Northwest Airlines today signed a five-year agreement with Sabre Holdings, extending the relationship that began with the Direct Connect Availability Three-Year Option program, set to expire in July. Along with the agreement, the companies settled litigation sparked by Northwest's unsuccessful 2004 attempt to levy fees on travel agent bookings made through global distribution systems.
The renewed DCA agreement provides that the carrier will continue to display all published fares in Sabre's global distribution system for an undisclosed transaction fee. "When these deals were signed before, we were in the regulated environment. Now we're in the deregulated environment. As such, they're not going to be transparent deals and they're going to be different because it's a very competitive area, so we're not going to be getting into the details of the structure of the deal," a Sabre spokesperson said.
"The transaction is subject to normal and customary approvals related to Northwest's Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings," Sabre said of the new deal in a statement.
Sabre and Northwest in 2004 traded lawsuits over the policy, which failed to gain support from other carriers and quickly was rescinded
(BTN, Sept. 6, 2004).