Skift Take
It's rare for airline contract disputes with distribution companies to reach this outcome. Finnair will suffer financially until it cuts a deal. Sabre, for its part, risks embarrassment if it's seen as bullying a midsize carrier. Nobody usually ends up winning in these classic games of chicken.
Sabre removed Finnair plane tickets and related content this week from its reservation systems for travel agencies outside of European markets as negotiations over a new contract with the airline broke down.
Agencies in Asia, the U.S., and other parts of the world can't book international trips outside of Europe using Sabre Travel Network and Abacus systems.
"Finnair has been negotiating with Sabre on an agreement to replace the current full content agreement and to allow moving to our desired state of pricing and distribution freedom in our direct channels and content differentiation in our indirect channels," an airline spokesperson told Skift. "As we have not reached an agreement, Sabre removed our content."
"We are extremely sorry about the inconvenience this causes to travel agents, and are working to find a solution with Sabre," the spokesperson said.
In a statement, a Sabre spokesperson said: “Sabre been working diligently with Finnair to reach a new and balanced distribution agreement that would be beneficial for travelers, travel agencies, Finnair, and Sabre. However, Finnair is currently offering deal terms that wouldn’t fairly balance all parties’ interests. As Finnair is not complying with terms in its current agreement with Sabre, we have exercised our contractual rights and have, for the time being, partially removed Finnair content from the Sabre
