DISTRIBUTION LEAVES THE FAMILY : AIRLINES DEVELOPED AND BUILT THE CRSS FROM WHICH SPRANG THE GDSS

As airlines sell off their in-house computerized reservation systems, the new owners, many of them large, cash-rich media companies, are changing the way they operate. Cendant added several Internet portals, including Galileo International, for $3 billion, while USA Networks is buying a controlling share of Expedia, started by Microsoft. Along with Travelocity and Orbitz, it remains the top provider. While there is talk about interactivity for sales of travel among the new owners of these services, there's not much evidence of it. Other possible areas of expansion are adding packaging services to the ticket booking function and even, some speculate, vertical ownership by reservation operations of hotels and airlines.