Southwest Moves to Keep Listings Off Orbitz Site

Southwest Airlines Co., the largest low-fare carrier, Friday blocked the Orbitz Internet travel site from displaying its fares and flight information by refusing to file the data with an airline industry clearinghouse.

Southwest stopped supplying the information to Airline Tariff Publishing Co. on Wednesday. Orbitz, which is owned by five major U.S. airlines, used the filings to publish Southwest routes and ticket prices because the Dallas-based airline wouldn’t provide them directly. Southwest said it wouldn’t pay to post its flight information with competitors that own Orbitz.

The carrier sued Orbitz in May, arguing that the site falsely claimed to offer the lowest fares and showed consumers routes that the low-fare carrier doesn’t fly.

Orbitz is owned by AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and Continental Airlines Inc.

“We did this to send a clear message that Southwest does not want to be associated with a site that eliminates consumer choice, which we believe is Orbitz’s sole motivation,” said Beth Harbin, a Southwest spokeswoman.

Chicago-based Orbitz said it used information filed by Southwest at Airline Tariff Publishing to display on its Web site routes and fares that complied with Southwest rules. The site cautions that Orbitz can’t guarantee routes and prices are available.

“It’s going to be a lot harder for consumers to bargain-shop quickly and easily without having to go to a bunch of different Web sites,” Orbitz spokeswoman Carol Jouzaitis said.

Orbitz opened to the public June 2 after a three-month test with limited access, while rivals and some state attorneys general raised antitrust concerns.

Airline Tariff Publishing collects flight and pricing information from more than 550 airlines worldwide and distributes it to computer reservation systems used by travel agents to book tickets for customers. Southwest now will distribute flight information only through its own Web site and Sabre Holdings Corp., the largest travel reservation company.

Southwest doesn’t expect the decision to hurt its business and is looking for other ways to provide route and fare information for travel agents, Harbin said. About 36% of Southwest ticket sales are booked on its https://www.southwest.com Web site, the highest percentage in the airline industry.

“We’re not trying to inconvenience anyone, but we have to make a point,” she said.

Southwest shares fell 47 cents to $18.32 on the New York Stock Exchange.