US Airways v. Sabre

T2RL: Corporate Travel’s Fragility May Trump Impact Of Any AA Court Win Over Sabre

American Airlines and Sabre are back in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Testimony was scheduled to begin Monday in an antitrust trial that originally went AA’s way, but returned for a redo after an appellate court ruling about mistakes made with jury instructions.  An AA win could mean more…

Testimony In Sabre Trial Suggests Distribution Fees Paid By Airlines Could Decline Under NDC

Wilmington, Del. — Sabre has entertained the idea of charging airlines lower prices for bookings made through NDC-compliant connections than it does for those made traditionally. The information emerged here Thursday during testimony at the United States of America v. Sabre trial.  According to evidence presented in the trial, American, Delta and United as of…

Airline-GDS Negotiations Heat Up As Parties Try To Sway Lawsuit’s Outcome

[UPDATE, May 26, 2017: IAG informed industry partners that British Airways and Iberia would add a $10 fee as of Nov. 1, essentially for each one-way trip, on tickets purchased in global distribution systems. The fee will be displayed as a “Q charge” in fare constructions, and included in itinerary fare quotes. Refunds will align with the…

Jury Finds Sabre’s US Airways Contract Violated Antitrust Law

[UPDATE, March 22, 2017: U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield denied Sabre’s motion to set aside the verdict against it. She cited case law explaining that such a motion can be granted “only if there exists such a complete absence of evidence supporting the verdict that the jury’s findings could only have been the result of…

Jury Won’t Hear Sabre Argument That US Airways Lured It Into Lawsuit

The US Airways v. Sabre antitrust case now is in the jury’s hands. The evidence it’s considering does not include everything Sabre wanted it to know. Most notably, the jury didn’t hear about Sabre’s claim that US Airways pursued a “sign-and-sue” strategy. According to the argument, US Airways baited Sabre into rejecting a last-minute request…

Defense Rests After Witnesses Rebut US Airways Account Of Sabre’s Strong-Arming

New York – In its lawsuit against Sabre, American Airlines contends that US Airways in 2011 had “no choice” but to accept purportedly onerous terms for participating in the global distribution system. Witnesses for the airline alleged that Sabre insisted on a contract for full content, or else US Airways risked being out of the…

Murphy’s Law: Economist For Sabre Counters American Airlines’ Expert

New York – University of Chicago professor Kevin Murphy is an award-winning economist. His most prestigious honor is the John Bates Clark medal, won in 1997. For economics, it’s up there with the Nobel Prize. Murphy testified last week in the US Airways v. Sabre trial here, dueling with a winner of that other award,…

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