US: Battle between airlines, online travel agencies heats up

Ever since online travel agencies have existed, airlines have attempted to control their access to airfares, granting it, taking it away, then granting it again. But now these third-party websites are fighting back in unison, and they've attracted the attention of the US DoT. You may not realize it, but when you attempt to compare airfare on sites like Hopper, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Farecompare and many others, you often don't see every possible airline or airfare. You won't see Southwest's fares, or in many cases those sold by Allegiant Airlines. For a while, American didn't share fare data with Hopper (it does now), and AA also had access tussles with Orbitz over the years. But a group calling itself the Travel Technology Association, which advocates for "increased transparency and competition in air travel," has taken its case to the government and it looks like they'll get a hearing. The DoT has issued a request for information concerning these practices. "Concerns were raised about practices by some airlines to restrict the distribution and/or display of flight information by certain online travel agencies (OTAs), metasearch entities that operate flight search tools, and other stakeholders involved in the distribution of flight information and sale of air transportation." Airlines, not surprisingly, are fighting back. <br/>