Rearden Commerce on Thursday "issued a statement to clarify the representation of the company in
Sabre's antitrust lawsuit filed against American Airlines." In that suit, Sabre claimed that Rearden "acquiesced to the use of AA Direct Connect only after AA threatened not to provide its complete fare information to Rearden." Not true, said Rearden. "Rearden Commerce has not entered into an agreement with American Airlines to source fare content through the AA Direct Connect platform," according to the statement. What the company has announced is that
signed a deal with Farelogix, which works with AA and other airlines, and joined the Open Axis group. [more]
Rearden said Sabre "mischaracterized Rearden Commerce, the relationship the company has with American Airlines and the way in which the company interacts with its customers."
In the same legal action, Sabre also claimed "Priceline would prefer not to use" the AA Direct Connect, but "was forced to use AA Direct Connect in order to get access to critical AA fare information."