A travel agency franchiser filed suit Wednesday on behalf of all travel agents across the U.S., seeking to stop the nation’s major airlines from limiting the commissions that agents are paid for selling airline tickets.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey by Travel Network Ltd., a national chain of travel agencies.
It contends that the carriers-USAir, United, American, Delta and Northwest Airlines-broke antitrust and price-fixing laws when they acted virtually in unison last week to reduce agents’ commissions to a maximum of $50 a ticket.
Travel agents say they will lose hundreds of million of dollars annually because of the airlines’ move. In order to survive, they contend, they will have to charge fees for services that had been free to consumers.
To further pressure airlines into rescinding their commission caps, the travel industry has begun organizing consumers across the U.S. into lobbying groups.
