Sponsored Listings:
A trio of senators is asking the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Justice Department to investigate whether Lufthansa violated U.S. antitrust laws in relation to the $18 “distribution cost charge” (DCC) it imposed last year on GDS transactions.
The charge has drawn strong objections from travel agents and travel industry consumer advocates.
In a letter sent Wednesday, senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) questioned whether Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr violated the Sherman Antitrust Act last June and July when he made public statements expressing his hope that other airlines would also introduce DCCs. Spohr made the first of those statements while sitting on a panel at the annual International Air Transport Association (IATA) conference in Miami.
“Lufthansa’s public statements at the IATA conference may have encouraged competitors collectively representing the vast majority of the market to follow Lufthansa’s lead in raising prices,” wrote the senators. “Although no other carrier has publicly followed Lufthansa, the Department of Justice should determine what other steps, if any, Lufthansa took, what reaction occurred, and whether those actions run afoul of the Sherman Act.”
As the senators noted, to date no other air carrier has followed Lufthansa in installing a surcharge on tickets or ancillary products purchased through the GDSs.
Spohr has said the airline instituted the charge in order to disrupt the international airline distribution model; a move the company hopes will spur innovation.
In a statement, Lufthansa contested the contention that any aspect of its planning or implementation of the DCC violated US antitrust laws.
“The U.S. [DOT] has previously reviewed the events of the 2015 IATA meeting and Lufthansa provided all requested information in answering questions related to this topic,” the carrier said. “DOT concluded that no violation of US antitrust laws had occurred. Lufthansa has been and remains readily available to cooperate with the U.S. authorities in any further review and we are fully committed to compliance.”
Lee, Klobuchar and Blumenthal sit on the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights.
Source: travelweekly.com
 and the Justice Department to investigate whether Lufthansa violated U.S. antitrust laws in relation to the $18 "Pin It"){kind=spacer}