US travel agencies squeezed, seek government help Thursday June 13, 3:18 PM EDT By John Crawley WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - U.S. travel agencies, squeezed by airline commission cuts and the proliferation of online ticketing, see turbulence ahead and have asked the government for help. The industry's leading trade group and one of its biggest companies, the American Automobile Association travel services, urged the Transportation Department this week to make Internet ticketing ventures give them easier access to their Web-based fares, including their lowest offerings. This, agents said, would level a playing field they claim is tilted to favor Web-based services even though travel agent bookings still outpace online sales. The government is considering regulating online ticket sites as part of its review of rules governing airline computer reservation or global distribution systems. These systems provide pricing and scheduling from travel service providers like airlines, hotels and rental car companies to travel agents and other brokers. <http://ae.excite.com/adclick/CID=000034127d9372bc00000000/acc_random=56 73456785/site=excite.reuters/area=money.news/aamsz=336x280> Since CRS regulations were last updated 10 years ago, the landscape of accessing, comparing and booking air fares has changed dramatically. While travel agents sold $63 billion in airline fares in 2001, Web-based services accounted for $24 billion in sales and their market share is growing because of discounts and convenience. The online travel market is expected to grow to more than $60 billion in 2006, experts said. Travel agents are also under pressure from airlines. Looking to save money, many big airlines have eliminated ticket sales commissions, which have declined steadily in recent years and totaled $3.6 billion in 2001. While travel agents, especially the bigger ones, say they can probably weather some big changes in their industry, they uniquely fear online sales through airline-owned Orbitz Inc. ORBITZ OWNED BY 5 AIRLINES "We are on the verge of the final round, in which airline-owned and tightly controlled instrumentality is positioning itself to completely dominate the retailing of air transportation," William Maloney, the chief operating officer of the American Society of Travel Agents, told a special government panel looking at travel reservation systems. In business for a year and planning a public stock offering, Chicago-based Orbitz is owned by the five biggest U.S. airlines, AMR Corp.'s (AMR <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=0&symbol_search_text=AMR> ) American Airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UAL <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=0&symbol_search_text=UAL> ) United Airlines, Continental Airlines (CAL <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=0&symbol_search_text=CAL> ), Delta Air Lines (DAL <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=0&symbol_search_text=DAL> ) and Northwest Airlines (NWAC <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=0&symbol_search_text=NWAC> ). Orbitz is the third most-frequently visited online travel site, and two government agencies are reviewing its relationship with its stakeholders and examining its business practices for any signs of anti-competitive behavior. Regulators and antitrust officials want to know how often airlines give their lowest fares to sites other than Orbitz as well as whether Orbitz's contracts with carriers amount to agreements to not compete vigorously. Travel agents claim the airlines that own Orbitz favor it over other distributors. "If the airlines can divert any meaningful amount of this business to themselves, through elimination or restriction of public access to travel agencies, the potential gain to them is enormous," Maloney told the commission this week. Orbitz denies it engages in anti-competitive behavior, pointing to its agreement last month with corporate travel firm Navigant International (FLYR <http://money.excite.com/jsp/qt/full.jsp?time=0&symbol_search_text=FLYR> ) to develop software to give travel agents direct access to Orbitz's fares. "This comes down to innovation and consumer choice," said Orbitz spokeswoman Carol Jouzaitis. She said the company has boosted competition on the Web, and has followed the business plan that the government previously reviewed. "The Justice Department and the Transportation Department have already looked at our business model (before the start-up). They looked at all of these questions. We've done everything that we said were going to do," Jouzaitis said. Orbitz lost $103 million last year and $9.2 million in the first quarter of 2002.