Politech mailing list archives
FC: Justice Department investigating airline web site for antitrust
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 18:53:37 -0400
[First it was Microsoft and Intel. Wasn't Cisco an antitrust target too? Then ebay (http://www.politechbot.com/p-00907.html) and a real estate web site (http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=realtors). Now an airline web site, reportedly (according to article below) in part because travel agents are upset. Wasn't it Bastiat who wrote that biting satire about candlemakers lobbying the French government to ban windows that let in sunshine? --Declan]
******** See related "Senators-ask-for-antitrust-probe" from May 3: http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/travel/DailyNews/AirlinePricing000503.html ******** http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2572457,00.html DOJ probes new powerhouse airline site 'T2,' a joint venture funded by five U.S. airlines to sell tickets on the Internet, is sending travel agents and smaller sites into a panic. By Tim Dobbyn, Reuters May 19, 2000 5:31 AM PT WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department said on Thursday it was investigating a joint venture funded by five U.S. airlines to sell tickets on the Internet. "The Department's antitrust division is investigating the joint venture announced by certain major U.S. carriers to distribute airline tickets," said Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona. Still going by its "T2" planning name, the project is being developed by Boston Consulting Group on behalf of equity partners -- UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp., Continental Airlines Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines. An additional 25 airlines have agreed to be affiliate members, offering what T2 says will be the most comprehensive and unbiased source of travel information on the Internet. [...]Travel agents and the dominant travel Web site, Travelocity.com, have expressed fears that T2 will reduce competition and cut them out of selling certain low fares.
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), which had asked in February for a probe of T2, welcomed the government investigation that was first reported in USA Today. [...] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- FC: Justice Department investigating airline web site for antitrust Declan McCullagh (May 19)