Like US Airways and in contrast to American Airlines, the merged United Continental appears to be taking a conciliatory approach in its dealings with global distribution system partners.
Jeffery Smisek, president and CEO of United Continental Holdings, said the airline wants to continue to work with its distribution partners, including travel agencies and GDSs, but the airline also has to ensure that its customers are not hampered by legacy technology.
"We need folks to keep up with us," said Smisek, referring to distributors and speaking during the airline's fourth quarter 2010 earnings call on Jan. 26.
Jim Compton, the airline's chief revenue officer, pointed to the Continental.com FareLock program, introduced in December, as an example of a product that the "legacy platforms" can't handle.
Under FareLock, travelers using Continental.com can pay $5 to lock in a fare for up to 72 hours or pay $9 to do the same for seven days.
Regarding other ancillary services, Smisek noted that United distributes its Economy Plus extra-legroom seats through Sabre and is working with Travelport GDS to deliver something similar.
Still, Smisek inferred that the airline's current distribution costs need to decrease, saying distribution has to be cost-efficient and on par with the value received.
Those are code words for -- the costs have to get lower.
Also this week, US Airways indicated it intends to take a pragmatic approach toward distribution.
So, both United Continental and US Airways have gone out of their way this week to publicly differentiate their stances on distribution from American Airlines' more aggressive approach.
On other fronts, Smisek of United Continental said the airline would be offering no public position on Google's pending acquisition of ITA Software.
Asked why there would be no public statement, Smisek said the airline, which is an ITA Software customer, would let the antitrust regulators sort out the issue.