United and Priceline go in direct ticketing relationship, cutting out middlemen

For years, American Airlines labored in solitude as it sought to reduce its reliance on ticketing global distribution systems (like Amadeus, Sabre and others), and now United Airlines is doing something similar.

Priceline and United announced that they have a new long-term agreement, and that the airline’s heretofore unknown United Technology Application, powered by Farelogix, would serve as the “primary connectivity between the two parties.”

This so-called direct-connect technology means that the global distributions systems would lose a lot of their existing Priceline-United volume.

Priceline and United indicated that they will work to sell the airline’s ancillary — those that you pay extra fees for — services to Priceline customers through this direct-connect. United currently doesn’t sell any of its ancillary services, such as its Economy Plus seats, through online travel agencies.