>Price discrimination is technically illegal, but there are a lot of loop
>holes, plus the FTC and the Justice Department basically stopped enforcing
>this aspect of Anti-trust in the 1960s. Much of the kind of price
>discrimination you mentioned below is allowed because and airline ticket or
>hotel room purchases under different conditions or circumstances (e.g.
>non-refundable vs refundable, etc.) are considered distinct products.
Wiry and gravel-voiced, with slick hair and a flinty demeanor, [Robert]
Crandall once described airline competition as "the closest thing to
legalized warfare." His tactics built American into a powerhouse but
occasionally backfired. In 1982, American had to settle a price-fixing suit
that stemmed from a tape-recorded phone call from Crandall, then American's
No. 2 executive, to Braniff chief Howard Putnam.
"Raise your (expletive) fares 20 percent. I'll raise mine the next
morning," Crandall told Putnam. "You'll make more money, and I will, too."
(Atlanta Constitution, Apr. 16. 1998)
Louis Proyect
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