BA Hit with Class Action SuitFinancial Times, Ltd.; Doug Cameron in Chicago and Kevin Done in London; June 25, 2006 Excerpt: British Airways has been hit by a US class-action suit alleging the carrier colluded with Virgin Atlantic to co-ordinate imposing fuel-price surcharges on key transatlantic routes. The suit, filed in New York on Friday, follows BA's admission last week that antitrust regulators in the US and the UK are probing the carrier's pricing policies on long-haul passenger routes, including the setting of fuel surcharges. The class-action suit builds on those filed against BA and 15 other carriers in February amid another transatlantic probe into the alleged co-ordination of fuel, security and insurance charges for air cargo.... The airline maintains that it has observed competition law but is co-operating with the authorities, which have also questioned Virgin, American Airlines and United Airlines about the passenger case. The two US carriers maintain they are not the "focus" of the transatlantic probe at this stage, while Virgin said it was "assisting in the inquiries and the inquiries are ongoing." The ongoing transatlantic cargo investigation has prompted more than 30 class-action suits in the US from disgruntled customers, and lawyers involved in the cases said they had also uncovered evidence of alleged price-fixing in the passenger sector. "There has apparently been an offshoot of regional cartels," said Michael Hausfeld at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll in Washington, which filed the suit against BA on Friday and has led the airline cargo cases. "We did a quick study of the various airline rates for the past five years to and from London Heathrow," Mr. Hausfeld told the Financial Times on Sunday. "The only two that had 'lock-step' movements were BA and Virgin Atlantic." Airline experts have cast doubt on the existence of collusion, pointing out that airlines tend to set prices in relation to those charged by rivals, and the relatively higher yields secured by BA and Virgin Atlantic are said to reflect the higher proportion of business passengers they carry. However, Mr. Hausfeld said his analysis pointed to "something that is allowing [BA and Virgin] to charge higher fares" than rivals.... FULL ARTICLE
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