American Airlines Drops Top Travel Site Orbitz

The travel reservation system fees finally hit the fan for top worldwide airline American Airlines, which also owns US Airways, when it was announced on Monday August 25, 2014 that fares for AA flights will no longer be available through top travel booking site Orbitz. After extensive negotiations, a deal that kept the airline giant happy and Orbitz site patrons satisfied that they were getting great deals could not be reached and the fares were completely pulled from Orbitz.com. AA owned US Airways is next up to pull their fares off Orbitz.com as well.

In a statement Orbitz spokesperson Chris Chiames confirmed that American’s fares are no longer available on the site and said, “Our sites offer hundreds of airlines which are eager to capture the revenue American is choosing to forgo and we will continue to show our customers a broad range of flight options to thousands of destinations in the U.S. and worldwide.”

For customers holding tickets to future AA flights that were purchased through Orbitz don’t worry, your travel arrangements are still valid and will not be changed. Any changes you need to make on previously booked reservations must be done directly through American Airlines now though as Orbitz is no longer able to service, edit or update those reservations.

According to the Star-Telegram online, “This is not the first time that American has pulled its fares from a travel website. In 2010, it withdrew its fares from Orbitz because the site refused to use a direct connection to American’s reservation system. The carrier also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Orbitz and its parent company, Travelport, which operates the Worldspan and Galileo global distribution systems.”

Reportedly the litigation was settled in 2013 with agreements that extended the co-operative partnership through the end of that year which is what prompted new negotiations this year.

This is an unfortunate turn of events for frequent AA travelers and those that love a great one-stop-shopping experience on Orbitz.com where you can book flights, hotels, cars and travel packages. It remains to be seen how this falling out will impact Orbitz and American Airlines future bookings.