By ERIC TORBENSON
Staff Writer
Published 24 January 2011 08:49 PM
American Airlines Inc. and Sabre Holdings have agreed to push their legal battle to June 1 in hopes of reaching a new agreement on how they sell airline tickets.
American’s attempt to route travel agents around Sabre’s distribution systems by using its Direct Connect model prompted the Southlake-based global ticket seller to end American’s booking discounts and change how American’s tickets were displayed on its systems so they were harder to book. In response, American sued Sabre, alleging breach of contract.
In a joint statement late Monday, the sides said they would revert to the relationship they had before Sabre took its actions. American had won a temporary restraining order against Sabre, and a hearing had been scheduled for Feb. 14 to discuss that order.
Talks on a new distribution deal will continue between Sabre and American; Sabre said earlier that it planned to drop all American content from its system in August if it couldn’t reach new terms.
Shares of American parent AMR Corp. were up 6 cents to $7.41 Monday; the news was released after trading ended. Sabre is privately held.
