Expedia suspends sale of American Airlines flights [BREAKING]

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I just heard from a spokesman for Expedia a few minutes ago that it has suspended the sale of flights by American Airlines. Expedia revealed the following to Gadling:

“We have been unable to reach an agreement with American Airlines due to American Airlines’ new commercial strategy that we believe is anti-consumer and anti-choice. American Airlines is attempting to introduce a new direct connect model that will result in higher costs and reduced transparency for consumers, making it difficult to compare American Airlines’ ticket prices and options with offerings by other airlines. American Airlines’ direct connect model is of questionable, if any, benefit to travelers, would be costly to build and maintain and would compromise travel agents’ ability to provide travelers with the best selection.

“As a result, the sale of American Airlines flights on our website has been suspended. We remain open to doing business with American Airlines on terms that are satisfactory to Expedia and do not compromise our ability to provide consumers with the products and services they need.

“We cannot support efforts that we believe are fundamentally bad for travelers. With or without American Airlines’ inventory, we have a robust supply base and broad array of choices for our customers and we continue to offer hundreds of flight options for the routes served by American Airlines.”

This follows Expedia‘s decision to hide fares by American Airlines in its search results and American’s move to pull out of Orbitz. Also, Delta has removed its inventory from CheapOair, OneTravel and Bookit.

Lies, discrimination and combat: American Airlines claims sales increase post-Orbitz

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Yesterday, American Airlines announced that it was thanking its customers for their continued loyalty to the airline. It was a fairly predictable move, following the airline’s decision to pull out of Orbitz … which was followed quickly by Expedia’s making it more difficult to find American Airlines fares.

At the same time, the company engaged in a bit of chest-thumping – again, expected in this environment – claiming that overall ticket sales are up year over year since December 21, 2010, when it yanked its flights from Orbitz. Two days later, according to the statement, Expedia.com began discriminating against American’s flights and schedules by listing them lower in the search display than those of other airlines.”

“Our results to date show that consumer choice is alive and well and that our customers continue to have thousands of options to purchase American’s competitive fares and convenient schedules,” said Derek DeCross, American’s Vice President and General Sales Manager. “It is also clear to us that other online travel sites and traditional travel agencies are capitalizing on this market opportunity to gain business. Beyond that, we want to thank our customers and travel partners for their continued loyalty and support. We appreciate your business.”The airline says it’s committed to a wide range of distribution channels, as DeCross added, “Traditionally, airline products have consisted of different flavors of airfares. In the future, however, we envision the world of travel evolving into a much wider variety of products and services beyond fares. Our direct connection will help travel agencies help their own customers by giving them access to customized choices and delivering the best value to travelers. We do not envision a future in which we only sell to our customers through our own branded website. Our goal is to have broad distribution channels and choices for our customers, with our products and services delivered efficiently and without unnecessary costs flowing through the process.”

Okay, so that’s one side of the story. Fortunately, the Business Travel Coalition has weighed in with some comic relief another perspective. In a dramatic statement, written in a style I’ve only seen offered seriously by the Korea Central News Agency, the coalition says, “American Airlines’ (AA) press release distributed this afternoon [referring to December 29, 2010] regarding increased bookings since it pulled its fares out of Orbitz, and had its fares presentation downgraded in Expedia, has a hole in it large enough to fly an Airbus 380 through.”

According to the Business Travel Coalition, the bump in sales is attributed to the fact that American Airlines emailed a special offer to Orbitz customers that included a 20 percent discount on fares purchased before the end of the year on aa.com – which, if nothing else, is a savvy marketing move. Expedia customers received a 15 percent discount with the same timeframe.

Of course, the statement ratchets up the intensity a bit, saying these “targeted sales initiatives [were] instituted just after the combatants’ actions were taken.” Gotta love it: “combatants.”

In fairness, I characterized the struggle using war imagery as far back as December 6, 2010, when it was clear that a significant struggle between the airlines and online travel agencies was brewing.

So, the Business Travel Coalition continues, “In such a price-sensitive environment for consumers, discounts of this magnitude no doubt increased AA’s bookings likely masking the true negative impact of its actions and business predicament. Indeed, these discounts represent the price AA now has to pay to maintain market share.”

And now it’s time for the reality check: everybody’s posturing. And, it’s obvious. American is eager to show that it made the right move in a contentious marketplace that’s only going to become more so. The Business Travel Coalition has made its near-term mission the push for American to return to the online travel agency fold in a manner consistent with the rest of the industry. Both sides want to show that they’re right, and we get to watch.

Inflight masturbation arrest blamed on “spilled hot sauce”

by Scott Carmichael on

A 50 year old Floridian has been arrested after he exposed himself on a flight from Salt Lake City to Lewiston, ID. The man reportedly started masturbating next to a 17 year old girl on the plane, who then moved seats to get away from the pervert.

Upon arrival at the airport, the girl told her father, who contacted the Transportation Security Administration. When TSA officials contacted the local police department, the man was placed under arrest on suspicion of “misdemeanor indecent exposure”.

According to police, the man claims he spilled Tabasco sauce on his crotch, causing him to expose himself and rub violently to reduce the burning and itching.

Of course, anyone that has actually seen a bottle of Tabasco knows that the hot stuff comes out one drip at a time, so spilling enough to set your genitals on fire is a really lousy excuse. He’ll get to use his Tabasco excuse in front of a judge soon, who’ll have to decide whether this really is a case of inflight masturbation or something innocent.

[Photo from Flickr/nromagna]

Galley Gossip: A flight attendant Christmas story

by Heather Poole on
I graduated from flight attendant training on the 8th of December in 1995. Two weeks later, on Christmas Eve, my roommate and I were called out to work a trip – together. The crew scheduling God’s must have been smiling down on us that day because it’s not often a flight attendant gets to work with their roommate who also happens to be their best friend on reserve. Although we were scheduled to layover in Buffalo, or maybe it was Albany (I can’t remember), we knew we were lucky. By the way, that’s us in the photograph.

What I remember most is glancing out the window and seeing rooftops and – Oh. My. God! – we were seconds from landing and I still had first class meal trays out in the cabin! I ran like crazy to collect everything and lock it up in the galley before we touched ground, barely making it to my jump seat in time. The Captain never made the prepare for landing PA, even though he swore he did when I called him on it later, which is why I had no idea how close we were to landing. As if that weren’t stressful enough for a new-hire, things went from bad to worse (at least in my head it did) real quick.

As we taxied to the gate, I began to make an announcement, you know the one. “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to….to….to -” Oh no…where the heck are we?! For the life of me I could not remember. My brain was shot after having flown to so many cities in just two weeks on the job. With my heart pounding like crazy, I frantically searched my pockets for the flight itinerary.

“Buffalo, we’re in Buffalo!” yelled a passenger. Or maybe he said Albany. I still can’t remember. But wherever we were that Christmas Eve, that’s when everyone on board started to laugh – at me. Mortified, I hung my head.

The following day my roommate and I wound up eating Christmas dinner out of a vending machine located on the second floor of our three-star hotel. The restaurant in the hotel was closed and there was nothing else open nearby. Although we would have been much happier eating turkey and dressing at home with our family and friends, we made the best of it with a couple packets of peanut butter crackers and Diet Coke. To this day, fifteen years later, it’s the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever had.

Four months later my roommate quit. I’ll never forget the day my cab pulled up to the curb outside our crash pad in Queens and I spotted her sitting on the stoop smiling from ear to ear. She couldn’t wait to tell me the big news. I hadn’t seen her look so happy since our first day of flight attendant training. The job is not for everyone, and being away from loved ones during the holidays certainly doesn’t make it any easier.

Today I still work for the same airline, and from time to time I still screw up. But not this Christmas! Seniority is everything at an airline and because I work out of New York, the most junior base in the system, I have the day off. New Years Eve, however, is a different story. So for those of you traveling to North Carolina in a few days, consider yourself warned.

NOTE TO SELF: North Carolina, North Carolina, I’m flying to North Carolina!

A special thanks to all the airline employees who went to work today! It’s because of them that many of you are having a very merry Christmas this year.

Photo courtesy of me! (Heather Poole)