Airline Tickets Antitrust Suit Dealt Blow

A federal judge in Los Angeles dealt a setback Friday to a dozen air carriers that have accused American Airlines and United Airlines of illegally monopolizing the nation’s computerized airline ticketing business.

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie ordered that two groups of airlines that have filed an antitrust lawsuit against American and United may not present to a jury their claim that the two airlines engaged in a conspiracy to dominate the ticketing business.

In a four-page decision, Rafeedie wrote that evidence offered by the plaintiffs, led by USAir and Texas Air, “does not support a reasonable inference of conspiracy. . . . Such speculative and ambiguous evidence does not require a trial.”

The judge’s decision would rule out three of the four theories offered in the original lawsuit as to how American and United engaged in monopoly practices.

“American considers this to be a major victory,” Robert E. Cooper, an attorney for the airline, said in a statement distributed to reporters. “We feel totally vindicated by the decision, because the judge recognized the conspiracy charges for what they are--absolute speculation.”

Attorney Maxwell M. Blecher, who represents USAir, said he believes that Rafeedie erred and that his client may take the issue to an appellate court before proceeding to trial. “In my view, with all due respect, this decision is simply a preemption of the function that should have been performed by a jury. There are certainly two sides to every tale,” Blecher said.

American’s SABRE ticketing system, the nation’s largest, and United’s Apollo ticketing network together account for about 60% of all airline tickets sold and more than 75% of the nation’s computerized ticketing revenue.

Other airlines, which pay fees for tickets booked through the two systems, have complained that American and United have abused their domination of the market by charging exorbitant fees and imposing restrictions on travel agents that make it difficult or impossible for the agents to switch to rival systems.

Rafeedie last month ruled that the smaller airlines could not argue to a jury that American or United violated antitrust laws by withholding competitors’ access to an essential industry facility or that the airlines engaged in improper “monopoly leveraging” by gearing their computers to favor their own flights.