A Fort Worth state judge this week denied a temporary injunction sought by American Airlines that would have enjoined ticket distribution vendor Sabre Holdings Corp. from utilizing its New Airline Storefront display product and paying travel agentsincentives to book higher-priced Delta Airlines tickets over American tickets.
The order, entered Wednesday by Tarrant County District Judge Tom Lowe, followed a five-day temporary injunction trial last week that was the product of expedited fact and expert discovery. Lawyers from Skadden and Patton Boggs represented Sabre and lawyers from Kelly Hart, Yetter Coleman and O’Melveny & Myers represented American.
Lawyers for both sides were not available for comment on Friday.
American sued Southlake-based Sabre this summer, two days before the scheduled July 1 rollout of its New Airline Storefront display product. American alleged Sabre’s new product disadvantages American because it incentivizes travel agents to book critical business travelers on other airlines over American — a wound that would be further exasperated by the previous punctures of the Covid-19 pandemic.
American said in its lawsuit that Sabre’s new product breached contracts with the Fort Worth-based airline because the contract obligates Sabre “to display American’s fare, schedule and inventory data fairly, neutrally and accurately.”
According to a report by Travel Weekly, Sabre filed a response in late July that called American’s suit “a knee-jerk reaction to press releases about innovation that AA could not control.” Sabre denied that it violated its contract with American and said that a new storefront was a priority for airlines and agents due to the increasing complexity of airfares. Sabre said it offered American a similar value-based fee agreement, so it was unclear why “AA now complains that the deal that is also available to it somehow results in a biased system in favor of Delta.”
The Skadden team representing Sabre includes partners Tara Reinhart, Steven Sunshine and Joseph Larkin; counsel Jason Liberi; and associates Michael Clegg, Dakota Eckenrode, Shaivlini Khemka, Evan Kreiner, Gregory Ranzini, Stefania Rosca and Anisa Somani from the firm’s Wilmington, New York and Washington, D.C. offices.
The Sabre team also includes Squire Patton Boggs partners Pat Long and Jon Mureen of the firm’s Dallas office. Sabre’s vice president and associate general counsel of litigation and technology, Jane Neiswender, also played a significant role in the trial.
American’s team includes Kelly Hart’s Dee Kelly Jr. in Fort Worth, Yetter Coleman’s Paul Yetter in Houston and O’Melveny’s Katrina Robson of Washington, D.C.
The case is 236-326225-21 in Tarrant County’s 236th District Court.