AA and four oneworld partners apply for Antitrust Immunity
Jul 24, 2007, 8:34 am
#1
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AA and four oneworld partners apply for Antitrust Immunity
AA, Iberia, Finnair, Malev Hungarian Airlines, and Royal Jordanian Airlines have applied for antitrust immunity effective March 30, 2008, according to a PRNewswire-FirstCall article, as carried by Yahoo!
The application seeks to allow the five airlines "to cooperate in a wide variety of operational areas that will provide a more seamless travel experience for customers. Those areas include: codesharing, frequent flyer programs, route and schedule planning, advertising and marketing, pricing and yield management, revenue allocation, ground handling, cargo services, information technologies and distribution systems, and several other areas."
The application seeks to allow the five airlines "to cooperate in a wide variety of operational areas that will provide a more seamless travel experience for customers. Those areas include: codesharing, frequent flyer programs, route and schedule planning, advertising and marketing, pricing and yield management, revenue allocation, ground handling, cargo services, information technologies and distribution systems, and several other areas."
Jul 24, 2007, 8:41 am
#2
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One can hope that this has implications of upgrades on non-AA metal.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Jul 24, 2007, 1:11 pm
#5
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Well, they can also coordinate schedules which could make things more convenient for consumers. But yeah, I don't think antitrust has anything to do with upgrades.
Jul 24, 2007, 2:54 pm
#6
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No, the inplications are they can all fix their pricing. They do not do this stuff for us.
Jul 24, 2007, 3:34 pm
#7
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No, the inplications are they can all fix their pricing. They do not do this stuff for us.
(but then again i havent earned lifetime status yet)
Jul 25, 2007, 3:11 am
#9
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American seeks antitrust immunity for alliance
American seeks antitrust immunity for alliance
By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
American Airlines Inc. said Tuesday that it has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to grant antitrust immunity to its alliance with four international carriers.
However, the list did not include British Airways PLC, its most important partner in the Oneworld alliance.
American wants to coordinate fare-setting, scheduling, frequent-flier programs, marketing, code-sharing and other activities with Iberia, Finnair, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines, which belong to the Oneworld global airline alliance with American, British Airways, Japan Airlines and other carriers.
"We believe that an alliance with antitrust immunity is of vital strategic importance and will help us remain competitive with other trans-Atlantic alliances that already have such immunity," said Henry Joyner, American's senior vice president of planning.
[cut]
American and British Airways have twice sought antitrust immunity for their trans-Atlantic partnership, which predates the Oneworld alliance. But antitrust regulators have required concessions that the carriers wouldn't accept.
American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said last week that American was "in a dialogue" with British Airways about how to proceed.
"Certainly, our view would be that if immunity is granted to our competitors, that the antitrust body should begin to look at the competition between alliances rather than on the city-pair basis that they have looked historically," Mr. Arpey said.
By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
American Airlines Inc. said Tuesday that it has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to grant antitrust immunity to its alliance with four international carriers.
However, the list did not include British Airways PLC, its most important partner in the Oneworld alliance.
American wants to coordinate fare-setting, scheduling, frequent-flier programs, marketing, code-sharing and other activities with Iberia, Finnair, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines, which belong to the Oneworld global airline alliance with American, British Airways, Japan Airlines and other carriers.
"We believe that an alliance with antitrust immunity is of vital strategic importance and will help us remain competitive with other trans-Atlantic alliances that already have such immunity," said Henry Joyner, American's senior vice president of planning.
[cut]
American and British Airways have twice sought antitrust immunity for their trans-Atlantic partnership, which predates the Oneworld alliance. But antitrust regulators have required concessions that the carriers wouldn't accept.
American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said last week that American was "in a dialogue" with British Airways about how to proceed.
"Certainly, our view would be that if immunity is granted to our competitors, that the antitrust body should begin to look at the competition between alliances rather than on the city-pair basis that they have looked historically," Mr. Arpey said.
Jul 25, 2007, 3:19 am
#10
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See: (this thread)
Last edited by JDiver; Jul 25, 2007 at 7:00 am Reason: recurving link deleted - thanks, tom911!
Jul 25, 2007, 3:38 am
#11
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...
However, the list did not include British Airways PLC, its most important partner in the Oneworld alliance.
American wants to coordinate fare-setting, scheduling, frequent-flier programs, marketing, code-sharing and other activities with Iberia, Finnair, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines, which belong to the Oneworld global airline alliance with American, British Airways, Japan Airlines and other carriers.
"We believe that an alliance with antitrust immunity is of vital strategic importance and will help us remain competitive with other trans-Atlantic alliances that already have such immunity," said Henry Joyner, American's senior vice president of planning.
[cut]
American and British Airways have twice sought antitrust immunity for their trans-Atlantic partnership, which predates the Oneworld alliance. But antitrust regulators have required concessions that the carriers wouldn't accept.
American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said last week that American was "in a dialogue" with British Airways about how to proceed.
"Certainly, our view would be that if immunity is granted to our competitors, that the antitrust body should begin to look at the competition between alliances rather than on the city-pair basis that they have looked historically," Mr. Arpey said.
However, the list did not include British Airways PLC, its most important partner in the Oneworld alliance.
American wants to coordinate fare-setting, scheduling, frequent-flier programs, marketing, code-sharing and other activities with Iberia, Finnair, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian Airlines, which belong to the Oneworld global airline alliance with American, British Airways, Japan Airlines and other carriers.
"We believe that an alliance with antitrust immunity is of vital strategic importance and will help us remain competitive with other trans-Atlantic alliances that already have such immunity," said Henry Joyner, American's senior vice president of planning.
[cut]
American and British Airways have twice sought antitrust immunity for their trans-Atlantic partnership, which predates the Oneworld alliance. But antitrust regulators have required concessions that the carriers wouldn't accept.
American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said last week that American was "in a dialogue" with British Airways about how to proceed.
"Certainly, our view would be that if immunity is granted to our competitors, that the antitrust body should begin to look at the competition between alliances rather than on the city-pair basis that they have looked historically," Mr. Arpey said.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...trust-woe.html
Jul 25, 2007, 7:12 am
#12
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What does that mean? I hope it means that the others will start to award 100% miles on discount economy fares, NOT the reverse. Would AA ever start behaving unreasonably, like BA, and only award a mean 25%?
Jul 25, 2007, 7:30 am
#13
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Why is American "right" and BA "wrong"? The BA scheme seems to be designed to encourage travellers to pay for premium price seats, whereas AA seems to encourage sheer BIS miles. Is that "wrong"? Or merely different?
Slightly off the topic, it's actually been easier for me to qualify as a BA silver than it was a maintain AA PLT, but I earned less 'free' travel. It seems to depend on what you value most.
Jul 25, 2007, 8:31 am
#14
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This is unreasonable because....... ?
Jul 25, 2007, 8:33 am
#15
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Cheers.