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Originally Posted by fjtorres
All they had to do was do it the way the airlines do it: one goes first and the rest follow suit days or weeks later. As long as there is no clearly concerted action they usually get away with it.
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True. Hopefully it's not also a factor that airlines spend a lot more on lobbying and campaign contributions than publishers (to check this claim, try some searches at opensecrets.org).
Then there was the time that President Putman, of Braniff, recorded President Crandall, of American Airlines trying -- and failing -- to get some of that concerted action:
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Crandall: Yes, I have a suggestion for you. Raise your goddam fares 20%. I'll raise mine the next morning.
Putnam: Robert, we...
Crandall: You'll make more money and I will too
Putnam: We can't talk about pricing.
Crandall: Oh [expletive], Howard. We can talk about any goddam thing we want to talk about.
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I hope I have this right: American won in district court, lost at the first appellate level, and settled:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=4091,4230343
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Among other things, Crandall is required ''to consult with a company lawyer before communicating with officials of any other airline carrier and to make notes on all such conversations as well as any discussions with American's vendors and creditors pertaining to other airlines' fares,'' the department said. . . .
In a statement issued from its Fort Worth headquarters, American noted that the settlement ''involves no admission of liability by either the company or Mr. Crandall.''
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So the anti-Apple crowd shouldn't get their hopes too high as to what happens next.