American Airlines Leaves Orbitz

Actually, there's a much better writeup in the Chicago Tribune: <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-1222-orbitz-aa-20101221,0,6213137.story" rel="nofollow">http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-1222-orbitz-aa...</a>

Good for AA. Cutting out middlemen is what the Internet is for, and Sabre takes a healthy cut. Good luck. I'm looking forward to cheaper rates when the other airlines pile on. For those that didn't read the Chicago Tribune article, AA will let Orbitz sell their tickets only if they talk directly to AA, but not through Sabre.

Surprising that it's taken them this long to leave. What company enjoys being listed alongside vastly superior and less expensive competitors?

I'm not seeing how this will work out for AA. I understand that it's monetarily more efficient for them not to have a middleman but I thought a good % of sales were directly from customers (not always through agents). Do they actually expect customers to go back to the days when you'd try to compare prices across 5 airline sites?

Does this affect ITA directly at all? I will admit I am not clear on the relationship between Orbitz and ITA.

wasn't orbitz funded in part by the big airlines a decade ago?