In a contract tussle, American Airlines has removed all of its fares from Orbitz.

Airlines have to pay commissions to 3rd party sites like Orbitz and Travelocity whenever one of these sites sells one of their tickets. American wants more control over the distribution of their seats and to funnel more travelers to their direct website. There they can also profit from lucrative hotel and car rental upgrades to tickets.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the airlines said they want to be “free to customize its product offerings to improve the customer experience as well as distribute its products in a way that does not result in unnecessary costs.”

American Airlines tickets previously purchased on Orbitz will still be good.

The two will eventually make up but until they do, travelers can use a meta-engine like Kayak or Bing which searches across different sites at once, including Orbitz and American Airlines.

American Airlines Stops Selling Tickets on Orbitz [ABC]
Why did American remove its fares from Orbitz? [AirFareWatchDog]
American Airlines pulls fares from Orbitz [WCPO]

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