Friday, December 16, 2016

Department of Transportation Says Airlines Didn’t Manipulate Prices After 2015 Amtrak Derailment: Department says no evidence of unfair manipulation of fares or capacity



The Wall Street Journal
By IMANI MOISE
Dec. 15, 2016 3:07 p.m. ET


The Transportation Department concluded its investigation into the pricing practices of five major airlines following an Amtrak derailment near Philadelphia in 2015, finding no wrongdoing, the agency said in a letter Thursday.

The inquiry, launched in July 2015, targeted the five biggest U.S. airlines: American Airlines Group Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and JetBlue Airways Corp. It focused on the period immediately following the derailment in the Philadelphia area on May 12, 2015, which killed eight people and disrupted train service for several days along the busy Northeast corridor.

After analyzing over 5,000 pages of data, the agency found that although fares did increase on many routes after the derailment, fares also decreased on some routes. There was no evidence of unfair manipulation of fares or capacity, the letter said.

When allegations first surfaced, Delta said that it had actually lowered its highest fares from Boston to New York and Washington, D.C. to help affected travelers, and American said it added capacity and its fare structure remained the same.

Original article can be found here:   http://www.wsj.com

No comments:

Post a Comment