Judge Orders American Airlines Back On Orbitz

American Airlines has been dealt a setback in its ongoing feud with online travel site Orbitz.com. An Illinois court has ruled American must put its flight information back on the site.

Back in December American announced it would no longer sell tickets through Orbitz in a dispute over fees. The dispute revolved around American's insistence that Orbitz get its flight information directly from American's system and not a distribution system middleman. American said the middleman added to the cost, making the airline less competitive.

Orbitz, which had been hurt by the loss of American ticket sales, had asked the judge to order a resumption of the relationship. The judge agreed that American should not have been allowed to terminate the contract back in December.

More litigation

In April, American filed suit against Orbitz in Texas, accusing Orbitz and Travelport LP of anti-competitive business practices. Travelport is the entity that provides information about flights to online travel sites, as well as travel agents nationwide. American would like to provide the data about its flights directly, without having to pay fees to Travelport.

In the complaint, American charged that Travelport and Orbitz had entered into agreements with one another and with others "to exclude competition and maintain Travelport's monopoly power." Travelport LP is a major shareholder in Orbitz.

Travelport said it has done nothing wrong and called a suit an attempt to gain bargaining power through litigation. Orbitz also called the charges baseless, and accused the airline of trying to limit consumer choice.

Fundamentally disagrees

After the Illinois court ruling, American issued a statement saying it fundamentally disagreed with the ruling and would evaluate its options.

With a slowdown in the travel industry and higher fuel costs, airlines and booking sites are in a constant state of negotiation over fees. American has been aggressively pushing for lower fees and encouraging consumers to book travel through the airline's own website.

Fees paid to travel sites usually amount to as much as $10 per ticket. Part of that fee goes to cover the costs of firms like Travelport, that provide data to booking sites and travel agents. American has argued that role is unnecessary, that the sites could take flight and fare data directly from the airline.