Orbitz to fight rental car legal challenge

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has vowed to defend itself against legal action by Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental accusing the web-based travel company of breaking their car rental listing contract.

In the lawsuit, filed with the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., the car rental companies alleged that Orbitz “inappropriately demanded” a payment of $1.5 million that was not required by the contract.

Alamo and National have accused Orbitz of “breach of contract, intentional interference with prospective business relationships, consumer deception, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition.”

The car rental companies are both operated by Vanguard Car Rental USA Inc., which itself was acquired by St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. last year.

Vanguard has estimated that actions by Orbitz will cause Alamo to lose more than $27 million by the end of 2008. An estimate was not provided for National, but Vanguard indicated in court documents that a similar drop-off in business from online bookings.

A spokesman for Orbitz has called the lawsuit “baseless.” It vowed that it would “vigorously defend” itself and had full confidence that the court will rule in its favour.

“The bottom line is that Vanguard is trying to use a lawsuit to get a sorting result from Orbitz that Vanguard and Orbitz did not agree to. In short, Vanguard is trying to use its lawsuit to get something for nothing,” Orbitz elaborated.

www.orbitz.com