American Airlines this week sued Sabre in a Texas court, seeking to stop the travel technology company’s start on Thursday of a new way of displaying airfares on its reservation systems.
American said Sabre’s new format for displaying airfares breaches its contract with American by biasing search results in favor of its domestic rival Delta Air Lines.
In May, Sabre announced a multi-year distribution contract with Delta that promised to use more modern methods of “merchandising” airfare content, as Skift reported.
American said that in its review of a preview of the interface that Sabre provided, the airline “discovered numerous instances of the storefront favoring Delta products over those of American, including displays that omit, hide, or misrepresent certain American products.”
The airline said this violates its contract with Sabre, which requires the tech firm to display its content “fairly, neutrally, and accurately. The lawsuit language implied the carrier had…