Fair Displays of Airline Services in Computer Reservations Systems (CRSs)

요약

The Department is adopting two rules to further ensure that travel agents using computer reservations systems (CRSs) can obtain a fair and complete display of airline services. One rule will require each CRS to offer one display that lists flights without giving all on- line connections a preference over interline connections; the other rule will bar systems from creating displays that neither use elapsed time as a significant factor in selecting flights from the data base nor give single-plane flights a preference over connecting services in ranking flights. The Department believes that these rules are necessary to promote airline competition and ensure that travel agents and consumers can obtain a reasonable display of airline services. The Department is not now adopting another display requirement that it had proposed--a requirement that any display offered by a system be based on criteria rationally related to consumer preferences--and will instead consider that proposal further as part of the Department's overall reexamination of its CRS rules. The Department is acting on the basis of informal complaints made by Frontier Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Midwest Express Airlines.