Arnie Weissmann:
Why all the vitriol over the
YTB lawsuits? Blame the
annoyance factor. 12
IN OTHER NEWS:
27 n
sit
re
44
Richard Turen:
The first travel agency,
inspired by the demands of
war, turns 250 this year. 41
www.travelweekly.com
Section 1 of 2
T HENATIONAL NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
AUGUST 18, 2008
Hanoi
CHINA
Halong Bay
Hue
H o i A n
Qui Nhon
THAILAND
LAOS
Dalat
T W MAP ILLUS TRA TION BY ROMINA PALUDI
Ho Chi Minh City
CAMBODIA
V
on ithee tvenrg ea m
Undeterred by political and infrastructure challenges, hoteliers
are confident in the country’s promise as a luxury destination.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JERI CLAUSING PAGE 18
[ SCREEN-SCRAPING IS CHALLENGED IN COURT AND IN THE MARKET ]
Moves by American and Ryanair could
change role of metasearch in booking
By Dan Luzadder
Kayak.com is eager to settle its dispute with
American Airlines and get back to business.
But regardless of whether the two companies’ differences are resolved in or out of
court, any resolution is likely to redefine the
relationship between airlines and metasearch
services.
Earlier this month, American filed a suit
accusing Kayak of violating agreements to
refer travelers directly to the airline’s website
for bookings. It could become something of
a test case for how metasearch firms go about
using screen-scraping technologies and other
sources to find lowest-price airfares for travelers and about where they send shoppers for
fulfillment.
Tensions between metasearch providers and airlines also ratcheted up a notch in
Europe last week as Ireland-based Ryanair
said it would cancel any reservation booked
by metasearch firms at websites other than
Ryanair’s own (see report on Page 43).
Some in the travel technology sector said
last week that they
were still puzzling over
American’s decision to
pursue legal remedies
against Kayak, because
it was unclear what, if
anything, the airline
stood to gain by trying to force Kayak to
send shoppers only
to AA.com. In fact,
American stands to
lose significant bookings it might have sold
through Kayak.
The key issue in the
See KAYAK on Page 43
[LITTLE CONSUMER SYMPATHY FOR FARE HIKES ]
As fuel costs ease, airlines are
staying with capacity-cut plans
By Michael Fabey year and well into 2009, Wall Street analysts
at firms like Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan
are now saying that major airlines should return to profitability soon.
The reason? Fuel prices dropped from
about $137 a barrel in July to about $115 a
barrel by mid-August.
But airline executives remain less optimistic. Bill Clough, manager of strategic programs for American Airlines, for example,
warns that one little hiccup could push oil
prices into the stratosphere again.
Other industry experts agreed there’s no
certainty just where oil prices are going to
reach an equilibrium over the long term.
“China was ordering a lot of fuel to prepare for the Olympics to make sure there
was no shortage,” said Raphael Bejar, CEO of
AirSavings.net, which specializes in fuel and
ancillary purchases for airlines. “It was very
See CAPACITY on Page 42
That swooshing sound you hear is the arc of
the pendulum at it swings back to predicted
profits for airlines
in light of suddenly
lower oil prices.
Which begs an obvious question: Will
airlines now have to
revisit their plans for
deep capacity cuts
and possible fare increases?
Despite dismal second quarter earnings
reports that featured
losses for most carriers, and despite dire
forecasts for more of
the same through this
WORLD BEAT
East and West, The stand-up A lot to like at
old and new paddleboard Providenciales’
converge in is Hawaii’s hot Seven Stars
Vietnam. new water toy. Resort.
35 28 30
