Kayak/Sidestep pushed back against American Airlines on Friday in an ongoing dispute over the display of American's airfares, accusing the airline in a court document of trying to "bias" pricing information that Kayak provides to online travel shoppers.
The contentions by the Connecticut-based metasearch company are the latest salvo between the two in a disagreement over how Kayak has handled inventory and fare information it gets from American.
American said it terminated its relationship with Kayak while Kayak said it dropped American's ticket prices from its results over the dispute.
Kayak's accusations came in a counter-claim it filed in a Tarrant County, Texas, court Friday. It is the first official response by the metasearch firm to a lawsuit filed against Kayak earlier this month by the airline.
American has asked the court to stop Kayak from violating agreements on how American's fares are displayed -- namely to stop posting results alongside those of its online travel agency competitors.
American also is asking the court to award damages for instances where Kayak directed consumers wanting to book American flights to Orbitz or CheapTickets, instead of directly to AA.com.
American has said it is unfair for Kayak to use data from the airline and then direct consumers to online travel agencies as the websites compete with American's direct booking site for reservations.
While American gets paid for tickets booked through the online travel agencies, the carrier pays the sites a booking fee for each reservation -- fees that add up to tens of millions of dollars a year.
Kayak, meanwhile, gets paid by American for every referral it makes, but also gets a fee from the online travel agencies when consumer clicks through to the OTA to book airfare or other travel accommodations.
Kayak said in its filing that American's efforts to suppress competing airfare search results would distort its independent fare results, reducing its credibility and reputation with consumers.
But American contends that Kayak already agreed to direct consumers to American's site for booking American airfares, and reneged on that promise in order to attract lucrative commissions from third-party reservations providers.
Both sides have indicated an interest in settling the matter without going to trial, but so far the court case continues to build.
The travel metasearch company said in its filing that American sent emails to customers who had used Kayak to search airfares and made false statements to them about the dispute. It contends that the alleged false statements damaged its relationships with customers and asked the court to grant damages against American for interfering in its client relationships.