Grassley made his request in a letter to American Airlines which maintains the dominant airline reservation system. Known as the SABRE system, it is used by travel agents and Internet customers around the world. "Accurate flight information in the large airline-run computer reservation monopolies is vital to a new entrant. In fact, the type of inaccurate information seen in this case could even be construed as an anti-competitive practice in violation of U.S. Department of Transportation rules," Grassley said.
AccessAir, which started flying earlier this month, was assigned a two-letter airline identification code: ZA. Some years ago this code had been assigned to an Egyptian airline. As it stands today, a travel agent seeking information about flights traveling out of Des Moines would find a listing for ZAS Airline of Egypt, instead of AccessAir. Adding insult to injury, AccessAir has been told that the error cannot be corrected until March 15.
"I am surprised that the SABRE system is not more capable of making an immediate correction when an error like this one occurs," Grassley said. "The delay raises disturbing questions about single airline-controlled reservation systems."