American Airlines has asked a Texas court to block Sabre from using its New Airline Storefront (NAS) display in GDS search results.
The carrier alleges that a new display interface, which Sabre designed with assistance from Delta, biases search results toward Delta in violation of Sabre’s contract with American.
American is also asking the court to block Sabre from paying incentives to travel agents who sell high-value Delta tickets that are larger than the incentives its pays to agents who sell AA’s high-value products.
“As American repeatedly has complained, and Sabre is fully aware, Sabre’s new format does and will disadvantage American by providing inaccurate and misleading displays of American’s travel information, including its products, services, fares, schedules, and inventory, to travel agents who subscribe to Sabre’s distribution services,” reads the lawsuit, which American filed June 29 in Tarrant County, Texas. “In addition, Sabre told American that it intends to pay added incentives to travel agencies who book higher-end tickets on Delta under a new value-based booking fee model. This would cause travel agents to book critical business travelers on other airlines over American.”
American has asked the court to issue a temporary injunction, pending trial, that will prevent Sabre from further use of NAS.
Sabre declined to comment on the lawsuit.