Where does the relatively new group, Open Allies for Airfare Transparency, whose members include global distribution systems and travel agencies, stand on the display bias issue now that the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a warning letter?
The coalition hasn't exactly come out swinging against the practice.
"As business disputes between the airlines and GDSs have unfolded over the past several months, many of our members have expressed concerns that consumers’ efforts to find the best air travel options might be frustrated in the near term," said Andrew Weinstein, the group's director. "However, Open Allies’ long-term goal is to ensure consumers have access to complete and accurate 'all-in' air travel costs to compare across multiple airlines.
"Toward that goal, we welcome DOT bringing heightened attention to the issue of full disclosure of air travel costs. We continue to point out, though, that each and every day that airlines refuse to share ancillary fee information with travel agents, consumers may be unnecessarily paying millions of dollars in hidden fees."
When initially asked about the display bias issue, in which Sabre, Travelport and Expedia had downgraded American Airlines' flights, Weinstein only wanted to talk about airline fees and direct-connect.
"As you know, Open Allies strongly supports the principle of transparency in airfare pricing, and we're glad that the DOT is also focused on this important issue," Weinstein said. "We believe that the greatest threats to price transparency are the multitude of hidden fees that are not available to travel agencies or GDSs and the push by some carriers for fragmented distribution systems which would undermine consumers’ ability to do apples-to-apples comparison shopping. We look forward to working with the DOT to tackle those urgent issues. In terms of the display practices of individual Open Allies members or their communications with the DOT, you would have to contact them directly."
Charlie Leocha, president of the Consumer Travel Alliance, which is allied with the American Society of Travel Agents and the Business Travel Coalition in MadAsHellAboutHiddenFees.com, took on the display bias issue more directly, saying, "Consumers lose both ways -- when airlines withhold their inventory from travel agents and they also lose when travel agents remove airline inventory from their displays."
But, Leocha, too, wants to talk more about "hidden fees" than GDS or online travel agency display bias.
The Consumer Travel Alliance supports transparency in airfare pricing," Leocha said. "Consumers have the right to know the full price of airline travel through whatever channel they choose to purchase their tickets. Our efforts have been directed at insuring a system that allows consumers to make across-airlines price comparisons that include airfares and all requested ancillary fees."
Here's the rest of his statement:
"We support the airlines' right to work with whom they choose and for travel agencies and travel companies to make similar decisions. However, CTA feels that there must be full airfare and fee transparency through whatever channels are used by the airlines.
"We are glad that the DOT is focused on this important issue. We have consistently pointed to the greatest threat to pricing transparency is the emergence of hidden fees that are not disclosed to travel agencies or GDSs. Hopefully this commercial dispute will show how important a set of clear rules defining airfares set by DOT is for transparency in airline pricing."
In other developments, Open Allies says it is poised to launch websites in Spanish and Portuguese so it can attract members in Latin America.
Meanwhile, the group, which is pushing to require airlines that distribute through GDSs to place all of their ancillary products in that channel, added three trade organization as members. They are the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, the Association for Passenger Rights and the Travel Agents Federation of India.
Open Allies says it has boosted its ranks to 250 members.