Will American Airlines withdraw from the Sabre global distribution system before their amended agreement expires at the end of August? And will Sabre bias the airline’s flights if their is no signed renewal at that juncture?
The battle for the hearts and minds of their mutual customers entered a new phase yesterday when Chris Kroeger, Sabre’s senior vice president of marketing, penned an email to customers alleging: “Recently, American Airlines (AA), through discussions and presentations with travel agencies and corporations, has indicated that it could be completely out of the Sabre global distribution system as of June 1, 2011.”
For the record, Ryan Mikolasik, a spokesman for American Airlines, acknowledges that the airline has been meeting with agency and corporate customers about contingencies if Sabre or another GDS disrupts or removes the airline’s content.
American Airlines has been informing agencies that it “will adjust our existing Source Premium Policy to accommodate expected changes in our GDS agreements later this summer,” Mikolasik says.
“Despite the confusion created by other parties in this matter, the fact remains we fully intend to uphold our end of the existing agreements,” Mikolasik adds.
For its part, Sabre doesn’t want or intend to remove American Airlines content from the GDS, Kroeger writes.
Kroeger says Sabre will do everything possible to reach a full-content agreement with American Airlines before Aug. 31, but in the interim, customers should “make sure AA is clear on what you require to efficiently operate your business.”
Mikolasik says American Airlines has asked for — and not received — confirmation from Sabre that it will forego biasing actions if their agreement expires with no resolution.
The two parties are battling over distribution economics and American Airlines’ direct-connect policy,which would downplay GDS distribution.
The jockeying for position with overtures to travel agencies and corporate customers has been ongoing for months.
One Sabre customer made light of the skirmishes: “For the record, I’ve quit paying attention to all of the bickering. Wake me up when it’s over, OK?
Of course, the underlying issue is no laughing matter.
This does sound like the negotiations between cable TV systems and channel owners, with the threat of withdrawing the channel, which sometimes really happens, mainly screwing non-participants like the viewing public, or in this case travelers and travel agencies.
Of course AA wants the best deal, but Sabre is fighting for its livelihood.
In meetings with agencies, AA has been telling them that content will be removed from Sabre (and Travelport) without being specific about dates. At that point, they state there will be higher fees to access reduced content, or agencies can use DirectConnect through one of a group of intermediaries. The pitch by AA is that come late summer, there will be such a rush to sign up for DC, that it is better to sign up now, just to try and research it.
Of course this gives AA the ability to go to the GDSs and tell them how many agencies are using DC, as a bargaining chip for lower fees. It is classic fear-mongering by AA, and I hope the agency/TMC community is bright enough to see through it and not play into their trap.
Anon: Yes, and here’s more on the AA effort. http://bit.ly/jfjfkD