Expedia settles with Frontier, pisses off easyJet

This is a geek post for sure...sorry about that. But I have to do a bit of a follow-up.

We did a post about a month ago regarding a tiff between Expedia and bankrupt Frontier Airlines. As they have the right to do in their reorganization, Frontier went to Expedia and asked for a reduction on the rates they pay to have Expedia display and sell their product.

Expedia basically said, "Suck it Frontier" and pulled them out of all their flight displays.

Oooooopppps. That's gotta really hurt an airline that's fighting for it's basic survival and that needs every customer - and especially their cash - in their coffers. Well, Expedia and Frontier did settle their differences and Frontier is back up for sale on the site. It is unknown if Frontier got any reduction to their rate, but I would suspect (and just suspectin' here) they didn't get much. It's called lack of leverage, people!

Well today, on the flip side, we have easyJet, a very large low-fare airline out of the UK. They don't sell their product through what we travel types call "intermediaries." What this means is they want you to visit their website to book them there and no other place (yes, they make a few exceptions for business travelers, but that's another geek story for another geek day).

Well, it appears Expedia has been "screen scraping" their site, pulling easyJet's flight data and redisplaying it for sale on Expedia's UK website.

Oooooooppps again! Not only has this pissed off easyJet in a major way (and they are threatening legal action), but the poor customers are getting in they way. You see, this assbackwards connection isn't working so good, and customers who are trying to book easyJet via Expedia UK aren't getting their bookings completed or receiving purchase confirmations.

By the time they figure this out - hopefully not while standing in line at the airport on the day they depart - the deal they thought they had is long gone or the flight isn't even available any more. Customers then get made at both parties which easyJet says is unfair (nevermind the cost the airline has to spend to help clean up Expedia's original mess).

easyJet has asked Expedia to cease and desist and the TP Geek Squad will monitor the case.

We can't help ourselves, we love a travel industry smack down!

Expedia tells Frontier to stuff it [The Travel Pirates]
Expedia online site reinstates Frontier [Rocky Mountain News]
easyJet warns Expedia 'hands off our flights' [The Register]
Expedia.co.uk [Official Site]
easyJet.com [Official Site]