I’ve noticed of late that there is a real lack of decent J fares to the US on OW carriers.

Looking at random dates in May, July & Nov, AC, TP, SK, UA, LX , LH & even TK are offering sub €1800 fares (some sub €1600) to both east & west coast. On the same dates, anything with BA/AA/IB is over €2k, in most cases +€2200.

With EI joining the joint venture, is this some kind of protectionism?