<B> Inside Track</B>
<B>Airlines Labor Under Pressure</B>
Flight attendants at America West are in a 30-day cooling off period until March 17, after which they will be free to strike. But an insider said that rather than striking, the flight attendants more likely will disrupt service in other ways--and that if the threat of layoffs does not prevent such action, the carrier will shut down completely.
In other airline labor news, American Airlines pilots have been ordered back to work by a federal judge, and the airline again is operating a full schedule. Meanwhile, US Airways Shuttle employees this month conducted informational picketing to protest a lack of progress in achieving pay parity with the carrier's mainline pilots.
<a name="2"><B>Channel Pricing Expected To Gain Steam</B>
As Delta Air Lines replaced its $1 surcharge for domestic fares not booked on its Website (<I>BTN,</I> Jan. 25) with a discount for those that are, industry sources said the concept of channel-based pricing likely will continue to grow. "Delta's madcap idea will resurface under another disguise," said one agency source, who indicated his company is pouring over a number of distribution models involving menu-style pricing. Northwest Airlines has been working on brief experiments with 5 percent discounts for bookings made on its site, and in Germany, Lufthansa is offering travelers a $9 one-way discount for choosing e-tickets and buying unrestricted coach and business class tickets on some routes. America West senior director of product distribution, Bill Spillman said, "the CRSs are very worried about this concept. I know of one that was strongly considering legal action against Delta for the surcharge."
<a name="3"><B>SRS debuts Global Corporate Rates</B>
Hotel consortium SRS-World Hotels is launching a global program for corporate clients offering tiered discounts tied to annual room-night volume. Companies generating 1,000 to 2,000 room nights will earn 5 percent off rack rates at every property, while those with 20,000 or more room nights will get about 30 percent off, said Scott Davidson, director of sales and marketing for the U.K. and Ireland. Individual SRS properties that attract unusually heavy business from a client may discount even more deeply.
<a name="4"><B>Delta Acquires ASA, Not America West</B>
Delta Air Lines last week announced the acquisition of ASA Holdings, the parent company of regional carrier and Delta Connection affiliate Atlantic Southeast Airlines, in which Delta already held a small stake. ASA operates in Texas and throughout the southeastern United States and feeds Delta's hubs at Atlanta and DFW airports. Delta last week backed out as a possible acquirer of America West.
<a name="5"><B>Court Dismisses Omega vs. ARC</B>
The Airlines Reporting Corp. this month won a suit brought by Omega World Travel Inc. that claimed ARC violated the Sherman Antitrust Act in connection with a dispute involving TWA tickets (<I>BTN,</I> Aug. 25, 1997). In court documents, Omega claimed ARC "had entered into a conspiracy with the airlines to control the market for sale of airline tickets in violation of federal antitrust laws."
<a name="6"><B>Expedia, TravelWeb Link Up</B>
Microsoft Corp. and Pegasus Systems Inc. have linked the Microsoft Travel Technologies platform to Pegasus' online hotel reservation processing service. The swap gives Expedia users access to more than 25,000 hotels in the TravelWeb database and Pegasus access to Expedia's airline reservation capabilities for its TravelWeb.com site. TravelWeb originally had developed its own air booking capability, then signed a deal with Internet Travel Network, before signing with Microsoft. More than 30 Websites use Pegasus for booking hotel reservations, generating $100 million in sales since January, while Expedia is generating weekly sales of $7 million.