Priceline.com now books preferred seats on American Airlines

American Airlines customers now can purchase tickets for preferred seats through Priceline.com. Customers who reserve a preferred seat through Priceline.com will pay the same amount as they would pay for a preferred seat through American Airlines’ website or its mobile application.

Priceline.com is the first online travel agency to join an airline to sell preferred seats. However it isn’t likely that other airlines will agree to allow online travel agencies to have access to their preferred-seating information, which isn’t available through the global distribution system that provides airlines’ flight-pricing information to online travel agencies, says Rick Seaney, who is CEO of online travel-planning website FareCompare.