Some airlines -- as yet unidentified -- are exploring alternatives to the Open Travel Alliance.
That's the word from one of the parties involved, who says he's been asked by several airlines to canvas other carriers to gauge their interest.
Airlines involved in the effort include both U.S. and foreign carriers, the source says.
Their main gripe with OpenTravel, which develops XML-based messages for airlines, hotels, car rental companies, rail lines and recently vacation-rental firms, is that it takes too long to build consensus and to get things done, the source says.
"Carriers would like to see if there is a way to moves things faster and to focus on more things than they are working on," the source says, referring to OpenTravel.
"It's just a germ of an idea," the sources adds, saying he doesn't know if airlines ultimately would go ahead and take any action.
Airlines want to move beyond selling the ticket and seek to find ways to capture demand for upselling and optional services, the source says.
"There is huge opportunity during the dark period," the sources says, referring largely to the time between the booking and the actual travel.
OpenTravel Executive Director Valyn Perini is figuratively scratching her head about the development because no airlines have approached OpenTravel about any concerns.
"They are not talking to us about meeting their needs so how could we even know what they want?" Perini says.
Other than US Airways, Continental and American Airlines, most of the participation in efforts to build airline messages of late has come from technology vendors, including Datalex, HP, OpenJaw and GDSs, Perini says.
On the speed issue, Perini says in the last six months OpenTravel has incorporated optional services into three or four airline messages.
"We move much more quickly than other bodies in the airline industry," Perini says.
Perini argues that building new standards or forming a new standards body would lead to fragmentation as OpenTravel standards have been widely implemented and airlines won't merely toss them aside, given how much they have invested in them.
"A standalone standards body for one segment is very siloed," Perini says. "And, it doesn't make any sense to have a siloed standards' body out there."