The American-United Spat Takes a Weird Turn

United insiders say their top competitor in Chicago has cut off their ability to fly American at discounted rates. American says it's all a misunderstanding.

Dear readers,

I love an old-fashioned airline tussle — even if it might be the result of simple miscommunication rather than one carrier launching a nefarious plot against another.

This one centers on United and American (natch), and how often executives from one carrier can book discounted confirmed flights on the other for business trips. It’s a courtesy many airlines long have offered competitors, but United insiders have accused American of recently banning its executives from participating in this scheme. These United insiders have asked me whether it might be payback for the drama at Chicago O’Hare, and they’re mad about it, as it limits their flight options.

Insiders at American confirmed part of the story for me but expressed surprise that United is complaining about it now, as American’s policy changed in September — not just for United, but for all competitors. Perhaps, they said, the recent complaints are related to the experience of an unnamed United executive who was denied an American ticket recently and might not have known the policy changed last year. That executive apparently was told to join the standby list to fly American, and we know executives rarely have patience for that.

I checked in with American’s corporate communications team and learned that American now has a different approach to how it approves confirmed travel for competitors. While it will give tickets in advance in some circumstances, it now does so on a case-by-case basis and not nearly as often as before September, when it had a more liberal policy. More often than not, the answer is no, except for joint venture partners, because they’re not really competitors.