Kayak.com and American Airways fight turns ugly

Image via CrunchBase, source unknownNew York – This fight between Kayak and American has become downright ugly. Now we have allegations and lawsuits flying back and forth as both sides stick firmly to their stances. Kayak isn’t exactly in an enviable place, and the user experience is suffering greatly. What exactly is going on here, and will it ever get resolved?

American has decided to step this up in a big way by suing Kayak. You can find the link to the suit here, but it’s basically saying that Kayak needs to stop using American’s fare and availability info immediately, regardless of where it’s coming from. Since Kayak signed an agreement with American originally, American says that once it was terminated they forfeited the right to use their information, even if Orbitz is the one providing it.

Apparently, Kayak seems to think there may be a case here because they have, in fact, stopped showing AA’s flights altogether. Now if you go to Kayak, you’ll see that no American results are returned. Instead, there’s a link in the filters on the side that you can click for “info.” This leads you to a message that says:

We’re sorry, but we are not currently displaying American Airlines‘ fares. We hope to resolve this issue soon. In the meantime, if you are interested in comparing their fares or booking a flight on American Airlines, you can do so by clicking on any of the links below for other travel websites

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know that the “links below” are to Orbitz and CheapTickets. And yes, it does say they’re “sponsored” links.

I have to say, this is a pretty crappy experience. Without availability info from one of the largest airlines, this isn’t exactly a helpful site. So now Kayak is stuck with the very difficult position of deciding which is better for their customers – no online travel agents displaying American’s flights or no American flights at all?

Get entire story on – The Cranky Flier

About the author

Brett Snyder wrote one article on this blog.

My name is Brett, and I’m an airline dork. I’ve had the bug since I was young. As a kid, I never missed a chance to go to LAX and pick up airline timetables. My grandmother even took me to an airport hotel for my birthday one year so I could watch the planes land. By the age of 12, I had become a travel agent. Soon after I was volunteering at Traveler’s Aid. Since then, I’ve worked for USAir (before it was US Airways), America West (uh, also before it was US Airways), Eos (which still isn’t US Airways), and United (which tried to buy US Airways but failed) mostly in revenue management, marketing, and sales. Today, I am out of the industry but the blog keeps me connected.

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