Cheater! Copy-cat! American Airlines has resigned their website “based on focus groups” and by “focus groups” they mean, “Southwest Airlines’ website.”

From USA Today:

The most noticeable change for American’s website will be to display on one page the flights matching a customer’s itinerary, with columns showing up to eight different fares — ranging from “economy super saver” to refundable first-class tickets.

The layout strongly resembles Southwest’s website. United Airlines also breaks out fare options at the top of flight-search results.

Rob Friedman, American’s director of interactive marketing, said the changes were developed with the help of focus groups around the country, but added, “We certainly evaluate what other carriers are doing.”

Daniel Garton, executive vice president of parent AMR Corp., said the American site would be the most advanced among traditional network carriers.

See, and you guys thought it was just us being mean and picking on American Airlines. Nope. It was USA Today. —MEGHANN MARCO

American Airlines changing its website [USAToday]

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