Southwest sues new ticket seller

Kevin Ferguson

Friday, May 4, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Southwest Airlines today said it filed suit against the powerful new travel website Orbitz, alleging it's using proprietary information about Southwest's fares, routes and schedules without its permission.

Southwest's lawsuit charges that Orbitz, which was formed by five of the biggest U.S. airlines, has refused to eliminate false and misleading information from its website concerning Southwest's business.

Orbitz, which has been the center of an antitrust controversy since its formation, was created by American, Continental, United, Delta and Northwest airlines.

Orbitz lawyers were not available to comment this morning on whether Orbitz would remove Southwest information from its site.

A letter to Southwest from Orbitz lawyer Gary Doernhoefer noted Orbitz receives its Southwest flight information from a travel clearinghouse.

"We can easily address the concern that Orbitz may not be displaying the lowest Southwest fares. We would be happy to display lower Southwest fares not made available through airline clearinghouses," Doernhoefer said in the letter.

But Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said whether low fares are displayed is not the issue. She said the company does not want its information displayed on Orbitz at all.

"Southwest has long been a believer in maintaining its independence, and doesn't want to be part of a site owned by a cartel of our competitors," she said. "We have no control over the information they are listing."

Dallas-based Southwest, the busiest carrier at McCarran International Airport, is not part of the large airline consortium that formed the controversial website. In April Southwest had 163 average daily flights at McCarran.

Southwest supported a previous study by Washington D.C.-based Interactive Travel Service Association that concluded consumers would pay higher airfares with Orbitz as a competitor.

Orbitz spokeswoman Dawn Doty said the current site is limited to only allowing web surfers to book airline tickets. In June Orbitz plans a site re-launch that will include the ability to book flight/ hotel packages and rental cars, she said.