The trial in the district court of Tarrant County, Texas, is now slated to kick off on August 6, 2012, instead of the previously slated date, June 13, 2012.

The effect of the ruling is that the truce in the airline-GDS war will remain in effect for a couple of months longer.

American Airlines and Sabre have been battling on the legal front over antitrust issues, and in the marketplace over a new contract, distribution economics and direct-connect.

Sabre issued a statement about Judge Donald Crosby’s extension ruling, noting that the GDS vendors’ travel agency and corporate customers, as well as consumers using sites such as Travelocity, will have access to American Airlines’ fares through the end of the trial.

Sabre spokeswoman Nancy St. Pierre adds:

  We are disappointed with the extension, as it yet again delays the long-term certainty Sabre’s agency and corporate customers have told us is important and which we are dedicated to achieving. It’s unfortunate that AA has chosen a path of litigation with Sabre, particularly since the airline is now focused on its bankruptcy. Our preference is to negotiate with AA and we continue to call on the airline to work with us to reach a deal that meets the needs of all constituents.

In turn, American Airlines states:

American has always been open to resolving our disputes and entering into a fair, new agreement with Sabre through negotiations. Despite American’s past efforts, we have not been able to reach such a resolution. Because we have discovered that Sabre engaged in serious misconduct in violation of the antitrust laws, however, we intend to pursue our losses, absent an agreed resolution. This is just a brief extension, but it is important to give American breathing room to focus on both its successful restructuring efforts and this lawsuit. As a reminder, American’s current distribution agreement with Sabre will remain in effect until 14 days after the conclusion of the Texas antitrust lawsuit.

• The common stock of AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange prior to January 5, NYSE Regulation announced. Trading under the stock symbol AMR, the stock closed January 3 at $0.29 per share. To remain listed, AMR would have had to trade at $1 per share or higher for the previous 30 days. AMR is in the midst of a Chapter 11 reorganization and it apparently won’t be using its stock as a viable fundraising method.

• The American Society of Travel Agents released its annual Technology and Web Usage Report and the most dramatic change in 2011 was the finding that 65% of travel agents provide their clients with mobile access to their itineraries, up from 20% in 2010. In the travel agency owner and manager survey, sponsored by Sabre, 39% of agencies indicated they use CRM (customer relationship management) software, and the chief technology issues cited was “keeping up with technology changes and justifying the return on technology investment,” ASTA says.

• ARC, the US-based airline-owned settlement organization, named Bonnie Reitz as chairman (or chairperson) of the board. Reitz, who was Continental Airlines’ senior vice president of marketing, sales and distribution during its turnaround years under Gordon Bethune, replaces David Landuyt as ARC chairman. Landuyt gets the honorary title, chairman emeritus.

• Cheapflights has had a complaint against it over the availability of flights at particular prices from London to Colombia upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. While the ASA acknowledged wording on the website that “prices were subject to availability” and “check with the advertiser at the time of booking”, it also noted that the complainant said he was willing to travel on any dates to avail of the fares.  The authority also ruled the wording was insufficient in terms of making clear that flights at the stated prices might be “extremely limited”.

Third placed American added 1% market share to its previous showing as Delta lost 0.25%.

JetBlue also shed 0.5% market share over the same period.

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending December 24 2011:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia	www.expedia.com	12.07%	1
2	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	9.33%	2
3	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	6.79%	3
4	Yahoo! Travel	travel.yahoo.com	6.00%	5
5	CheapOair	www.cheapoair.com	5.92%	4
6	Bing Travel	www.bing.com/travel	5.83%	-
7	Travelocity	www.travelocity.com	5.73%	6
8	Kayak	www.kayak.com	4.84%	7
9	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	4.52%	8
10	Cheap Tickets	www.cheaptickets.com	2.67%	9

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	7.86%	1
2	Southwest Airlines Travel Guide	travel.southwest.com	2.73%	6
3	Marriott International	www.marriott.com	2.68%	2
4	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	2.59%	3
5	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	2.33%	5
6	Hilton Hotels Online	www.hilton.com	2.06%	4
7	Booking.com	www.booking.com	1.69%	7
8	Carnival Cruise Lines	www.carnival.com	1.53%	8
9	Walt Disney World	disneyworld.disney.go.com	1.37%	10
10	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.28%	9

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Southwest Airlines	www.southwest.com	24.03%	1
2	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	12.82%	2
3	American Airlines	www.aa.com	10.20%	3
4	JetBlue Airways	www.jetblue.com	6.81%	4
5	Continental Airlines	www.continental.com	6.48%	5
6	US Airways	www.usairways.com	5.54%	6
7	United Airlines	www.united.com	5.42%	7
8	AirTran Airways	www.airtran.com	4.33%	8
9	Allegiant Air	www.allegiantair.com	3.09%	-
10	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	3.05%	9

Travel search terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	mapquest	4.66%	0.39%	99.61%	1
2	google maps	1.64%	2.56%	97.44%	2
3	southwest airlines	1.28%	32.99%	67.01%	3
4	maps	0.87%	0.98%	99.02%	4
5	map quest	0.67%	1.77%	98.23%	5
6	google earth	0.62%	21.22%	78.78%	8
7	travelocity	0.58%	60.88%	39.12%	7
8	expedia	0.57%	57.46%	42.54%	6
9	continental airlines	0.54%	8.27%	91.73%	9
10	american airlines	0.52%	3.79%	94.21%	-

NB: Data couresy of Experian Hitwise

There has been much conjecture on how it will all play out,  but Sabre now says that American Airlines’ two antitrust lawsuits against Sabre could be resolved before the airline reorganizes and emerges from bankruptcy.

That nugget emerged as Sabre filed a motion in bankruptcy court December 8 to enable it to make counter-claims against American Airlines in federal and state court proceedings in Texas.

If Sabre’s motion is granted — and it says American Airlines is onboard with it — the bankruptcy court in New York would grant Sabre relief from an automatic stay against such legal actions which the airline would normally get because its parent filed for Chapter 11 protection.

Sabre says American Airlines’ state and federal antitrust lawsuits are on a fast-track and could be resolved before the airline reorganizes.

“Granting stay relief benefits American’s creditors because it ensures a timely resolution of the litigation, which will likely occur before American emerges from Chapter 11, or even before creditors vote on a plan of reorganization,” Sabre’s motion said. “Indeed, granting relief permits the parties to expeditiously determine their liabilities and provides certainty to other creditors in the reorganization process.”

In the state court lawsuit in Tarrant County, Texas, pretrial hearings are slated for June 11, 2012, Sabre says.

And, Sabre has a legal army working on the case, noting it “has employed over 100 attorneys in connection with discovery alone” in the state case.

There have been developments in the federal antitrust case in the last few days, as well.

American Airlines on December 5 filed a second amended complaint against Sabre, Travelport and Orbitz in the airline’s federal antitrust case in Fort Worth, Texas.

It’s impossible to tell what new ground American Airlines is trying to cover in its amended antitrust case against its two global distribution partners because the complaint has been sealed by the court.

Last month, the judge in the federal case threw out several claims against Travelport, Sabre and Orbitz in American Airlines’ initial complaint.

It is interesting that Orbitz is included as a defendant in American’s second amended complaint in the federal case because the judge terminated Orbitz as a defendant in the original complaint.

In the federal case, pretrial motions are due by June 15, 2012, Sabre says.

Sabre and American, which saw one of their contracts expire in August, have agreed to a status quo regarding commercial actions against one another until the court cases are resolved.

The hope — among some, at least — is that court verdicts will break the impasses in their negotiations.

Unless, of course, you believe that Baldwin and Christie themselves came out of it looking the worse for wear in comparison.

As you may recall, Baldwin [30 Rock, The Hunt for Red October and Married to the Mob etc.] was kicked off an American Airlines flight December 6 after refusing to turn off his smartphone while playing Zynga’s Words with Friends  while the aircraft was idling on the tarmac away from the gate.

Baldwin claims a flight attendant ordered him to turn off his mobile device and singled him out for special mistreatment.

But, American Airlines later took to its Facebook page and, without identifying Baldwin, gave a different account of the incident. American Airlines stated:

The passenger ultimately stood up (with the seat belt light still on for departure) and took his phone into the plane’s lavatory. He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked.

During and after the incident, Baldwin, who described himself as an extremely loyal American Airlines frequent flyer, tweeted that this kind of treatment from airline staff shows why American Airlines’ parent entered bankruptcy, and he reportedly tweeted:

“Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950′s find jobs as flight attendants.”

His latter tweet managed to be a multifaceted insult to flight attendants, retirees, Catholics and gym teachers, all in one fell swoop.

Baldwin, who apparently deactivated his Twitter account, took to Huff Post Travel  December 7 and apologized to his fellow passengers because the aircraft was forced to return to the gate as authorities removed him from the flight.

But, the actor wouldn’t let go of his flight attendant as gym teacher rant, writing: “The lesson I’ve learned is to keep my phone off when the 1950′s gym teacher is on duty.”

Wiser heads must have at least convinced him to drop the “Catholic school gym teachers” reference.

Histrionics and social media storms aside, the Baldwin incident does raise legitimate tech issues about airlines and the use of mobile devices.

Is using a mobile device on the ground or in the air a threat to aviation security or have flight-security rules become vastly outdated, as many have argued?

Meanwhile, aviation security wasn’t the issue during the evening of December 7 when New Jersey governor Christie showed up in the first presidential caucus state, Iowa, to endorse former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.

Christie was heckled by protesters chanting, “put people first.”

Among Christie’s misplaced retorts, he told the crowd, referring to the protesters:

So now they’re angry but they’re not mature enough to know they should be angry with themselves. I hope you all enjoyed it. They’ll be working at the Marriott down the street. Please remember to tip your waiters and waitresses, all right?

So, in today’s discourse in social media and other public airwaves, flight attendants are compared with Catholic school gym teachers of the 1950s and protesters get dissed by a public official as mere waiters and waitresses from the “Marriott down the street.”

Regardless of your take on Christie’s political views, from his remarks you’d think that working in a restaurant at a Marriott hotel is something to be ashamed of.

Marriott or someone else should set him straight.

Here’s the Christie video from NBC:

The decision to file coincides with an announcement of the retirement of chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey. He will be replaced by Thomas Horton.

The airline says it expects to continue normal operations during the Chapter 11 process, a procedure which allows companies to continue while wholesale changes are made to improve the financial footing of a business.

A statement says:

“We took this action in order to achieve a cost and debt structure that is industry competitive and thereby assure our long-term viability and ability to continue delivering a world-class travel experience for customers.”

The Wall Street Journal says the company has around $4.1 billion in “unrestricted cash and short-term investments”, allowing it to pay suppliers and other partners during the Chapter 11 procedure.

The airline filed a third quarter loss in November, blaming fuel expenses which have jumped 40% year-on-year.

Horton has spent 22 years with the airline, most recently as president of both AMR and AA. Today’s move is the first time in its history the airline has had to file for Chapter 11, making it the last of the major so-called legacy carriers in the US to do so.

The move follows last week’s disappointing loss in the US courts as it saw four our of five of its antitrust claims against Orbitz Worldwide and Travelport thrown out.

Horton says:

“American serves 260 airports in more than 50 countries and territories, and we are committed to maintaining a strong presence in worldwide markets.

“I am confident American will emerge even stronger as a global leader known for excellence and innovation, a travel partner customers seek out, and a carrier that serves communities throughout the world.”

So does the Chapter 11 filing mean it’s game over for American Airlines’ direct-connect push and its battles with Sabre and Travelport?

“I would say that remains to be seen, to be determined,” says travel attorney Mark Pestronk.

In other words, with Horton in and Arpey out, a reorganized American Airlines can decide whether it needs to alter its current distribution strategy.

In prior airline bankruptcies, carriers have used Chapter 11 proceedings to reject union contracts and office leases, but they never have tossed out GDS contracts, Pestronk says.

At any rate, American Airlines will have several months to decide about GDS contracts, Pestronk says, adding that the bankuptcy court for the Southern District of New York must decide on contracts before confirming the reorganization plan at the end of the proceedings.

The travel attorney says American Airlines’ antitrust lawsuits against Sabre and Travelport would not necessarily be impacted by the bankruptcy filing because the airline is the plaintiff in the cases.

Of course, American’s financial maneuverings could spur a settlement and new contract agreements with the GDS companies, if that is the approach that Horton wants to take.

Travelport declined to comment on AMR Corp.’s bankruptcy filing, and a Sabre spokeswoman says travel agents will still have access to American Airlines’ content and no near-term changes in the business relationship are expected.

“We are not going to comment on any potential implications of AA’s bankruptcy filing regarding the airline’s litigation against us or our relationship with AA,” says the Sabre spokeswoman, Nancy St. Pierre.

The airline’s debt structure will be part of the reorganization plan and the airline would have more time to pay on a reduced debt load.

In the bankruptcy filing, AMR Corp. says it has $29.5 billion in debts and $24.7 billion in assets.

Travel-related company which are among the 50 largest creditors include Hewlett Packard ($30.8 million), which is building American Airlines’ new reservation system; Boeing ($15.3 million); DFW International Airport ($7.3 million); Sky Chefs ($7 million); BCD Travel ($2.7 million) and Carlson Wagonlit Travel ($2.5 million).

Note: Dennis Schaal contributed to this story.

News of the sealed order came from a posting with some of the bare details on Pacer.gov, a governmental website about court proceedings.

All of American Airlines’ claims against Orbitz Worldwide were dismissed; the judge dropped four of the five antitrust claims against Travelport; and Sabre says two of the airline’s “primary claims” against it were dismissed, although an unspecified number of other claims can move forward.

Since the Nov. 21 court order was sealed, figuring out the nuances of the rulings was difficult. However, this clearly was a setback for American Airlines.

The website, part of the governmental Pacer system, indicates that Judge Terry R. Means in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth granted Orbitz Worldwide’s motion to dismiss on Nov. 21.

Orbitz didn’t provide further details.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Travelport states that the federal judge dismissed four of the five claims that American Airlines made against Travelport.

Travelport states the claims dismissed included allegations that:

(1) Travelport monopolizes distribution to travel agencies; (2) Travelport entered into a conspiracy with travel agencies to monopolize distribution; (3) Travelport’s agreements with airlines and travel agencies unlawfully restrain trade; and (4) Travelport’s actions are illegal under Texas state law.

The judge let stand, however, American Airlines’ claim that “Travelport monopolizes access to Travelport’s current travel agency subscriber base,” Travelport says.

American Airlines has until Dec. 5 to further amend its complaint, Travelport states, “but is not allowed to reassert the claims tht Travelport’s agreements with airlines and travel agencies unlawfully retrain trade or that Travelport’s actions violate Texas state law.”

Travelport acknowledges it can’t predict the outcome of the ongoing federal case against it, “but does not believe the outcome of this dispute will have a material adverse effect on its results of operations or liquidity position.”

Meanwhile, Sabre stated that the “court dismissed two of AA’s primary claims, including its claim that Sabre was ‘unreasonably restraining competition.”

Sabre noted that the judge gave American Airlines permission to proceed with “other claims,” but only under the assumption that they are factually true, which Sabre denies.

Sabre states:

As to American’s new claims, the court said only that American may file them with the court.  The ruling specifically stated that ‘the Court is not concluding that these claims are plausible and sufficient to survive.’  The court gave Sabre the opportunity to move to dismiss those claims as well.

We believe that all of American’s remaining claims are baseless and we look forward to proving that in court.  We still prefer to negotiate a new distribution agreement with American Airlines that meets the needs of all constituents, despite AA’s interest to use litigation as a negotiating tool.

American Airlines issued a statement about the judge’s rulings:

American is pleased that the court is allowing American’s principal antitrust claims to proceed and that the court has rejected the defendants’ arguments on key legal issues. Most importantly, the court has held that American can proceed with its claims that Sabre has monopolized the market for provision of airline booking services to travel agents, and separate claims that Sabre and Travelport each has unlawfully monopolized the market for the provision of airline booking services to their respective subscribers.

In addition, the order permits American to raise additional antitrust claims based on newly-discovered evidence, including that Sabre unlawfully organized a group boycott against American, and that Sabre and Travelport illegally conspired with each other to prevent competition from American’s direct connect technology.

At this point, we cannot provide details because the order is filed under seal. However, to be clear, the key monopolization claims that American pled were deemed plausible by the court and remain an important part of the case. We are confident in the merits of our claims and will continue vigorously pursuing this litigation.

In a statement, Orbitz Worldwide notes that the judge “dismissed all existing antitrust claims against Orbitz Worldwide that were brought by American Airlines” and Orbitz “has been terminated as a defendant.”

Orbitz continues:

While the Court’s decision does indicate that American can file a new claim, the Court’s Order notes that the Court has not concluded that the claim is plausible or sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. With the dismissal of all of American’s existing antitrust claims, we would prefer that our focus is a new agreement with American that reflects the strong relationship we have had for the past ten years as an important marketing and distribution partner.

It is unclear what the impact of the rulings is in American Airlines’ battles with global distribution systems and Orbitz since litigation remains in place in other courts.

American Airlines and Sabre have agreed to stand down in their contract dispute until a state court rules in an antitrust case — not the federal case cited above — perhaps around June 2012.

In its motion to dismiss, Orbitz Worldwide argued, in part:

This motion is made on the grounds that American’s First Amended Complaint fails to state a claim against Orbitz as a matter of law because: (1) the Subscriber Services Agreement, an alleged unlawful exclusive dealing agreement which forms the basis of American’s claims against Orbitz, is not alleged to—and does not—foreclose a “substantial share” of any pleadedmarket, and American’s Sherman Act claims against Orbitz thus fail as a matter of law.

In its claim, filed April 12, American Airlines alleged that Travelport, which controls Orbitz Worldwide, entered into agreements to stymie competition. American Airlines alleged:

As this Complaint describes, Travelport effectively controls the distribution of airline tickets to a large number of business travelers. American also brings suit against defendant Orbitz Worldwide, LLC, which operates an online travel agency and benefits from Travelport’s monopoly. Travelport has engaged in exclusionary conduct, and Travelport and Orbitz have entered into agreements with one another and with others to exclude competition and maintain Travelport’s monopoly power.

The trio have 47% share of the airline category after Southwest reach 25%,  Delta with 13% and AA with 10%.

Meanwhile, Travelocity was this week pushed down into fifth place amongst the top ten leading agency websites, replaced in fourth position by Cheapoair.

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending November 12 2011:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia	www.expedia.com	11.92%	1
2	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	9.09%	2
3	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	7.02%	3
4	CheapOair	www.cheapoair.com	6.27%	6
5	Travelocity	www.travelocity.com	5.98%	4
6	Yahoo! Travel	travel.yahoo.com	5.88%	5
7	Bing Travel	www.bing.com/travel	5.08%	-
8	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	4.47%	7
9	Kayak	www.kayak.com	4.09%	8
10	Cheap Tickets	www.cheaptickets.com	3.19%	9

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	7.60%	1
2	Marriott International	www.marriott.com	3.43%	2
3	Southwest Airlines Travel Guide	travel.southwest.com	3.06%	6
4	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	2.84%	3
5	Hilton Hotels Online	www.hilton.com	2.42%	5
6	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	2.33%	4
7	Booking.com	www.booking.com	1.89%	7
8	Carnival Cruise Lines	www.carnival.com	1.72%	9
9	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.55%	8
10	Walt Disney World	disneyworld.disney.go.com	1.39%	-

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Southwest Airlines	www.southwest.com	25.22%	1
2	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	12.63%	2
3	American Airlines	www.aa.com	9.91%	3
4	JetBlue Airways	www.jetblue.com	6.78%	4
5	Continental Airlines	www.continental.com	6.42%	5
6	US Airways	www.usairways.com	5.40%	7
7	United Airlines	www.united.com	5.29%	6
8	AirTran Airways	www.airtran.com	4.67%	8
9	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	3.77%	9
10	Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air	www.alaskaair.com	2.94%	10

Travel search terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	mapquest	4.45%	0.45%	99.55%	1
2	southwest airlines	1.88%	23.71%	76.29%	3
3	google maps	1.69%	1.34%	98.66%	2
4	maps	0.91%	0.49%	99.51%	4
5	map quest	0.80%	0.61%	99.39%	5
6	southwest	0.62%	22.21%	77.79%	-
7	expedia	0.59%	50.63%	49.37%	6
8	continental airlines	0.57%	11.59%	88.41%	8
9	google earth	0.56%	26.19%	73.81%	-
10	american airlines	0.55%	7.19%	92.81%	10

NB: Data couresy of Experian Hitwise

Such was the scene this weekend on a flight from London Heathrow to Miami on American Airlines.

Three female passengers were rather “tired and emotional” (Private Eye in the UK readers will know this is the diplomatic form for those that may have consumed more than a unit or two of alcohol).

After various, err, discussions with cabin crew as to why they were no longer being served bottles of wine, crew had to make a decision whether to divert the flight to another city on the US east coast.

The crew decided to continue ahead, despite the increasingly erratic behaviour of the three passengers – also asking other passengers if they would be happy to not only be official witnesses but also, incredibly, assist the crew if the trio needed restraining with plastic handcuffs.

It didn’t come to that. The aircraft eventually made a swift decent into Miami airport, where it was met on-board, in rather dramatic fashion, by a mixture of around 18 police, airport and airline officials.

In the old days, such high drama would just end up as chatter amongst passengers, and probably with their friends, colleagues and family back at home.

Not any more… This from a tweeter on the flight.

In all likelihood, the trio were sent back to the UK, perhaps fined. But they should also probably thank their lucky stars that none of the passengers decided to snap pictures (or even record video) as they were hauled off the flight by Miami’s finest – and then, inevitably, shared all over the web.

NB: Worth saying that the trio were NOT due to attend the PhoCusWright conference .

So, the once-public company, which went private four years ago, would start trading on a stock market again.

But, if you are thinking that an IPO would be the exit strategy for private equity owners TPG and Silver Lake Partners, which acquired Sabre for $5 billion in 2007, then think again.

Gilliland says even if Sabre opts for an IPO, then he anticipates TPG and Silver Lake Partners would retain a stake in the company for at least four years thereafter.

Of course, the IPO market is fairly barren at the moment, but that’s OK, as Gilliland refers to TPG and Silverlake Partners as “a patient bunch.”

“We have managed this business conservatively,” Gilliland says. “They are long thinkers and long holders.”

There are exceptions to the “long holders” proposition, Gilliland acknowledges, referring to Silver Lake’s involvement in buying a majority stake in Skype from eBay and then striking a deal  a year-and-a-half later in May to sell it to Microsoft.

But, Gilliland says the company has made strategic investments in the business and doesn’t have to manage from a short-term perspective.

Sabre is not currently involved in any sale or consolidation talks, Gilliland says.

This wasn’t the first time Gilliland discussed playing the IPO card, having mentioned the possibility a couple of years ago, but the idea seems to be higher on the agenda these days.

The Sabre CEO also talked about trends in the company’s four business lines in a group discussion with assembled media at Sabre headquarters in Southlake, Texas, and in a one-on-one interview later.

The Sabre Travel Network GDS business is Sabre Holdings’ largest revenue driver, followed by Travelocity, then Sabre Airline Solutions and Sabre Hospitality, with Gilliland describing the latter as the smallest and fastest growing.

The markets will “highly value” the fact that Sabre Airline Solutions uses an SaaS model “if we become a public company again,” Gilliland says.

Gilliland confirmed that Sabre views its Travelocity business, including the Travelocity brand, Lastminute.com and Zuji, as core to the overall company.

Gilliland and other Sabre officials touched on other hot-button issues.

Travelocity and Cheapoair

Asked about September 2011 comScore  statistics showing that the Fareportal Media Group, including Cheapoair, overtook Travelocity and secured the #4 spot in terms of monthly unique visitors among online travel agencies in the U.S., Gilliland says those sorts of numbers can be directionally helpful, but Travelocity focuses on its own numbers.

People should also consider “the quality of the traffic rather than the raw numbers,” Gilliland says.

Asked how the online business would take the next step in creating a larger footprint in the European hotel competition, Gilliland said Lastminute.com is poised to differentiate itself with some new product launches in the next several weeks.

Southwest Airlines 

With Southwest Airlines mulling a new reservations system provider and having narrowed the candidates to Sabre and Amadeus, Gilliland says he hopes Southwest continues to view Sabre as a good partner.

About the competition with Madrid-based Amadeus, Gilliland says: “We do understand how to service this market. We are just down the street. They know us well and we have very good relationships with their senior management team.”

Orbitz-American Express Deal

Travelocity has been powering the American Express Consumer Travel site for several years, but will be replaced next year by Orbitz, which also plans on gaining a foothold with Amex agents by paying them 12% commissions on hotel bookings.

Asked about the loss of that Amex business, Gilliland merely says it’s a “competitive marketplace” and “sometimes you lose.”

Virgin America Cutover

Virgin America migrated its Ifly reservations system over the weekend to SabreSonic for reservations and airport check-ins, but as of Nov. 2 still had a notification on its website alerting customers to problems with website bookings, viewing upcoming flights,  extended hold times in its call center and long lines at the airport.

“We’ve been pleased with the progress of a transition of this scale and scope to date,” said Abby Lunardini, a Virgin America spokeswoman, Nov. 1. “We are still working through some of the final Web functionality issues, which is to be expected given the scope of a project like this — and we are appreciative of the patience of our guests.”

It turns out that in addition to transitioning to SabreSonic, Virgin America itself also changed part of the back-end of its website to mesh with the new Sabre system, Lunardini says.

And that perhaps was another element adding to the complexity of the project.

Hugh Jones, president of Sabre Airline Solutions, says the cutover “met our expectations,” adding that the data migration part of the process “went flawlessly.”

Jones said service at the airports has been “good,” although there’s “always some abnormality” in call center operations during a reservation system cutover because agents are still learning a new system.

American Airlines

Chris Kroeger, Sabre Travel Network’s senior vice president of marketing, says Sabre recently reached out to American Airlines in a bid to restart negotiations on a new GDS participation agreement, but was rebuffed.

Kroeger claims the airline, which has sued Sabre on antitrust grounds, prefers “the courtroom as a path to negotations.”

A spokesman for American Airlines, Ryan Mikolasik, sees it differently.

“We’re willing to negotiate, but the parties are not yet aligned on the value and importance of American’s claims,” Mikolasik says.

The two parties have agreed to continue their current agreements until a Texas court issues a verdict on the matter, which is expected around June 2012.

Google Hotel Finder

Felix Laboy, president of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, revealed that Sabre and the hotels connected to its CRS have been participating in Google Hotel Finder since the Spring.

So, for example, brands such as Affinia, Preferred Hotels, Kimpton and Peninsula, to name a few, appear with pricing in Google Hotel Finder because of their Sabre Hospitality CRS ties when consumers do a hotel search in the relevant market, Laboy says.

There is no extra fee per se from Sabre for hotels to participate — Sabre makes its money on the transaction volumes.

Trust International also is a CRS participant in Google Hotel Finder.

Device Agnostic

Sabre Hospitality plans to release a solution in the second quarter of 2012 which would give hotel websites a uniform appearance regardless if the websites were accessed by desktops, laptops or the panalopy of mobile devices, including tablets.

The solution uses sniffer scripts, which detect the type of device seeking to access the websites. Parts of the solution are written in HTML 5, Sabre officials say, because the iPhone and iPad don’t support Flash.

—–

Note: Dennis Schaal took part in a Sabre-sponsored media event at Sabre headquarters.

The airline captures 22.5% market share in the category, almost 10% ahead of nearest rival Delta and 14% in front of American Airlines.

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending October 29 2011:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia	www.expedia.com	12.02%	1
2	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	9.55%	2
3	Yahoo! Travel	travel.yahoo.com	8.12%	5
4	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	7.10%	3
5	Travelocity	www.travelocity.com	6.27%	4
6	CheapOair	www.cheapoair.com	5.80%	6
7	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	4.59%	7
8	Kayak	www.kayak.com	4.03%	8
9	Cheap Tickets	www.cheaptickets.com	3.28%	9
10	Bing Travel	www.bing.com/travel	2.92%	10

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	7.15%	1
2	Marriott International	www.marriott.com	3.05%	2
3	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	2.59%	3
4	Hilton Hotels Online	www.hilton.com	2.31%	5
5	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	2.29%	4
6	Southwest Airlines Travel Guide	travel.southwest.com	1.74%	8
7	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.69%	9
8	Booking.com	www.booking.com	1.66%	7
9	Carnival Cruise Lines	www.carnival.com	1.53%	6
10	Walt Disney World	disneyworld.disney.go.com	1.34%	10

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Southwest Airlines	www.southwest.com	22.67%	1
2	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	13.00%	2
3	American Airlines	www.aa.com	9.57%	3
4	JetBlue Airways	www.jetblue.com	7.23%	4
5	Continental Airlines	www.continental.com	7.21%	5
6	United Airlines	www.united.com	5.82%	6
7	US Airways	www.usairways.com	5.44%	7
8	AirTran Airways	www.airtran.com	4.78%	8
9	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	3.58%	10
10	Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air	www.alaskaair.com	2.89%	9

Travel search terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	mapquest	4.30%	0.17%	99.83%	1
2	google maps	1.60%	0.49%	99.51%	2
3	southwest airlines	1.24%	30.89%	69.11%	3
4	maps	0.88%	0.18%	99.82%	4
5	map quest	0.81%	0.54%	99.46%	5
6	expedia	0.70%	49.92%	50.08%	7
7	travelocity	0.56%	65.80%	34.20%	9
8	american airlines	0.54%	8.21%	91.79%	-
9	google earth	0.52%	16.60%	83.40%	10
10	continental airlines	0.51%	7.41%	92.59%	-

NB: Data couresy of Experian Hitwise

• HipGeo added a Trips feature to its free iPhone app, enabling users to take photos and share their trips and destinations on an animated map and through slideshows. There’s also a HipGeo player, available for embedding purposes on websites and blogs, the company says.

• The Madeira Promotion Bureau has unveiled a blog with hints and tips on where to go and what to see in the destination as well as videos. The yourmadeira service, which includes links to social media such as Madeira’s Facebook page, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube will be regularly updated with tips, blog posts and additional imagery.

• Tours and experiences specialist Isango has unveiled a theatre breaks offering for London. The justlondontheatrebreaks site marks a departure for Isango, taking the company beyond just standalone experiences and enables consumers to package up hotels and shows. Isango claims to only offer premium seats and centrally located hotels and says it may incorporate justlondontheatre breaks into the main site going forward.

• Frommer’s has produced a series of e-books taking chapters from its most popular guidebooks and combining them with detailed maps and links to hotels, tour operators and transport so consumers only pay for what they need. So far 50 Frommer’s ShortCuts are available to download for a charge.

• American Airlines  customers who use online check-in — and those who don’t — will now be able to take advantage of curbside check-in for international flights, including for destinations requiring a visa. This makes “American the only airline to provide a convenient service of this kind,” the carrier claims. American has been expanding the curbside check-in service to 28 airports in the US which already handle check-ins for domestic service.

Third placed American Airlines added a nominal 0.25% on its previous showing, but JetBlue lost its fourth position to Continental.

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending October 15 2011:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia	www.expedia.com	12.51%	1
2	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	9.68%	2
3	Yahoo! Travel	travel.yahoo.com	7.75%	7
4	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	7.07%	3
5	Travelocity	www.travelocity.com	6.21%	4
6	CheapOair	www.cheapoair.com	5.60%	5
7	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	5.06%	6
8	Kayak	www.kayak.com	4.05%	9
9	Cheap Tickets	www.cheaptickets.com	3.14%	10
10	Onetravel.com	www.onetravel.com	2.52%	-

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	7.00%	1
2	Marriott International	www.marriott.com	3.05%	2
3	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	2.64%	3
4	Hilton Hotels Online	www.hilton.com	2.40%	5
5	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	2.38%	4
6	Southwest Airlines Travel Guide	travel.southwest.com	2.22%	7
7	Carnival Cruise Lines	www.carnival.com	1.75%	6
8	Booking.com	www.booking.com	1.61%	8
9	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.57%	9
10	Choice Hotels International	www.choicehotels.com	1.38%	10

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Southwest Airlines	www.southwest.com	24.38%	1
2	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	13.32%	2
3	American Airlines	www.aa.com	9.69%	3
4	Continental Airlines	www.continental.com	6.71%	5
5	JetBlue Airways	www.jetblue.com	6.47%	4
6	United Airlines	www.united.com	5.61%	6
7	US Airways	www.usairways.com	5.45%	7
8	AirTran Airways	www.airtran.com	4.44%	8
9	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	3.65%	9
10	Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air	www.alaskaair.com	3.06%	-

Travel search terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	mapquest	4.21%	0.36%	99.14%	1
2	google maps	1.67%	0.30%	99.70%	2
3	southwest airlines	1.22%	30.31%	69.69%	4
4	mapquest driving directions	1.19%	0.29%	99.71%	3
5	maps	1.00%	0.47%	99.53%	5
6	map quest	0.82%	0.12%	99.88%	6
7	expedia	0.62%	51.97%	48.03%	7
8	travelocity	0.58%	57.23%	42.77%	8
9	southwest	0.52%	22.70%	77.30%	-
10	google earth	0.47%	16.25%	83.75%	-

NB: Data couresy of Experian Hitwise

Amadeus isn’t detailing what the duration is of its medium-term agreement.

Sabre and American Airlines previously agreed to extend their content agreement until 14 days after a state court in Texas decides the airline’s antitrust litigation against Sabre.

So with interim agreements with three major global distribution systems lined up, the great GDS-American Airlines showdown of 2011 over direct-connect and economic issues has apparently been pushed well into 2012.

Under the Amadeus-American pact, Amadeus travel agencies in the US (including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and the Caribbean will continue to have access to American Airlines’ fares and inventory without the fear of surcharges being leveled against them.

Amadeus states:

Amadeus is committed to delivering broad and relevant distribution content to our subscribers around the world, and to best serve the interests of both travel agents and travelers. We are sending an email letter to our U.S. travel agency customers today regarding this development. American Airlines will also be issuing a brief press release as well.

On their respective websites, both Traxo and AwardWallet imply that Southwest’s no-tracking policy is hypocritical, given the airline’s self-portrait: “We like to think of ourselves as a Customer Service Company that happens to fly airlines.”

Traxo and AwardWallet provide contact information for Southwest and both ask consumers to gently ask Southwest to enable the restoration of RapidRewards points’ tracking on their sites.

The development occurs as The Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney reports that Southwest and American Airlines over the last year have sent cease and desist letters to various mileage and points’ tracking sites, demanding that they halt retrieving such data from the airline websites.

These two airlines traditionally have been the most aggressive in the US in taking steps to protect what they view as their intellectual property.

Consumers generally provide loyalty program tracking sites with their account numbers and passwords and then the sites automatically update changes to program tallies on their respective websites so travelers can easily access all their accounts in one place.

But, according to The Wall Street Journal story, Southwest argues that the tracking sites pose a security risk to passenger information and American Airlines’ objects to AA.com getting scraped for data.

And, to compound matters, many airlines argue that mileage and points account information actually belongs to airlines and not to travelers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Meanwhile, in a quick survey, Traxo, TripIt, AwardWallet, MileWise and GoMiles all were still automatically tracking American Airlines AAdvantage miles, but none were doing so for Southwest RapidRewards.

Some of these sites, though, enable members to manually post their Southwest RapidRewards points.

A spokesman for American Airlines, citing “pending legal matters,” declined to detail which companies received cease and desist letters or complied or didn’t comply.

Without providing specifics, Michael Komarnitsky, CEO of GoMiles.com, says the company is “comfortable with our current relationship with Southwest and American airlines.”

Komarnitsky argues that GoMiles “delivers a strong value proposition to operators — driving up user engagement for their loyalty programs, driving user transactions in the form of promotion signups, points-based redemption and cash-based redemption, and encourage excitement about loyalty programs overall.”

Meanwhile, Andres Fabris,  co-founder and CEO of Traxo, confirms the company received a cease and desist letter from Southwest “and took action.”

A number of these companies are known to have negotiated or are negotiating data rights agreements with American Airlines.

In my keynote at this week’s Computerized Airline Sales & Marketing Association (CASMA) conference in Beijing, I wanted to create a vision of what an airline that is serious about Direct Connect (DC) as a distribution option should work toward.

That vision, unlike most of the conversation around DC to date, included a significant paradigm shift in the way airlines think about travel agent distribution.

First, I think it’s important to remind everyone of the material benefits that accrue to an airline from a successful DC deployment.

These include:

• Targeting offers based on internal airline assessments and intelligence driven off of customer relationship management (CRM) data.
• Representation of carrier’s value proposition as the carrier desires.
• Offering transparency (“shopping”) to the end-user, but is more opaque to competitors.
• Driving loyalty, enhanced revenue via ancillary sales and higher customer satisfaction.
• Reduced GDS requirements around fare shopping and potentially reduce some GDS-related costs.
• Improved data quality via fare certainty – you price it so you know it’s right.

In my honest opinion, DC is the smartest airline strategy I’ve heard since Bob Crandall announced the B-scale pay system in the 1980′s as a way to rapidly grow American Airlines.

You can see that this is an approach that, if implemented properly, could really make a difference in the profitability and competitiveness of a carrier.

Second, it’s important for carriers to be realistic about what travel agency distribution “nirvana” looks like and understand that going in.

We are probably somewhere near equilibrium in the US between direct booking and travel agency booking at about 50%-50%.

You can’t fight human nature. People have been seeking advice about travel since time immemorial (“So, Marco Polo, where should I stay when I get to China?”).

In addition, many travelers have either technical access or financial system access problems that make ecommerce unworkable for them. Finally, business travelers, certainly for public companies, will likely continue to have third-party managed travel.

Travel agents are going to be a very significant part of the US distribution system for a long time to come. And outside the US even more so.

Airlines, however, have conflated agents and GDSs for so long now that it’s difficult for them to see a different kind of relationship.

When an airline looks at agents, it actually sees GDSs. And we know how challenging most airline-GDS relationships are.

ARC faced similar challenges. Agents have sued and taken us to arbitration. ARC’s role in providing timely payment to airlines on agent sales sometimes put us in the bad guy position. And especially in the paper ticket era, we had some pretty onerous policies and practices – for good reasons, but still…

And today, we offer more optional services to agents than ever. But, many agents’ attitudes were: “ARC? Why would I ever buy anything from them?”

We set out to change those attitudes and become a place that was friendlier, more open and collaborative and ultimately be seen as someone agents would like to do business with.

We started with a corporate identity shift and back that image up with new services such as our non-air ticketing agent accreditation and outreach to over 40 agencies with in-depth Voice of the Customer interviews, a more open relationship with ASTA and other steps to make that image more concrete.

And it’s delivering results. Our treatment by formerly hostile agent media outlets like Travel Weekly (US) have noticed and, while still rightly skeptical, regularly applaud ARC actions in more even-handed fashion.

Non-air ticketing agents have grown to a community of over 1,400 and products like our service-fee program and even data sales to agents are seeing meaningful growth.

We have a long way to go, but we’re moving the needle. The message to airlines? It can be done.

Airline perceptions, however, are stuck. I’m sad to say that comments around airline headquarters like these are all too common:

• “Agencies are parasites. I’m paying for their success/lifestyle”
• “Agencies are a source of fraud”
• “Agencies are pawns of the GDSs”
• “Agencies don’t present my brand/value prop as I like”
• “We deal with them because we have to”

Of course, airline feelings aren’t the only ones being hurt. Agents are equally unhappy:

• “No way to contact them”
• “They outsourced their audits and we get tons of arbitrary and petty debit memos”
• “Treat us all the same”
• “I don’t even want to sell airline tickets any more”

Even OTAs bring benefits that carriers often don’t include in their calculations. For example, OTA cash sales are up 100,000 tickets per month versus 2010!

That’s driving $600 million in ticket sales where there’s no merchant fee to the airline – saving carriers in the US, for example, in the order of $15 million so far this year on credit card fees.

All this is apparently being driven by OTA package bundling where they act as merchant and pay the airline via ARC settlement in cash. I wonder if this calculation is factored into the airline-OTA dynamic?

At the end of it all, is it really a good idea to have 50,000 or more travel agents out there who don’t like you very much? Selling a local cruise or drive package instead of an airline ticket? Are these sustainable or wise business practices?

Worst of all were comments from a pretty big agent that signed up for Direct Connect.

• “I signed up for Direct Connect. I’m sorry I did.”
• “They treat me no differently than they did before.”

Ouch! So if DC is really worth doing, how SHOULD an airline think about agents? The first thing to do is realize your DC agents will actually be selling in a channel you actually like! Whoa!

The question is, can the airline peel apart the long-held beliefs that GDS equals agents, and vice-versa? If so, the next step is to decide how to treat them.

It’s a well-established fact that what customers desire (whether they say so or not) is a better EXPERIENCE. Airline loyalty programs prove this. Frequent flyers aren’t given cash. They’re promised a better experience. It obviously works, drives (sometimes crazy) customer behavior and costs less.

In my view, carriers need to start with internal work:

• Articulate the DC vision – distinguish clearly between GDSes and agents
• Understand throughout the company that the “what’s-good-for-agents-is-good-for-GDSes-so-we-won’t-lift-a-finger” model no longer applies in a DC world
• Squash the agent-as-parasite talk
• Don’t fight human nature – third-parties will sought or be required by a substantial part of the market. Make it work FOR you – your competition may hang on to the old attitudes and you can steal a march on them
• Understand that airline revenues are a modest part of most agencies’ revenue

Then you can start to outline the experiential differences you want to deliver to DC agents. Ideas might include more robust communications, targeting individual agents (people!) as well as the agency itself, training, sales aids, feedback loops (social media, IM and email) and technical support.

A biggie might be a commitment to no debit memos. Hate doesn’t begin to describe agent feelings towards debit memos, and there shouldn’t really ever be any in a DC environment, should there?

Given the significant benefits of DC, some modest reinvestment into the agency channel seems both affordable and game-changing.

In conclusion:

• Agents and agencies want a different kind of relationship.
• ARC’s experience shows it can be done.
• Direct Connect is a highly desirable distribution solution.
• Resistance to change is high for financial and technical reasons.
• Creating a more fulsome and rewarding Direct Connect agency experience will multiply a carrier’s odds of success.

Getting, say, 30,000 agents who actually sell through a channel a carrier likes and who treat their product and brand as they want should be pretty powerful.

Agency distribution nirvana may not be that far away.

NB: This is a guest article by Mike Premo, president and CEO of ARC (Airlines Reporting Corp).

The pair have a combined share in the category of 37%, more than American Airlines, Continental, JetBlue and United put together.

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending October 1 2011:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia	www.expedia.com	12.53%	1
2	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	9.77%	2
3	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	7.59%	3
4	Yahoo! Travel	travel.yahoo.com	7.57%	4
5	Travelocity	www.travelocity.com	6.12%	5
6	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	5.42%	7
7	CheapOair	www.cheapoair.com	5.36%	6
8	Kayak	www.kayak.com	4.26%	8
9	Cheap Tickets	www.cheaptickets.com	2.87%	9
10	bookingbuddy	www.bookingbuddy.com	2.62%	10

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	7.78%	1
2	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	2.90%	3
3	Marriott International	www.marriott.com	2.80%	2
4	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	2.41%	4
5	Hilton Hotels Online	www.hilton.com	2.17%	5
6	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.71%	7
7	Carnival Cruise Lines	www.carnival.com	1.63%	6
8	Booking.com	www.booking.com	1.59%	9
9	Walt Disney World	disneyworld.disney.go.com	1.37%	-
10	Choice Hotels International	www.choicehotels.com	1.29%	10

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Southwest Airlines	www.southwest.com	22.97%	1
2	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	13.60%	2
3	American Airlines	www.aa.com	9.56%	3
4	Continental Airlines	www.continental.com	7.07%	5
5	JetBlue Airways	www.jetblue.com	6.99%	4
6	United Airlines	www.united.com	5.89%	6
7	US Airways	www.usairways.com	5.59%	7
8	AirTran Airways	www.airtran.com	4.74%	8
9	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	3.34%	10
10	Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air	www.alaskaair.com	2.81%	9

Travel search terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	mapquest	4.03%	0.17%	99.83%	1
2	google maps	1.69%	0.31%	99.69%	2
3	mapquest driving directions	1.07%	0.25%	99.75%	3
4	southwest airlines	1.04%	48.21%	51.79%	4
5	maps	0.87%	0.37%	99.63%	5
6	map quest	0.76%	0.39%	99.61%	6
7	expedia	0.63%	49.95%	50.05%	7
8	travelocity	0.50%	62.68%	37.32%	9
9	southwest	0.46%	35.01%	64.99%	-
10	google earth	0.45%	24.78%	75.22%	10

NB: Data couresy of Experian Hitwise

The saga returned again today, with Travelport triumphant after a court in the US state of Illinois preserved the tech firm’s injunction against AA from June 2011.

The saga dates back to late-2010 when Travelport sued and moved for a temporary restraining order to stop American Airlines pulling its fares from Orbitz, the online travel agency in which the GDS has a 48% share.

A court overturned the decision in December, effectively removing the airline’s fares from Orbitz but also triggering support from rival GDSs such as Sabre and eventually leading to Expedia showing unusual solidarity and wiping the carrier off its system.

In February this year, Orbitz CEO Barney Harford admitted losing American’s fares from the OTA had impacted on its financial results, but the blockade remained.

The ruling was finally overturned in June, at a court in Illinois, with the airline’s fares placed back on Orbitz and sister agency Orbitz for Business.

The latest decision came about after AA appealed the June decision, but also comes just six weeks after the airline secured a separate agreement with Orbitz to include its fares on the OTA “into 2012″.

Nevertheless, Travelport is claiming yet another victory.

Travelport chief legal officer and chief administrative officer, Eric Bock, says:

“We are very pleased with the Appellate Court’s recognition of our contractual rights. Those rights are critical to protecting our agencies’ ability to have and fully use AA’s content.”

An AA official says via email:

“We are disappointed by the Illinois court decision, and are evaluating our options. In the meantime, the injunction issued against American terminated by its own terms on September 1.

“We have a new interim agreement with Travelport that provides for our continued participation in Orbitz, and we do not expect that to change in the near term.”

American Airlines has the opportunity to appeal the ruling, so victory is not total just yet.

Sabre Travel Network communicated to travel agency customers today that the Texas trial date for the state antitrust litigation between American Airlines and Sabre has been delayed until June 13, 2012.

The two parties have agreed to extend their agreements through the end of a trial, ensuring that American Airlines’ flight data would remain accessible in the Sabre GDS at least through that time.

“We recognize waiting that long to resolve this is not what our customers want,” Chris Kroeger, senior vice president of marketing for the Sabre Travel Network, said in the email to customers. “However, as earlier communicated, we have an agreement in place with AA that will ensure your continued access to AA content through the Sabre system through the trial.”

Kroeger said Sabre is “ready to get back to the negotiating table at any time” and alleged “AA prefers litigation to negotiation.”

American Airlines commented: “We are looking forward to presenting the facts to the jury about Sabre’s anticompetitive and retaliatory behavior.”

The low cost carrier now has a 23% share of the entire airline website category in the US, more than Delta and AA combined and over four times more than United.

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending September 10 2011:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia	www.expedia.com	12.53%	1
2	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	9.79%	2
3	Yahoo! Travel	travel.yahoo.com	7.63%	3
4	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	7.23%	4
5	Travelocity	www.travelocity.com	6.04%	5
6	CheapOair	www.cheapoair.com	5.32%	7
7	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	5.28%	6
8	Kayak	www.kayak.com	3.90%	8
9	Cheap Tickets	www.cheaptickets.com	3.02%	9
10	bookingbuddy	www.bookingbuddy.com	2.77%	10

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	7.91%	1
2	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	3.10%	2
3	Marriott International	www.marriott.com	2.97%	3
4	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	2.54%	4
5	Hilton Hotels Online	www.hilton.com	2.12%	5
6	Southwest Airlines Travel Guide	travel.southwest.com	1.89%	10
7	Carnival Cruise Lines	www.carnival.com	1.70%	9
8	Booking.com	www.booking.com	1.65%	6
9	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.54%	7
10	Choice Hotels International	www.choicehotels.com	1.36%	8

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Southwest Airlines	www.southwest.com	23.05%	1
2	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	12.81%	2
3	American Airlines	www.aa.com	9.50%	3
4	JetBlue Airways	www.jetblue.com	7.80%	5
5	Continental Airlines	www.continental.com	6.74%	4
6	US Airways	www.usairways.com	5.82%	6
7	United Airlines	www.united.com	5.76%	7
8	AirTran Airways	www.airtran.com	4.74%	8
9	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	3.41%	9
10	Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air	www.alaskaair.com	2.67%	10

Travel search terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	mapquest	3.86%	0.31%	99.69%	1
2	google maps	1.69%	0.34%	99.66%	2
3	southwest airlines	1.03%	40.53%	59.47%	4
4	mapquest driving directions	1.02%	0.06%	99.94%	5
5	maps	0.91%	1.01%	98.99%	3
6	map quest	0.71%	0.26%	99.74%	6
7	expedia	0.64%	43.95%	56.05%	7
8	travelocity	0.55%	50.11%	49.89%	8
9	google earth	0.48%	17.25%	82.75%	10
10	yahoo maps	0.45%	2.11%	97.89%	-

NB: Data couresy of Experian Hitwise