that stated most UR points are for UA redemptions. I agree I'd rather cash in my UR war chest for SQ redemptions on KF, but if you poll most Chase cardholders, they wouldn't even be aware that is possible.
Apr 22, 2019, 7:42 am
#25
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Is that to say UR points are transferred to MileagePlus or most UR are redeemed for revenue travel on UA via the UR travel portal?
Apr 22, 2019, 7:58 am
#26
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Because people know to book directly from WN. And, as emcampbe already pointed out, many of those buyers choose WN because they perceive it as a "low-cost" airline, which is arguably an out-of-date perception.
WN has a very different business model with a different customer base, which has been trained to book directly.
The people who would book from UA directly already do; the Expedia set is a very different customer base.
WN has a very different business model with a different customer base, which has been trained to book directly.
The people who would book from UA directly already do; the Expedia set is a very different customer base.
Apr 22, 2019, 11:15 am
#27
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Both, which highlights why UA is chomping at the bit to renegotiate with Chase.
To be fair, MEX is not a good market to compare - WN point of sale outside of the US is horrible given their go-to-market strategy. We've been trained to buy directly from the airline's website in the US but many Int'l markets still buy from travel agents. Agree that WN is not a LCC anymore.
Sep 16, 2019, 7:58 am
#28
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Well, not surprisingly an agreement was reached. The article is light on details and doesn't have any figures.
https://skift.com/2019/09/16/expedia...messy-divorce/
https://skift.com/2019/09/16/expedia...messy-divorce/
Sep 20, 2019, 10:15 pm
#29
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Well, not surprisingly an agreement was reached. The article is light on details and doesn't have any figures.
https://skift.com/2019/09/16/expedia...messy-divorce/
https://skift.com/2019/09/16/expedia...messy-divorce/
Sep 21, 2019, 5:57 am
#30
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Because people know to book directly from WN. And, as emcampbe already pointed out, many of those buyers choose WN because they perceive it as a "low-cost" airline, which is arguably an out-of-date perception.
WN has a very different business model with a different customer base, which has been trained to book directly.
The people who would book from UA directly already do; the Expedia set is a very different customer base.
WN has a very different business model with a different customer base, which has been trained to book directly.
The people who would book from UA directly already do; the Expedia set is a very different customer base.
I think WN wins by saying "we wont play that game" when it comes to search engine fare transparency, and that's probably true. Just not sure UA wouldn't be in the same boat by pulling off Expedia specifically. Sure maybe a couple deep discount tickets slip, but more seats are open for thier target market <2 week advance purchase business travel.