http://www.onlinetravelreview.com/2006/06/23/airlines-investigated-for-price-fixing/ Airline News and Commentary Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:51:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 http://www.onlinetravelreview.com/2006/06/23/airlines-investigated-for-price-fixing/#comment-6114 iahphx Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:27:30 +0000 http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onlinetravelreview/2006/06/23/airlines-investigated-for-price-fixing/#comment-6114 While the competitive situation at LHR is deplorable (the British gov't itself has essentially set up a cartel), the fact that all the airlines charge the same fuel charges is scant evidence of collusion. With access to real-time pricing, airlines often (indeed, usually) charge the same fares. I'll be surprised if the airlines were actually talking to each other about fares because it would be so incredibly stupid. With so few competitors (and all of them traditional legacy carriers), they could easily accomplish the same thing by simply posting their fares/surcharges and waiting for their "competitors" to match. While the competitive situation at LHR is deplorable (the British gov’t itself has essentially set up a cartel), the fact that all the airlines charge the same fuel charges is scant evidence of collusion. With access to real-time pricing, airlines often (indeed, usually) charge the same fares. I’ll be surprised if the airlines were actually talking to each other about fares because it would be so incredibly stupid. With so few competitors (and all of them traditional legacy carriers), they could easily accomplish the same thing by simply posting their fares/surcharges and waiting for their “competitors” to match.

]]>