United Airlines and Expedia: United’s endgame is unclear

The airline distribution landscape has changed significantly during the past decade, with airlines often taking aggressive steps to change dynamics with third party ticket sellers in order to gain more favourable commercial terms. One of the more high profile spats occurred between American Airlines and Orbitz, with the airline opting to pull its inventory from the online seller for a period of time in both 2010 and 2014.

Now United and Expedia appear to be heading toward a severing of ties after tough contract talks and some legal tussles.

United's relationship with Expedia has not always been comfortable, but the current skirmish between an airline and a third-party seller is the latest attempt by airlines to rewrite the rules for distributing their inventory.