SOUTHWEST NOW ON ORBITZ

[wnbubbleboy]

CHICAGO, June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbitz for Business
(http://www.orbitzforbusiness.com), a leading online corporate travel
agency serving more than one million business travelers, today announced it
has added low-fare carrier Southwest Airlines to its corporate booking
tool.



http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories....6095&EDATE=

 

[FWAAA]

Didn't Orbitz show WN flights a few years ago, without first gaining permission from WN? Or am I thinking of someone else?

IIRC, you couldn't buy WN tix from Orbitz, but Orbitz was showing WN flights and fares.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

Didn't Orbitz show WN flights a few years ago, without first gaining permission from WN? Or am I thinking of someone else?

IIRC, you couldn't buy WN tix from Orbitz, but Orbitz was showing WN flights and fares.

I sorta remember the same thing. Found an article from back then about the lawsuit:


With a little more than a month left before its official launch, Orbitz LLC faces a lawsuit over fare and itinerary information on a preliminary version of its airfare tracking Web site.

Southwest Airlines Co. Friday filed suit against Orbitz in the Central California U.S. District Court for allegedly posting incorrect fare and itinerary information about the Dallas-based economy airline.

Set to launch in June, Orbitz has the financial backing of United Air Lines Inc., American Airlines Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Northwest Airlines Inc. and Continental Airlines Inc.

Southwest has been a notable standout, refusing to participate. Nonetheless, according to the lawsuit, Orbitz has published Southwest flight information.

"This Web site is currently using proprietary information with respect to Southwest's fares and schedules without Southwest's permission," the company said in a statement Friday. "Worse, Orbitz has refused to eliminate false and misleading information from its Web site concerning Southwest's schedules, fares and routes."

"It is with great regret that Southwest must take the extraordinary step of legal action," said Jim Parker, Southwest's vice president and general counsel who is slated to one day become the company's vice chairman and CEO. "But we were not able to convince Orbitz to cease and desist from its misleading, untrue and harmful representations with respect to Southwest's service, schedules, and fares."

According to the lawsuit, Orbitz claimed to publish Southwest's lowest fares.

"Orbitz fails, however, to include in its Web site many of Southwest's lowest fares, such as 'Anniversary,' 'Click 'N Save' and other fares which are oftentimes lower than fares found on the Orbitz Web site and which may be found on Southwest's Internet Web site," the lawsuit said. "Orbitz provides false and/or misleading information concerning Southwest's fares, including fares that are actually higher than the fares offered by Southwest."

The suit also accused Orbitz of publishing "circuitous" routes that would, for example, take passengers through Chicago and Baltimore to get from Detroit to Albany, N.Y.

"We are sorely disappointed by Southwest's position, given that we see our mission to be similar to Southwest's -- providing the best possible service at the lowest possible cost," said Orbitz general counsel Gary R. Doernhoefer.

He said Orbitz will continue to display publicly available fare and schedule information. The information Southwest used as an example in the suit was posted by Southwest to a clearing house. Orbitz pays a fee to access that information, then posts the results on its site.

"Through these same clearinghouses, Southwest also provides its flight information to thousands of travel agents and other travel providers," Doernhoefer said in the letter.

All of the trips are viable fares. The circuitous trip from Detroit to Albany was cheaper than any other airline, according to an Orbitz spokeswoman.
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry...ues.orbitz.idg/

 

[does this plane go to paris]

I sorta remember the same thing. Found an article from back then about the lawsuit:


With a little more than a month left before its official launch, Orbitz LLC faces a lawsuit over fare and itinerary information on a preliminary version of its airfare tracking Web site.

If memory serves me correct, southwest.com at one point was one of the most popular page's on the web. WN had created an efficent ticketless money maker and was beating the carrier's. Orbitz was the response of the legacy's to 1. generate web sale's and 2. combat WN.

When Orbitz debuted, WN sued because it was using their trademark logo and it was listing obnoxious way's to travel on WN. I remember looking at fare's from LAS to LAX and it showed the correct low fare for WN but it routed the pax from LAS to SAT to BNA to LAX. Right next to were numerous nonstops on HP and AA and DL. The pax would obviously book on one of those carrier's.

When the first of many lawsuits starting coming in, Orbitz almost immediately dropped the WN trademark but kept the wrong route's going. So it was possible still for someone using the above itinerary and book it then when it came to ticketing, the pax was refered to call WN. The agents on the phone were bombarded with calls as to why WN would book such a crazy trip. Orbitz soon dropped all reference to WN and was disallowed from listing flights and refering to WN at all.

After the initial start up and each carrier has sold their share, I think that Orbitz not owned or controlled by any airline. Last year WN stated that they were going to be listed on another reservation system, (I forget the name). Now it make's sense that as WN tested the codeshare water's that they are looking at other revenue generating idea's. Time's are tough and with sound management form Gary and company they are looking at bringing in more pax.

 

[KCFlyer]

When Orbitz debuted, WN sued because it was using their trademark logo and it was listing obnoxious way's to travel on WN. I remember looking at fare's from LAS to LAX and it showed the correct low fare for WN but it routed the pax from LAS to SAT to BNA to LAX. Right next to were numerous nonstops on HP and AA and DL. The pax would obviously book on one of those carrier's.

This wasn't limited to WN...I recall seeing an MCI-DFW and a MCI-ATL routing on Delta via SLC.

 

[jimntx]

Listing on Orbitz??? What next, first class seats? Transatlantic flights from ISP? It's the beginning of the end! Any day now there will be announcements of a/c groundings, layoffs, and reconfiguring the fleet--just like us "big boys." Please, Please, Please WN, don't mess up a good thing.

 

[ramper_in_las]

I would assume that this all part of that reservation / Travel agent system we went to last year. As much as we fought Orbitz during its inception I find this move quite interesting. :blink: :huh:

 

[does this plane go to paris]

Listing on Orbitz??? What next, first class seats? Transatlantic flights from ISP? It's the beginning of the end! Any day now there will be announcements of a/c groundings, layoffs, and reconfiguring the fleet--just like us "big boys." Please, Please, Please WN, don't mess up a good thing.

jim,

i looked at the posting a little further and it states that wn is joinging orbitzbusiness which appears to be a corporate service listing. i also tried looking at various flights on orbitz that wn flies and their not listed.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

jim,

i looked at the posting a little further and it states that wn is joinging orbitzbusiness which appears to be a corporate service listing. i also tried looking at various flights on orbitz that wn flies and their not listed.

A new way to book Southwest
11:30 AM Wed, Jun 04, 2008
Suzanne Marta E-mail News tips
Orbitz for Business announced Wednesday that some of its users can now book Southwest Airlines flights through its online booking tool in the same way that it books other carriers.

Previously, booking the Dallas-based carrier for a flight meant going through a separate link to its own corporate booking tool, SWABIZ, or to another internal Web site.

Now, Southwest flights will appear in the same grid pattern as other carriers, showing flight times and pricing.

A spokesman for Orbitz said the Southwest data is being integrated into the online travel agency's system and should be available to all of its corporate customers by the end of the year.

The availability of Southwest fares on Orbitz's corporate travel tool reflects the carrier's efforts to attract more high-end business travelers and generate incremental revenue.

Southwest's airfares will not be available on Orbitz's consumer site.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/blogs/