Then the allegation that we are "an illegal boycott against third party distributors" because it has "requirements for posting fare sales that cannot be sold" by others is not true? It is absolutely not true, and those who have made that allegation had absolutely no basis econo lodge for making it. our agreements contain no boycott against any distributors whatsoever, and in fact affirmatively provide that no airline is precluded from utilizing any other distribution channel or offering any fare through any channel. the department lodge of justice is presently reviewing all agreements, so there will be no question on this point. do airlines today make all their fares available through all retail channels?

our agreements not only contain no provision barring any airline from making any fare available through any channel, they contain wall an affirmative non-exclusivity provision that makes it explicit that no airline is prevented from making any fare it chooses available econo through any channel it chooses. our agreement contains a non-discrimination clause by which those airlines that will receive the indirect discount on the crs booking fee agree in return to make available on any fare they publish and make available to the general public through any other channel. but that of course does not preclude them from offering lodge any fare through any other channel.

most airlines wall today choose to make web fares available only on their own websites, because these fares are so low it would be uneconomic to offer them through the higher cost channels. (it is, in fact, very common throughout the retailing world for stores or catalogs econo to also have a website, and for that website to offer a few prices that are below lodge the prices charged for the same goods in the store or the catalog.) however whether an airline chooses to wall make its web fares available through crs''s to travel agents and the websites that rely on crs''s is strictly an individual airline decision, and will remain so once orbitz is up and running. several third party websites (such as intellitrip.com) today take web fares from various airline websites (which they can do, because nothing is more public than a website) and display them in one place for their customers. and of course travel agents can book web fares off an airline''s website for a customer if they wish (although whether they get a commission on that booking is up to the individual airline).

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