Travel Agents Vow to Sue Airlines for Price Fixing : Commissions: Group says it will seek damages in response to cap on fees.

The world’s largest organization of travel agents accused the nation’s major airlines Tuesday of engaging in price fixing when they reduced agents’ commissions for domestic airline tickets.

The American Society of Travel Agents Inc. said it plans to file a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the major U.S. airlines, seeking a permanent injunction against capping commissions and asking for damages equal to triple any losses the agents incur from commission reductions.

The group said it has not determined when or where the suit will be filed or which airlines will be defendants.

Earlier this month, virtually every major U.S. airline announced that it would limit travel agent commissions, citing a need to cut costs because of competition from low-budget carriers. The airlines said they would limit commissions to $25 for one-way tickets on domestic flights and $50 for round-trip travel, supplanting longstanding rates of 10% per ticket. The airlines said commissions are their third-biggest expense, totaling $6.28 billion last year.

The travel agents say the limits will hurt their businesses. Ticket commissions account for about two-thirds of the average agent’s income. Travel agents last year booked about 171 million airline tickets, or 85% of the total, ASTA says.

At a news conference at its headquarters in Alexandria, Va., ASTA also said it would ask the Justice Department to seek a restraining order against the airlines, urge the Department of Transportation to issue a cease-and-desist order and seek Small Business Administration loans for financially strained agencies.

The group also said it will launch a national ad campaign Friday seeking consumer support.

Major airlines have been hit by at least two lawsuits over the commission limits: one by Travel Network Ltd. of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., a franchiser of 350 travel agencies worldwide, and the other in San Francisco by an agency called Management Travel Consultants.

Some consumer groups have voiced support for the new commission limits.

Stephen Brobeck, executive director of Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, said the current system does not necessarily encourage agents to get customers the lowest fares. He said consumers will willingly pay fees for good service.

Con Hitchcock, an aviation specialist at Public Citizen, the Washington-based consumer group founded by activist Ralph Nader, said the new commission structure will bring consumers more choice and could result in a number of “discount” agencies offering bare-bones ticket writing and others that would provide more complicated services.

“Travel agents have been a sacred cow in the airline business for many years, and no airline has wanted to risk their anger,” Hitchcock said. “I’m skeptical that they’re going to get very far in proving antitrust here, although it’s a great public relations ploy to make that claim.”