In a filing with the US Department of Transportation, American Airlines called the complaint against its distribution strategy by the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) “a frivolous compilation of rhetoric and unsupported allegations that have little, if anything, to do with the alleged basis for the complaint.” American also asked the agency to dismiss the complaint.

ASTA had requested that DOT require American to restore all its content to EDIFACT distribution channels after the carrier began last spring to remove up to 40% of that content and make it available only through direct or New Distribution Capability-enabled channels. (EDIFACT, or Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport, is a set of standards developed by the United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business.)

In its complaint, ASTA said removal of that content caused significant price disparities between EDIFACT and the newer NDC-based channels, “with the established channel almost invariably being the higher-priced option.”
American said in its response that “ASTA’s complaint is not an effort to protect consumers: it is an effort to protect certain agencies” and it would “slow the pace of innovation for those agencies that have not invested in new technologies or adjusted old ways of doing business.”

It also noted that “NDC is not new anymore” and that “NDC makes it possible for American to offer more options to consumers at lower prices and with better service — an increase in competition that is driving other US airlines to also adopt NDC-based technologies.”