As the U.S. Dept. of Justice apparently continues to contact customers of Farelogix and Sabre, Farelogix President and CEO Jim Davidson rejected Sabre's allegation that their developer's agreement, which Sabre terminated earlier this year, "was an attempt to free ride off of our database and systems."
Davidson says Farelogix made payments to Sabre for the developer's agreement, which enabled the FLX Platform to operate side-by-side with Sabre and provide travel management companies with additional functionality as they acquired content from GDS and non-GDS sources.
Davidson won't say how much those fees were.
But, I'm betting I might be able to pick up and garage a 2009 Acura TL 4-door sedan with 4-wheel drive or a comparable pleasure craft for the boatload of money that Farelogix likely paid for the agreement.
So, the cost of the ride -- whether it was free or not -- apparently wasn't at the heart of the issue.
In fact, Davidson says, Sabre refunded part of the payment because the GDS company terminated access to its databases before the full term of the pact would have run its course.
Instead, the core issue apparently is that Sabre saw a competitive challenge as Farelogix struck direct-connect deals with big-name airlines, including American, United, Lufthansa, Singapore, Emirates, Virgin America, Northwest, Continental, AirTran and Air Canada, as well as with intermediaries such as American Express Business Travel, BCD, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the Travel Authority, Globus and Vayama, among others.
And, I wouldn't be surprised if the fees these airlines pay Farelogix are less than the GDS fees they pay Sabre.
The Dept. of Justice, as Tnooz disclosed, is taking initial steps to gather information about Farelogix's allegations that Sabre engaged in anti-competitive practices to snuff out a smaller distributor when Sabre terminated Farelogix's access to Sabre systems.
Sabre spokesman Michael Brophy declined to respond to Davidson's latest statements outlining why the alleged "free ride" was far from free.
Brophy says: "As we said earlier this year, the termination of the developer agreement with Farelogix only affected a handful of Sabre subscribers and we have worked hard to ensure their needs have been taken care of. Sabre has not told any of its subscribers not to do business with Farelogix."