AA says business up, despite Orbitz and Expedia tiff

Dallas Business Journal - by Candace Carlisle , Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 5:50pm CST


Judge declines to block American's departure from Orbitz


Fort Worth-based American Airlines said all is well with business Wednesday, despite recent turmoil between the airline and two online travel agencies Expedia and Orbitz.


After American's decision to pull its flight information from Orbitz on Dec. 21, Expedia added a step to its website for consumers trying to locate American flights two days later.


Since American pulled its flight information from Orbitz, the airline has seen a year-over-year increase in its overall ticket sales. The airline noted consumers are shifting their ticket purchases to other travel agency websites, as well as increasing the airline's website volume.


"Our results to date show that consumer choice is alive and well and that our customers continue to have thousands of options to purchase American's competitive fares and convenient schedules," said Derek DeCross, vice president and general sales manager of American, in a written release. "It is also clear to us that other online travel sites and traditional travel agencies are capitalizing on this market opportunity to gain business."


Following American's decision to pull its fares from Orbitz, several consumer advocacy groups called foul, saying the airline's actions limited consumer choice.
In a written statement, Expedia said the search engine essentially made it harder for consumers searching for an American flight because of the airline's decision to pull its Orbitz listings. That decision could ultimately affect Expedia, said company officials.


In the business update, DeCross stated American is committed to working with all distribution channels to benefit American's adoption of its "direct connection model" to distribute the airline's travel information to travel agencies.


DeCross said the direct connection model was the "new ear of buying and selling travel services," and would create more customized options for consumers.


ccarlisle@bizjournals.com

Passenger Outrage Rises as Winter Storm Snarls U.S. Travel



By Mary Schlangenstein and Nancy Moran - Dec 28, 2010 11:23 PM
Anger mounted over passengers stranded on airport tarmacs and in terminals as flight delays threatened to stretch into the weekend following the worst December snowstorm to hit New York City in six decades.

As many as 1.2 million airline customers may have been affected by almost 8,000 flight cancellations as the storm that hit three days ago closed major airports. Passengers were forced to try to make new plans, sometimes without being able to reach airlines by phone or online for help.

“There’s a haphazard strategy to how airlines address these issues,” said Brandon Macsata, executive director of the Association for Airline Passenger Rights. “That’s why passengers get so angry. It’s not about the weather. It’s about how airlines communicate after weather occurs.”

The disruptions affected the nation’s largest and most- congested air travel market during one of the busiest times of the year. With planes already flying at their fullest since World War II, carriers were struggling to find empty seats to rebook travelers.

Sara Schaefer, a 27-year-old psychology student from Munich, said she arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport yesterday to find her American Eagle flight to Norfolk, Virginia, wouldn’t be taking off because three of the four runways were closed and “little planes” were canceled.

“I called the airline and they said it’s mother earth and out of our control,” said Schaefer, who traveled to the U.S. with her fiancé on Christmas Day. She returned to Manhattan last night to catch a bus slated to arrive in Norfolk at 6 a.m. today.


Tarmac Fines


The U.S. Transportation Department is looking into details of the New York flight delays and will review other cases, Olivia Alair, an agency spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was being updated on the crisis.


LaHood, who helped push through a regulation allowing domestic carriers to be fined for tarmac delays of more than three hours, made no public comments. International flights aren’t covered by the rule.


The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three major airports in metropolitan New York, pointed the finger at the airlines after at least six international flights were stuck on the tarmac at Kennedy airport with passengers aboard because they had no gates to use.

“It is an airline’s responsibility to make sure before they leave their point of origin to make sure that they have a gate assignment,” said Steve Coleman, a Port Authority spokesman. “These airlines did not. So they got to the airport and had no place to dock.”


‘More Effort’

Passengers on a Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. flight were stuck on the tarmac at Kennedy for nearly 12 hours yesterday as they waited for a gate. Four other services operated by the carrier were also stranded for more than four hours, Cathay said in a statement today apologizing for delays. More than 1,100 people were onboard the five flights, it said. A British Airways Plc plane with 316 people onboard waited for nearly eight hours.

“These people should put in a bit more effort,” Kathy Kia, 31, said of the airlines. Kia was stuck at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Dec. 27 when her flight to LaGuardia was canceled. She was told she couldn’t be guaranteed a seat until Dec. 31, and placed on standby for an American Airlines flight yesterday.

Call-Center Waits


Other passengers complained about spending 90 minutes on hold before reaching reservations agents, or not being able to get an answer at all. AMR Corp.’s American and US Airways Group Inc. added agents to field calls or put workers on mandatory overtime.


Carriers struggled once the snow stopped to relocate aircraft and crews while factoring in airport employees unable to travel to work after New York’s heaviest December snowfall since 1948 hampered local train service.


Some New York subway lines remained partially blocked yesterday, streets waited to be cleared of snow and stranded vehicles and numerous bus routes remained suspended.

The bulk of subway lines are now operating, said Jeremy Soffin, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman. Two- hundred plows, salt spreaders and other trucks are working on clearing roads and 110 trucks are being used to move abandoned cars.


Amtrak planned to resume normal service between Boston, New York and Washington today, according to an e-mailed statement yesterday from the railroad.

Metro-North commuter trains will return to weekday service today, including previously planned holiday week schedule changes, the MTA said in a statement. New Jersey Transit plans to resume normal operations on most rail and bus lines today.

‘Everything They Can’


By pre-canceling flights ahead of the storm, airlines were able to avoid stranding planes and crews in shuttered airports, which kept cancellations from rippling through the rest of their route systems, said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents major U.S. carriers.


“What can airlines do better?” asked Michael Boyd, president of aviation consultant Boyd Group International Inc. in Evergreen, Colorado. “They’re doing everything they can. If you weren’t going to or from the East Coast, it didn’t affect you.”


Most of the passenger backlog will be cleared by tonight, Boyd predicted.


Airlines have culled airplanes from their fleets and cut capacity during the past two years to reduce costs and better match supply to demand that collapsed during the recession. As a result, carriers have few spare planes to put into service. The volume of holiday travel poses an additional obstacle.
Full Planes


“Many flights during the holidays are at 100 percent load factor,” David Swierenga, president of aviation consultant AeroEcon in Round Rock, Texas, said of the average number of occupied seats. “This means the airlines’ ability to accommodate travelers from canceled flights is greatly diminished.”


Swierenga estimated the largest U.S. airlines, which may have combined profits of more than $3 billion this year, will suffer a revenue loss of about $150 million from the storm. That’s based on an assumed average round-trip fare of $300 and 150 passengers per plane, with about half of affected passengers rebooking flights, he said.


Extra Flights


Continental Airlines added extra flights from Newark and operated some routes with larger aircraft to move more passengers. Delta Air Lines Inc., based in Atlanta, also added an unspecified number of flights.


“We have a robust recovery program in effect that is re- accommodating customers at the highest possible rate based on all the resources we have available,” said Christen David, a spokeswoman for Continental, a unit of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc.


A spokesman for Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, whose passengers on Flight 888 from Vancouver sat on the tarmac at Kennedy airport for almost 12 hours yesterday, said flights were dispatched under the belief that gates would be available.

Upon arrival, “there were no gates available and our options were limited,” said the spokesman, Gus Whitcomb. “Unfortunately, we ended up with passengers on airplanes for far too long before we were able to get them to the gates.”


Staff with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spent the morning seeking gates where the planes could dock, even though that isn’t the agency’s responsibility, said Coleman, the agency’s spokesman.


Driver’s Wait


Saul Tejada, a limousine driver, was waiting at 8:30 p.m. on an airline passenger who had been stuck on the tarmac since about 2:30 p.m.


“Every plane seems to be awaiting a gate,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re low on manpower or what, but this is ridiculous.”


“It’s rough, but if we tell them we’re going to be here, we’re going to be here,” he said. Fifteen minutes later, Tejada received a text message from the passenger saying that she was about to get off her plane.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net; Nancy Moran in New York at nmoran@bloomberg.net

New York Airports Open After Heaviest Snows in Six Decades



By Aaron Clark - Dec 27, 2010 6:19 PM MT


The storm has forced airlines to cancel more than 6,000 flights since yesterday, when airports began to close.
New York City’s major airports resumed operations after the heaviest December snowfall in six decades left travelers in the Northeast struggling amid waist- high drifts and blizzard winds.


The city’s Central Park had 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow by 8 a.m., the most for the month since 1948, the National Weather Service said. Skies cleared over New York by daybreak as the agency issued blizzard warnings for Boston and into Maine.


The storm forced airlines to cancel more than 6,000 flights since yesterday, when airports began to close. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty airports opened tonight for outgoing traffic.


“There may have been storms that equaled this, but it doesn’t get much worse than this,” Tom Kines, a meteorologist at State College, Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather Inc., said by telephone. “To get this much snow with the amount of wind that is accompanying it, that is devastating.”


New York, which faces a $2.5 billion deficit in the $65 billion budget projected for next year, will be more affected by lost economic activity than clean-up costs, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference.

Getting Around


The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market kept normal hours today. The New York Mercantile Exchange delayed the opening of floor trading until 11 a.m.
“They pay me good money to be here,” said Vinny Stavola, an Oppenheimer & Co. convertible trader, who trekked from Staten Island to get to work in midtown Manhattan by 6:30 a.m. “It doesn’t take a heroic effort to get to work, just a little dedication.”

The storm, with winds gusting to 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour), reached New York at midday yesterday. The day after Christmas is one of the five busiest shopping days of the year, and it may take retailers two weeks to recover from lost sales, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group Inc., a research firm based in Port Washington, New York.

Economic Impact


The snowfall was the fifth-largest on record for the city, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said at the mayor’s news conference.


“In the grand scheme of things, given the size of our budget and the size of our deficit, this is very small,” Bloomberg said. “It’s the lack of commerce that takes place. Yesterday and today were big shopping days, and that didn’t happen, so your sales tax revenues will be lower, and those are the things that really hurt.”


The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

Amtrak resumed operations between New York and Boston today after canceling services late yesterday. Metro-North commuter trains resumed limited runs at midday after being halted by wind-blown snow, while the Long Island Rail Road was closed, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority website.

Commuter Trains


NJ Transit, which carries about 170,000 commuters to and from New York City daily, suspended bus service as of 8:30 p.m. yesterday until tomorrow, according to a statement. Service between Newark and New York was shut by signal problems and other trains will run on modified schedules, the agency said.


Four hundred subway passengers were aboard an A train that was stuck in Queens for more than six hours, until it could be pushed to a station by another train. The Coney Island area was without subway service.


As much as 29 inches of snow was reported in Bergen County, New Jersey, while Union County had as much as 26, the Weather Service said. Winds gusted to almost 70 mph in some areas. Interstate 280 westbound, one of the main approaches to downtown Newark, was almost deserted at 8 a.m. and acting Governor Stephen Sweeney ordered state offices closed.

Home Depot Inc., the world’s largest home improvement retailer, is shipping additional snow shovels, snow blowers and ice melt to stores from North Carolina to Maine, said Ron DeFeo, a company spokesman.

NYC Deploys


New York City will have 365 salt spreaders and 1,700 snowplows on the streets, and sanitation department employees will work 12-hour shifts, Bloomberg said yesterday.


Boston and its suburbs may receive as much as 18 inches from the storm, said Alan Dunham, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts. Part of central Massachusetts may receive as much as 22 inches.

U.S. carriers canceled at least 3,389 flights today, after cutting more than 3,334 yesterday, as they waited for airports to open in the Northeast, spokesmen said. Airlines in some cases grounded flights ahead of the storm to keep planes from getting stuck at closed facilities.


Delta Air Lines Inc. cut 1,000 flights systemwide, said Trebor Banstetter, an airline spokesman.


“As the weather clears, we are aiming to resume normal operations late Monday and into Tuesday across the East Coast,” Banstetter said in an e-mail.

Continental Airlines and its regional partner carriers have canceled 800 flights for today, while United grounded 175, said Mike Trevino, a spokesman for United Continental Holdings Inc. The carrier expects to resume flights out of New York-area airports and Boston in the afternoon, he said.

More Cancellations


Southwest Airlines Co. cut 188 flights today, primarily in Norfolk and Boston, said Brad Hawkins, a spokesman for the Dallas-based carrier. It expects to resume flights in some northeastern U.S. airports about mid-day, he said.


US Airways Group Inc. canceled 550 flights today, mostly into and out of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, said Jim Olson, a spokesman. Flights into Boston are set to resume after 11 a.m. today, he said.

American Airlines and its commuter carrier, American Eagle, canceled 446 flights today, said Ed Martelle, a spokesman. The two airlines cut 427 flights yesterday and American cut 40 scheduled for tomorrow.

JetBlue Airways Corp. scrubbed more than 300 flights today after cutting 270 yesterday, Mateo Lleras, a spokesman for the New York-based carrier, said in an e-mail.


Unsafe for Crews

“Today we’re also dealing with closed runways, roads that are barely passable and trains and buses that are not running,” JetBlue told customers today in a company blog. “In many cases, conditions are not safe for our crewmembers or our customers to get to the airports, where it’s even possible.”


The storm also brought snow as far south as parts of Jacksonville, Florida, AccuWeather said on its website.
The storm system began in the South over the Christmas holiday. Four inches of snow fell in Chattanooga, Tennessee, while 8 inches was reported in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Environment Canada issued a blizzard warning yesterday for northeastern New Brunswick and warned of heavy snow or rain in the rest of the Maritime provinces today. Sixteen inches of snow may fall in New Brunswick, and rain may accompany the snow in Nova Scotia.

Winds may gust to 87 mph (140 kph) in eastern Nova Scotia and 80 mph in western Newfoundland, the agency said.


To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Clark in New York at aclark27@bloomberg.net

Snowstorm Blankets U.S. East Coast, Disrupts Holiday Travel



Dan Hart and Adam L. Cataldo, On Monday December 27, 2010, 1:55 am EST


The U.S. East Coast faces a second day of travel disruption after snowstorms blanketed cities from New York to Boston, closing airports and halting train services.


New York City may get as much as 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow by tonight, commercial forecaster AccuWeather said. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York was due to reopen at 5 a.m. and Newark Liberty International Airport at 6 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said on its website. Both were shut last night because of the storm.

Snow will “taper off from west to east early Monday morning” in New York, AccuWeather said on its website.
The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for New York, Boston and cities along the coast to Maine. Wind gusts of as much as 60 miles (96 kilometers) per hour were expected in New York, AccuWeather said.


Amtrak said it expected to resume operations this morning after canceling service last night between New York and Boston. The Long Island Rail Road said it plans to operate on a holiday schedule today after suspending services systemwide last night because of the blizzard, according to a statement on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority website.

NJ Transit, which transports about 170,000 commuters to and from New York City daily, will run a modified holiday schedule on all routes today except the Atlantic City line, which will operate on a weekday schedule.


Salting Roads


New York City will have 365 salt spreaders and 1,700 snowplows on the streets, and sanitation department employees will work 12-hour shifts, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday at a press conference.


Boston and its suburbs may receive as much as 18 inches from the storm before it ends tomorrow, said Alan Dunham, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts. Part of central Massachusetts may receive as much as 22 inches.

National Grid Plc, which provides electricity in New York and Massachusetts, was reporting power outages at seven sites throughout the two states. The largest was in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where 817 customers were without power.
In Philadelphia, which may get as much as 12 inches of snow, the Eagles football game against the Minnesota Vikings last night was rescheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec. 28, the Eagles said on their website.


Flights Canceled


Delta Air Lines Inc. scrubbed about 850 flights yesterday, about a sixth of its daily total. United Continental Holdings Inc.’s Continental Airlines canceled 265 flights, mostly from its hub at Newark, while United Airlines nixed about 110 departures for airports in the northeastern U.S.

US Airways Group Inc. postponed 761 flights, Southwest Airlines Co. about 450, and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines about 262. American canceled 171 flights for today out of the northeast, according to spokeswoman Mary Sanderson.

The storm also brought snow as far south as parts of Georgia, AccuWeather said on its website.


The National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, yesterday canceled its winter weather advisory for Washington, D.C., saying light snow and flurries would continue into early evening, though it didn’t expect any accumulation of more than 1 inch. A previous warning had forecast as much as 10 inches.


The storm system began in the South over the Christmas holiday. Four inches of snow fell in Chattanooga, Tennessee, while 8 inches was reported in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.


In Canada, Environment Canada issued a blizzard warning for northeastern New Brunswick and warned of heavy snow or rain in the rest of the Maritime provinces today. Twelve inches of snow may fall in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and rain may accompany the snow in Nova Scotia.

Winds may gust to 70 mph in eastern Nova Scotia and 80 mph in western Newfoundland, the agency said.


Mayor Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.



To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net
2010 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SNOWBOUND: New York Airports Are Closed Until 4 PM



Gus Lubin, On Monday December 27, 2010, 7:39 am EST

It's a nice snowy day in New York, unless you're trying to get there or leave.


New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports will remain closed until 4 PM, according to the FAA website. Newark airport will be closed until noon. With the airports closed on the extremely busy day after Christmas, hundreds of thousands of travelers are stranded in New York and around the country.


Hot off a quarter of soaring profits, airlines like Delta and United stand to lose money as people cancel flights.

Amtrak says it has resumed service since last night, according to Bloomberg. Long Island Rail Road will operate on a holiday schedule today.


ConEd reports at least 7,500 people without power in the New York area. National Grid reports similar outages

Blizzard Shuts New York Airports



By Joseph Woelfel 12/27/10 - 09:19 AM EST
Updated from 6:14 a.m. EST
Airline Aggravation

AMR DOWNNEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A blizzard on the East Coast has forced the closure of New York-area airports, and more than 1,400 flights in the area have been canceled, according to reports.


The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, on its Web site, announced the closure of John F. Kennedy International Airport late Sunday night: "Weather conditions at JFK Airport have caused disruptions in flight activity. The airport is currently closed. Please check with your airline before traveling to JFK to determine if your flight is affected."


The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which operates the New York City subway system and regional railroads, on its Web site urged commuters to stay home.


"Due to the extreme nature of the ongoing blizzard, including high winds and major snow drifts, the MTA is urging its customers to stay home this morning if at all possible. There are major suspensions across our transportation network that may continue through the morning rush hour, including a full suspension of service on the Long Island Rail Road, suspension of Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, and suspension of several of the lettered subway lines."


Seastreak, which provides high-speed ferry service from the Jersey Shore to Wall Street and midtown Manhattan, canceled all service.


More flight cancelations at the three major airports in the New York area are expected Monday. CNN, citing the Federal Aviation Administration, is reporting that Newark airport was scheduled to reopen at noon EST, LaGuardia at 2 p.m. and JFK at 4 p.m. on Monday.


But airlines say they don't expect normal service to resume until Tuesday, The Associated Press reports.


Forecasters are calling for as much as 20 inches of snow in the New York area from the storm that began Sunday afternoon and isn't expected to end until early Monday evening.


American Airlines, a unit of AMR(AMR_), canceled 171 Monday flights in and out of major airports from Washington through Boston, an airline spokeswoman told CNN. Those cancellations follow more than 262 flights that the airline canceled Sunday.


-- Written by Joseph Woelfel 

Blizzard Hits East Coast, Thousands Stranded

By SARA KUGLER FRAZIER, Associated Press Sara Kugler Frazier, Associated Press – 51 mins ago

NEW YORK – A winter storm made travel torturous in the Northeast on Sunday, dropping a thick layer of snow that stranded thousands of airline, train and bus passengers and made motorists think twice about hitting after-Christmas sales.

More than a foot of snow was expected in some areas, including New York and Boston, where an aquarium had to protect — of all things — penguin ice sculptures from the elements. A dumping of up to 20 inches had been forecast for Philadelphia, where the Eagles-Vikings NFL game was postponed because of the storm, but by early evening meteorologists said the city would end up getting no more than a foot.


More than 1,400 flights had been canceled out of the New York City area's three major airports alone, and more cancellations were expected Monday.

For many people, however, the storm's timing was perfect: the day after Christmas, a Sunday, no school for at least a week.
"Love snowy days when I don't have to go anywhere. Staying in — just me and my cozy new socks," author Neesha Meminger wrote on Twitter from her home in the Bronx.
She told the AP she's able to savor the moment because her children, ages 6 and 9, are on holiday break: "If this was during the school week, I would be cursing."


Colleen and Graham James of Montclair, N.J., represented the other side of the coin. They were at Newark Airport with their two young children and their dachshund, trying to reach family in Iowa, but their connecting flight to Chicago was delayed more than two and a half hours.

"We left the day after Christmas to avoid the Christmas craze. I guess that didn't work out so well," Colleen James said.

Graham James was resigning himself to postponing their trip a month. "Now we're worried about just driving home because of the crazy snow," he said.
Airlines canceled flights throughout the Northeast and at airports in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago and the Carolinas. They expected more cancellations Monday, but were trying to rebook passengers and hoped to resume normal operations Tuesday.


U.S. Airways had already canceled 110 Monday flights by Sunday afternoon — spokesman Jim Olson said that was to try to keep passengers and crews from getting stranded at airports.


New York's Kennedy Airport was calm, apparently because many would-be travelers elected not to trudge to the terminal in hopes of getting rebooked.

Andrew Brent's flight to Florida was repeatedly pushed back, and the New York mayoral spokesman thought he might have to wait until Monday to meet up with his wife and son for vacation. But he added, "I'll get down there eventually so I'm not terribly worried."

Amtrak, meanwhile, canceled train service from New York to Maine on Sunday evening, after doing the same earlier for several trains in Virginia. Bus companies canceled routes up and down the East Coast, affecting thousands of travelers.


Kate Lindquist, on her way home from New Hampshire to New York City, was greeted with a handwritten sign at a Boston bus station: "Sorry, we are closed today."


"To have this happen on a Sunday during a holiday weekend is incredibly frustrating," she told the AP in an e-mail.


The Northeast received the brunt of the storm. Forecasters issued a blizzard warning for New York City for Sunday and Monday, with a forecast of 11 to 16 inches of snow and strong winds reducing visibility to near zero at times.

A blizzard warning was also in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts, where 12 to 16 inches of snow was expected by the time flurries taper off Monday morning, said William Babcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. A blizzard warning is issued when snow is accompanied by sustained winds or gusts over 35 mph.


As much as 18 inches could fall on the New Jersey shore with wind gusts over 40 mph.


Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency and urged residents to stay off the roads.

Before any snow actually accumulated in the city, the NFL moved the Philadelphia Eagles' game against the Minnesota Vikings from Sunday night to Tuesday because of "public safety concerns." Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who does football commentaries after Eagles games, was not amused and said fans could have handled it.


"This is football; football's played in bad weather," Rendell told KYW-TV. "I, for one, was looking forward to sitting in the stands throughout the snow and seeing an old-time football game."


In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency that bans parking on all major streets, and the New England Aquarium bubble-wrapped its four 5-foot-tall penguin ice sculptures to protect them from the wind and snow.


More than 2,400 sanitation workers were working in 12-hour shifts to clear New York City's 6,000 miles of streets. Not that Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted people to use them.

"I understand that a lot of families need to get home after a weekend away, but please don't get on the roads unless you absolutely have to," Bloomberg said.


In Rhode Island, emergency officials encouraged businesses to let employees report to work late Monday, saying road conditions for the early morning commute Monday would be treacherous.
In southern New Jersey's Philadelphia suburbs, supermarkets were crowded early in the day and there was a run on snow shovels. Stores were quiet by late afternoon — though there was a line at the Red Box video kiosk outside a Walgreen's store in Cherry Hill.


The snow was easier to take for people who just stayed home.


"Since we've no place to go, I'm gonna uncork a Bordeaux," Paul White said on Twitter from his home in Point Lookout, N.Y. In a phone interview, the lawyer — who was indeed sipping a glass of red wine — said the snow gave his family a chance to be together and cozy another day.


The weather deterred some people from hitting day-after-Christmas sales, but that appeared to be a relatively light blow for retailers coming off a strong shopping season.

"People will just wait a day to do exchanges and use their gift cards. It's no big deal," said Greg Maloney, CEO of the retail practice of Jones Lang LaSalle, which manages malls across the country.

There were more snow plows than shoppers at Jackson Premium Outlets in Jackson, N.J., but the weather didn't keep Shoba Dorai from making the trip from Edison with a girlfriend and her friend's two toddlers. Several stores closed by 3 p.m.

"It was not that bad when we left this morning around 10:30," Dorai said. "I guess it was not a great idea, though."

The monster storm is the result of a low pressure system off the North Carolina coast and strengthened as it moved northeast, according to the National Weather Service.


The storm defied forecasts and largely bypassed Washington, D.C., leaving the National Mall with only a light dusting.

Walking with their family toward the Washington Monument, 10-year-old twins Daniel and Gabriel Concha of Aventura, Fla., said were disappointed they didn't get to see snow on their trip. Weather-hardened Northerners and Midwesterners, meanwhile, expressed amusement with all the hubbub over a few flurries.


Travel misery began a day earlier in parts of the South, which was hit with a white Christmas for the record books.


Columbia, S.C., had its first significant Christmas snow since weather records were first kept in 1887. Atlanta had just over an inch of snow — the first measurable accumulation on Christmas Day since the 1880s. About a foot of snow fell in Norfolk, Va., the most seen there since a February 1989 storm dumped nearly 15 inches.

Utility companies in the Carolinas said more than 100,000 people lost power because of the storm, and only about a third had service restored by midday Sunday.


The National Weather Service said 8.5 inches of snow fell in Franklinton, N.C., about 30 miles north of Raleigh, from Saturday through Sunday.


Diane Smith, 55, said her power was out for about four hours there Sunday morning, but she and her husband have a generator. Relatives, including two grandchildren, who live nearby came over for breakfast and to get warm before going home after power was restored.


"It's beautiful," Smith said. "As long as I have power, I love it."


Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, N.J.; Tim Jacobs in Newark, N.J.; Ron Todt in Philadelphia; Page Ivey in Columbia; Jacquelyn Martin and Norm Gomlak in Washington; Ben Nuckols in Baltimore; Bradley Klapper in Washington, D.C.; Eric Tucker in Providence, R.I.; John Raby in Charleston, W.Va., and Beth DeFalco in Jackson, N.J.

Winter Snowstorm Sweeps Along U.S. East Coast, Grounding Holiday Travelers



By Dan Hart and Adam L. Cataldo - Dec 26, 2010 5:03 PM

A winter snowstorm, accompanied by blizzard conditions, swept its way up the U.S. East Coast, draping cities from Philadelphia to Boston in white while grounding holiday travelers and signaling trouble for commuters.

New York City and Boston may get as much as 16 inches (40 centimeters) before the snow stops tomorrow, AccuWeather said. The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for both cities. Wind gusts of as much as 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) are expected, AccuWeather said.


“This storm can certainly catapult us into the top 10 snowiest Decembers of all time for New York City,” said Andy Mussoline, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com in State College, Pennsylvania. Mussoline said the “worst” of the storm will pass by 1 a.m.


As much as seven inches had fallen in New York City as of 6 p.m. local time, AccuWeather said. The service reported 3 inches in Philadelphia, 5 inches in Hartford, Connecticut, and as many as 4 inches in Boston.
Amtrak canceled service between New York and Boston tonight. NJ Transit, which transports about 170,000 commuters to and from New York City daily, will run a modified holiday schedule on all of its routes tomorrow except the Atlantic City line, which will operate on a weekday schedule.

Airlines suspended about 2,700 flights because of the storm.


12-Hour Shifts


New York City will have 365 salt spreaders and 1,700 snowplows on the streets and sanitation department employees will work in 12-hour shifts, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today at a press conference.

Boston and its suburbs may receive as much as 18 inches from the storm before it ends tomorrow, said Alan Dunham, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts. Part of central Massachusetts may receive as much as 22 inches.

“Driving tonight during the worst of it will not be advisable,” he said. “Visibility will be down to whiteout conditions and snow will be falling at rate of two to three inches an hour and highway crews won’t be able to keep up with it.”

National Grid Plc, which provides electricity in New York and Massachusetts, was reporting power outages at seven sites throughout the two states. The largest was in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where 817 customers were without power.

Vikings-Eagles Off


In Philadelphia, which may get as much as 12 inches of snow, the Eagles game against the Minnesota Vikings tonight was rescheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec. 28, the Eagles said on their website.


Flight cancellations were stacking up at the region’s airports.



Delta Air Lines Inc. scrubbed about 850 flights, about a sixth of its daily total. United Continental Holdings Inc.’s Continental Airlines canceled 265 flights, mostly from its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, while United Airlines scrubbed about 110 departures for airports in the northeastern U.S.

US Airways Group Inc. postponed 761 flights, Southwest Airlines Co. about 450, and AMR Corp.’s American about 262.

Temperatures for New York, Philadelphia and Washington are expected to dip into the 20-degree range tonight.


Next to Nothing for D.C.


This afternoon, the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, canceled its winter weather advisory for Washington, saying light snow and flurries would continue into early evening, though it didn’t expect any accumulation of more than 1 inch. A previous warning had forecast as much as 10 inches.


The storm system began in the South over the Christmas holiday. Four inches of snow fell in Chattanooga, Tennessee, while eight inches was reported in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.


In Canada, Environment Canada issued a blizzard warning for northeastern New Brunswick and warned of heavy snow or rain in the rest of the Maritime provinces tomorrow. Twelve inches of snow may fall in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and rain may accompany the snow in Nova Scotia.


Winds may gust to 70 mph in eastern Nova Scotia and 80 mph in western Newfoundland, the agency said.
Mayor Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net

Snow storm bears down on Mid-Atlantic, Northeast

Monster storm bears down on Mid-Atlantic, Northeast after leaving Christmas snowfall in South


Jessica Gresko, Associated Press, On Sunday December 26, 2010, 1:19 pm


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A band of frigid weather was snaking up the East Coast on Sunday, promising blizzards and a foot of snow for New York City and New England, while several states made emergency declarations as the storm caused crashes and deaths on slick roads.


Airlines grounded hundreds of flights Sunday along the Northeast corridor in anticipation of the storm. New York City-area airports alone canceled close to 1,000 flights. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said that number was expected to rise Sunday. Snow had started to fall in the area by late morning.

Travel misery began a day earlier in parts of the South, where a rare white Christmas came with reports of dozens of car crashes.


In Washington transportation officials pretreated roads and readied 200 salt trucks, plows and other pieces of equipment to fight the 6 inches or more expected to fall in the Mid-Atlantic region.


The Northeast is expected to get the brunt of the storm. Forecasters issued a blizzard warning for New York City for Sunday and Monday, with a forecast of 11 to 16 inches of snow and strong winds that will reduce visibility to near zero at times. A blizzard warning was also in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts including Boston, with forecasters predicting 15 to 20 inches of snow. A blizzard warning is issued when snow is accompanied by sustained winds or gusts over 35 mph.


As much as 18 inches could fall on the New Jersey shore with wind gusts over 40 mph.


Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency as of 2 p.m. Sunday, and he urged residents to stay off the roads. In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency that bans parking on all major streets.

By early Sunday, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina had also declared states of emergency. Amtrak canceled several of its trains in Virginia.


Roseanne Pack of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency said visibility was limited and road conditions were deteriorating around the state Sunday, especially in southern Delaware.

"We have snow falling everywhere on our little state right now," she said.

At Washington's Reagan National Airport, Rob Kotlarz of Surrey, England, was trying to fly his children Sofia and Stefan to Orlando, Fla., to visit Disney World.


"Of all the flights to Orlando today the only one that was cancelled was our 3:10 p.m. ... and the US Airways help line was impossible," he said. "But we were expecting America to show us how to handle weather. We showed up seven hours early so we could be here. In this digital age why can't an airline handle it better?"


Continental Airlines canceled 250 departures from Newark Liberty International Airport outside New York City. United Airlines canceled dozens of departures from Newark, Philadelphia, New York's LaGuardia and JFK, Boston and other airports. AirTran and Southwest Airlines also canceled flights, mostly in or out of Washington Dulles, Baltimore and Newark.


Delta Air Lines spokesman Kent Landers said the airline proactively canceled about 850 mainline and regional flights systemwide.


"Most cancelations are concentrated from the Carolinas through New York," he said.


Mary Sanderson at American Airlines said flights through Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia would likely be canceled after 2 or 3 p.m. Sunday, with late starts expected Monday morning.


In London, Heathrow Airport was open Sunday, but warned on its website of flight cancellations and delays due to bad weather in the U.S. Fifteen British Airways flights out of Heathrow to the U.S. were canceled, including ones to New York's JFK airport, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Dulles airport.


In Paris, five flights leaving for JFK from Charles de Gaulle airport were canceled Sunday, along with three flights to Newark and one bound for Philadelphia.


Most carriers were waiving fees for one-time changes in affected areas and urging passengers to make changes through their websites.


The monster storm is the result of a low pressure system off the North Carolina coast that will strengthen into a major storm as it moves northeast, according to the National Weather Service.


Early Sunday, winter storm warnings stretched from Georgia through New England.


The white Christmas in the South was one for the record books. Columbia, S.C., had its first significant Christmas snow since weather records were first kept in 1887. Atlanta had just over an inch of snow -- the first measurable accumulation on Christmas Day since the 1880s.


Alabama state troopers said a man was killed Christmas day when the pickup truck he was driving collided with another truck on a snowy patch of U.S. 278. North Carolina authorities reported a fatal traffic accident near Charlotte.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol said late Saturday that most of the roads in and around Asheville were either covered or partially covered with snow and ice. Emergency management spokeswoman Julia Jarema said troopers in the two dozen westernmost counties answered 350 calls in 18 hours Saturday. Most were wrecks.

"We're busy," Ryan Dean of Dean's Wrecker Service in Raleigh, NC, said Sunday. "We've been out since 3 in the morning pulling people out of the ditch."


In central North Carolina's Wake County, Thomas Allen said his one-vehicle transportation service for seniors and people with disabilities was snowed in.


"I've had several calls this morning wanting to know if I can get out, but there's just no way," he said.
The National Weather Service said 8.5 inches of snow fell in Franklinton, N.C., about 30 miles north of Raleigh from Saturday through Sunday.


Diane Smith, 55, said her power was out for about four hours there Sunday morning, but she and her husband have a generator. Relatives, including two grandchildren, who live nearby came over for breakfast and to get warm before going home after power was restored.

"It's beautiful," Smith said. "As long as I have power, I love it."

Pam Palmer, mayor of Adamsville, a community of 5,000 people just west of Birmingham, Ala., said a laggard snowband from the tail-end of the storm was making roads slippery and dangerous Sunday. She told AP she was urging motorists to stay off the roads.

"The interstates are very slippery. We have had a couple of accidents here in Adamsville," she said.


Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Page Ivey in Columbia; Karen Hawkins in Chicago; Warren Levinson and Verena Dobnik in New York City; David Goodman in Detroit; Jacquelyn Martin and Norm Gomlak in Washington; Michelle Price in Phoenix; Dylan Lovan in Louisville; Ben Nuckols in Baltimore, and Mark Pratt in Boston.

Pilot explains why he posted airport security flaws video


By George Warren, KXTV-TV, Sacramento


SACRAMENTO — The airline pilot who posted video on the Web critical of airport security said he was not prepared for the government's response.

 "I just tried to address my concerns and voice it on YouTube," he said. The 50-year-old pilot has asked that neither he nor his airline be identified while he's under investigation by the Transportation Security Administration. The pilot, deputized by the TSA to carry a handgun in the cockpit as a federal flight deck officer, posted a series of six cellphone video clips on Nov. 28 showing what he believes to be a serious flaw in airport security.

Current regulations require flight crews to pass through a TSA checkpoint while ground crews can gain access to the same aircraft simply by swiping a card at an unmanned door."How effective is security when everybody on board is screened and everybody on the ground isn't?" the pilot asked.

Within days of the video appearing on YouTube, a team of four federal agents and two sheriff's deputies appeared on the pilot's driveway to confiscate his federally issued handgun and badge in what the pilot believes was an obvious attempt to intimidate him.

Additionally, the pilot's state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon was suspended by his county sheriff."I was surprised by the response. I could have just dropped my badge and gun in a FedEx box," he said. The pilot said he had resigned his position as a federal flight deck officer, and a TSA representative told him that the resignation would result in the case being closed. The pilot's lawyer, Don Werno, said he was waiting for formal written confirmation.The pilot said he did not regret posting the video on YouTube despite the difficulty it has caused him.

"Somebody obviously has to address the issue. Really, the only way this news story got traction is because of the government's response," he said

AMR’s American Seeks Delay of JFK-Tokyo Haneda Route



By Mary Jane Credeur - Dec 22, 2010 3:20 PM MT
American Airlines asked U.S. regulators for permission to delay the start of flights between New York’s Kennedy airport and Tokyo’s Haneda by about a month, so the service doesn’t begin during a seasonal travel lull.

Waiting until March 1 instead of Jan. 31 as stipulated by the initial award of the route would let American avoid “start- up in the depths of the off-peak season,” the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier said in a filing yesterday with the U.S. Department of Transportation.


February is the slowest travel month between Tokyo and the continental U.S., with 25 percent fewer bookings than in March, AMR Corp.’s American said in the filing, which followed a Dec. 13 announcement that service would start on Jan. 20.


An extension would allow American to “benefit from this important seasonal upswing in Tokyo traffic,” according to the filing.


American already sold some tickets for Haneda and will offer passengers rebookings on its existing route from JFK to Tokyo’s Narita airport instead, or a refund, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the carrier.

Delta Air Lines Inc. previously sought a similar extension on its Haneda flights from Detroit and Los Angeles, and now plans to operate that route on Feb. 19 instead of in January. Hawaiian Holdings Inc.’s Hawaiian Airlines began Honolulu-Haneda flights on Nov. 18.


U.S. carriers couldn’t previously serve Haneda airport, which is closer to downtown Tokyo than Narita airport, until an “Open Skies” treaty awarded four routes this year.


AMR slipped 10 cents to $7.95 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 2.9 percent this year.


To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at mcredeur@bloomberg.net.  responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net.

Oneworld Expands, Chinese Train Breaks Records

DECEMBER 23, 2010, 9:20 P.M. ET 


By JEFF MILLS


More flights in the alliance: Oneworld Alliance members American Airlines, British Airways and Spain's Iberia have expanded the number of flights they are offering in their trans-Atlantic joint venture with an extra 300 between Europe and North America. These are in addition to the 2,700 flights already announced.


An easier way to Nairobi: New flights from Kenya Airways mean you can now fly direct between Rome and Nairobi on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Until now travel between the Italian and Kenyan capitals has meant changing flights in cities such as Paris or Zurich.


New Dusseldorf hotel: If business takes you to Dusseldorf you have another hotel option to consider with the opening of the new five-star Hyatt Regency in the heart of the fashionable Media Harbor area. The hotel, which is located in one of two new 19-story towers at the tip of the peninsula, is connected to the other side of the harbor by a pedestrian bridge. If you fancy a bit more privacy and pampering you could opt for a room in the hotel's Regency Club, where you have a dedicated concierge and access to a private lounge on the 18th floor.

Low-cost Jordan: There will be a new low-cost way to fly between London's Gatwick airport and Amman from June next year when Easyjet starts operating to the Jordanian capital. The no-frills airline also plans to start flights from Gatwick to Aberdeen, Scotland, the Italian cities of Bologna and Verona and Izmir in Turkey.


Fast track: Another speed record has been set by a new generation Chinese high-speed train, which is designed to operate between Beijing and Shanghai, when it achieved 300 mph in tests, a new world record for a passenger express. The 820-mile Beijing to Shanghai line goes through seven provinces and municipalities of China. At present the journey takes around 13 hours.

Expedia Hides American Airlines' Fares in Support of Travel Website Orbitz

By Mary Jane Credeur - Dec 23, 2010 2:10 PM MT


Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Henry Harteveldt, a senior analyst at Forrester Research Inc., talks about yesterday's court ruling allowing AMR Corp.’s American Airlines to pull flight listings from Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and the potential impact on the companies.¶ Harteveldt speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Televsion's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)


Expedia Inc.’s travel website is hiding airfares for American Airlines after the third-largest U.S. carrier pulled data from Orbitz Worldwide Inc. as part of a legal dispute.
Prices for American flights no longer appear at the top of the site when passengers search for tickets, while those for competitors such as United Continental Holdings Inc. are still shown side by side so travelers can compare.


“This has been done in light of both American Airlines’ recent decision to prevent Orbitz from selling its inventory, and a possible disruption in Expedia’s ability to sell American Airlines tickets when our contract with American Airlines expires,” Expedia said today in an e-mailed statement. The company declined to say when its accord with American ends.

The move by Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia widened the conflict between online travel agencies and airlines such as American that seek to drive more consumers to their own websites. AMR Corp.’s American won a court ruling against Orbitz on Dec. 21 and removed its flight data within hours.


“We’re disappointed that Expedia is making American Airlines flights and fares more difficult to find,” Ryan Mikolasik, a spokesman for American, said in an e-mailed statement. “This discriminatory action is unwarranted, especially considering that American has taken no action against and continues to operate in good faith with Expedia.”
A search today of the Expedia.com site for a ticket from American’s hometown hub at Dallas-Fort Worth airport to its Chicago hub in the first week of January showed a nonstop United flight for $282 and one by US Airways Group Inc. for $511. A message read “see below” for American information.


Consumers must click through outbound and return flight times to see the price of the American ticket.
American has developed a system called Direct Connect that provides fare pricing and options directly to larger online travel agencies. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline also is trying to handle more bookings through its AA.com website.


American dropped Orbitz after an Illinois state court in Chicago lifted a temporary restraining order granted last month that prevented the airline from doing so. Orbitz is partly owned by Travelport LP, which distributes airline fare data.

Delta Air Lines Inc., the second-largest U.S. carrier, said Dec. 21 it was terminating three online travel sites, CheapOAir.com, OneTravel.com and BookIt.com as authorized travel agents.


United Continental, the world’s largest airline, plans to end ties with Travelport for reservations and switch to Hewlett- Packard Co.’s Shares system, which was used by merger partner Continental Airlines, Chief Information Officer Keith Halbert told employees in a Dec. 21 memo. A United spokesman, Mike Trevino, confirmed the memo’s authenticity today.

Expedia fell 29 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $26.33 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. AMR slid 17 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $7.78 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The American-Orbitz dispute flared on Nov. 4 when the airline said it would stop providing fare data on Dec. 1 unless a new contract was reached. That triggered a court bid to block the move and criticism by Orbitz Chief Executive Officer Barney Harford that American was making a “broad attack” on ticket distributors.

Expedia picked up that theme in its e-mailed statement.
‘Anti-Choice’
“American Airlines has shown it only intends to do business with travel agencies through a new model that is anti- consumer and anti-choice,” Expedia said.
“American Airlines’ proposed direct connect model will result in higher costs and reduced transparency for consumers, making it difficult to compare AA ticket prices and options with offerings by other airlines,” Expedia said.

Sabre Holdings Corp., the parent of Travelocity.com, said Dec. 21 that American’s actions will “make it much harder and more costly for agents and consumers to easily comparison shop among airlines, which will result in increased prices for consumers.”
Sabre is a former American unit that was spun off by the airline in 2000.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at mcredeur@bloomberg.net 

American Airlines pulls fares from Orbitz



American Airlines stops selling tickets through Orbitz; could make fare comparisons tougher
Joshua Freed, AP Airlines Writer, On Tuesday December 21, 2010, 7:35 pm EST


American Airlines pulled its flights from the Orbitz travel website on Tuesday in a dispute that could eventually affect the way travelers buy airplane tickets online.


The airline said its tickets sold previously on Orbitz are still valid. And American Airlines tickets can still be bought at the airline's own website as well as other travel websites. American pulled its tickets from the Orbitz for Business site as well.
The dispute is the latest sign of strains between airlines and the companies that sell airline tickets, including online sellers like Orbitz.


Airlines have traditionally paid sellers a commission. American also pays fees to the global distribution companies that provide the flight information.


Now, American wants Orbitz to get that flight information directly from the airline, cutting out the global distribution systems. American has said that will reduce costs and also allow it to make more personalized offers to customers such as hotels and car rentals.


The global distribution systems have not moved as fast as they could have to upgrade their technology, but American's move with Orbitz is "rather severe," said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst for Forrester Research. "It seems like they want to scorch the earth."

He predicted that travelers who want to fly on American will seek out its tickets on the airline's website. Travelers who don't know what happened with Orbitz, or don't care which airline they fly, are unlikely to notice American's absence from Orbitz, he said.

Traveler advocates have said American's move will make it harder to comparison shop.


"There is profit in confusion, there is profit in fragmentation of all the fares and the fees so consumers can't comparison shop," said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, which represents corporate travel buyers.

He said airlines ultimately would like to flip the current financial arrangement around and have travel agents pay them for access to flight information, rather than American paying every time someone else sells a ticket on one of its flights.

American's vice president for sales, Derek DeCross, said in a statement that the airline needs 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 had threatened to pull out of Orbitz on Dec. 1. But Orbitz got a state court judge in Chicago to block the threat temporarily. It made its move on Tuesday shortly after judge Martin S. Agran declined to issue an injunction. Agran ruled that any breach of contract can be sorted out with a lawsuit later.


The request to block American was brought by privately held Travelport Ltd., which owns 48 percent of Orbitz. It also runs two of the biggest so-called global distribution systems, Galileo and Worldspan. American spokesman Ryan Mikolasik said it has been negotiating with other online ticket sellers. The Orbitz negotiation was made more difficult because of Travelport's involvement as owner of the two global distribution systems, he said.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. called American's decision "unfortunate" and said it still offers flights from more than 400 airlines worldwide and would continue to seek a way to sell American tickets, too. It said American Airlines tickets add-ons like rental cars and hotel rooms added up to about 5 percent of the company's revenue for the nine months that ended Sept. 30. It said it believes that any American Airlines tickets it loses will be replaced by tickets on other airlines.


Shares of American parent AMR Corp. rose 14 cents to close at $8.05. Orbitz shares rose 22 cents, or 3.5 percent, to close at $6.44, but then fell 16 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $6.28 in aftermarket trading.

Also Tuesday, Delta Air Lines Inc. said it would stop selling tickets through three smaller travel websites, CheapOAir.com, OneTravel.com, and BookIt.com effective on Dec. 17.


Last week a Delta executive told analysts that some ticket venues have more value than others. The airline wants "as direct a relationship and channel to our best customers as we can," said Glenn Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president for network planning, revenue management, and marketing. He said he's aiming for Delta's own website to be more like an Apple store and suggested that other travel websites are more like Best Buy, with similar products, but a different customer experience, he said.

Freed reported from Minneapolis. AP Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.