Delta Drops Online Site Fares

By Terry Green
Dec 27 2010

Delta Airlines announced this morning that they would end their business with three lesser known online travel sites in the US.

Delta made the announcement on the back-end of American Airlines and their very public dispute with several of the online travel sites. American Airlines has decided that they will no longer allow many of the online sites to use third-party sites to track and report fares.

However, Delta announced that they are only pulling their fares from the three lesser known travel sites to encourage more customers to visit their site. But the airline spokesman said that the company would continue to do business with the bigger and better known online travel sites.

The dispute between American and many of the online companies has sparked renewed interest in how the airlines will continue without the sites. There are some who believe that the airlines rely heavily on the travel websites to book fares at discounted rates when they are not able to book them.

Still there is a push to lower fees and make it possible for everyone in the business to make money and that is what American Airlines is hoping for when the dust settles. But the companies, that include Orbitz and Expedia, do not appear to be budging from their position.

Delta has said that they are comfortable with the current system that the online travel sites use. However, they have announced a possible fare jump before summer 2011.