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Travelport expanded claims in its lawsuit against American Airlines, first filed in early November, to include the accusation that by providing Kayak.com in January a 10% discount program that travelers could access using a "personal promotion code," AA violated the parity provisions of its "full-content" agreement with Travelport.

"The 'personal promotional code' is not personal at all," according to the updated Travelport suit. "Instead, an unused code can be used by anyone who obtains that code to purchase multiple AA tickets at a 10% discount off the fares AA provides to the Galileo and Worldspan global distribution systems.

"AA has the ability to tie the use of a discount, promotion or perk to the identity of the passenger to whom the discount, promotion or perk was issued. But AA provided no such protections with the Kayak discount."

Directed there by Kayak, customers would use their codes on AA’s website, Travelport noted.

According to an American Airlines official, "We believe that we were and are in full compliance with our contract with Travelport and that the court will be in agreement as the facts are revealed."

When the full-content agreements were hammered out back in 2006, “promotional” or “targeted” fares were seen as a potential loophole by critics.

According to court documents filed last week, AA told Travelport that the Kayak discount fell under the "Targeted Group" exception in the agreement. Yet, Travelport considers this exception to be inapplicable because, it alleged, "AA did not limit the fares to a limited group of travelers, nor did AA limit the actual sales of those fares to 'users of Kayak.'"

Moreover, "AA has not alleged, nor can it truthfully claim" that Travelport’s decision to add AA’s Booking Source Premium surcharge to AA fares displayed in the GDSs "is incorrect or not an accurate reflection of the Booking Source Premium."

In the Cook County, Ill., circuit court case, Travelport is seeking a judgment on the parties’ rights under the full-content agreement, "specifically that Travelport’s displays of the Booking Source Premium are in full compliance" with its obligations to AA, as well as recovery of lost booking fee revenues and other damages.

Travelport also is accusing AA of violating the companies’ agreements by terminating Orbitz’s ticketing authority. The court in December dropped a temporary restraining order preventing AA from terminating the Orbitz relationship, which it subsequently did.

Travelport last week requested a new injunction "prohibiting AA from offering fares in the United States through other distribution channels which are not available to Travelport’s GDSs."

AA has filed counterclaims against Travelport alleging fare bias. Full-content agreements generally obligate airlines to provide full content so long as GDS firms do not bias against them in fare displays.

Further hearings are scheduled for March.

This report appeared in the Feb. 9 edition of the Beat, a sister publication to Travel Weekly.