Originally Posted by hazelrah

No, I believe this incorrect. The Department of Justice has full authority to investigate all domestic and international codesharing agreements.

I found the following statement from the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Anti-trust Division, in 1998 testimony.


"The antitrust laws fully apply to all domestic code-sharing agreements and, absent an express grant of antitrust immunity by the Department of Transportation, the antitrust laws apply fully to international code shares as well. To antitrust law enforcement officials, code-sharing agreements are simply forms of corporate integration that fall somewhere between outright merger and traditional arm's length interlining agreements. Like mergers and acquisitions, code-share agreements have the potential to be procompetitive--they can create new service, improve existing service, lower costs and increase efficiency, all to the benefit of the traveling public. By the same token, code sharing arrangements can be anticompetitive. They can result in market allocation, capacity limitations, higher fares, or foreclosure of rivals from markets, all to the injury of consumers. The ability to distinguish the latter from the former is crucial for aviation policy makers and antitrust enforcement authorities".