Thursday, January 27, 2011

American Dangles Incentive To Kayak Users

Dallas-based American Airlines dangled an incentive to users of the online travel site Kayak Thursday, in what looks like an effort to counter a reduced exposure of its flight schedule on other airline travel sites. Kayak sent an email to its users Thursday afternoon saying that American will give Kayak users an extra 10 percent off on flights on American Airlines, American Eagle, or American Connection. The effort comes as Sabre, Orbitz, and Expedia have been battling the airline over its plans to force online travel sites to directly book with the firm's technology, rather than using online travel aggregators. According to Kayak, flights purchased before February 4th, for travel before March 9th are eligible for the 10 percent discount. In its email, Kayak said it is now "one of a few, select travel sites that include American Airlines flights in our search results".