WASHINGTON -- A majority of the U.S. airline owners of Hotwire
agreed to give even deeper discounts to the distressed-inventory
Web site, enabling Hotwire to launch its first-ever fare sale April
15.
A Hotwire spokeswoman said the airlines reached the agreements
with Hotwire separately for the domestic fare sale, which comes off
prices already discounted by as much as 50%. She said a "majority"
of the airlines are participating, but would not specify the
airlines or the exact number.
Hotwire is owned by Texas Pacific Group and six of the eight
largest U.S. carriers: American, United, Northwest, Continental, US
Airways and America West.
In that vein it is similar to Orbitz, which is owned by the five
largest U.S. airlines. Last fall Orbitz and Hotwire signed a
marketing deal in which they offer direct links to each other's
sites and tout each other as a consumer option.
Hotwire offers deep discounts on seats
that otherwise would fly empty, but doesn't name the airline or
give the flight times until the consumer completes the
nonrefundable, unchangeable purchase. The "Spring Sale" applies to
tickets bought through May 2 for trips completed by May 22.
The Hotwire spokeswoman said the airlines that agreed to
participate in the sale were approached individually.
"We went to all of them with the idea to have a sale to help
stimulate demand for April and May travel, and they agreed to
participate," she said.
Those airlines did not have to sign a deal on offering Hotwire
the sale prices, she said, because they already are Hotwire
partners. She also said the airlines are not precluded from
offering the deals elsewhere, but for now are offering them to
Hotwire exclusively.
The spokeswoman dismissed suggestions that some people could
find that troubling.
"We're a site where the airlines compete against each other for
the lowest price that will be found on our site," she said. "We
foster competition, so there's no way anyone can complain about
it."
"The airlines are invested in us, but we're an independent
company," she added.