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- THE WEEK, Page 20BUSINESSFrequent Flyer Bonus
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- The airlines settle a price-fixing suit with a $400 million deal
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- Just when airline passengers were beginning to miss those
- great fare-war bargains, they learned that they are about to
- collect $400 million more in benefits from American, United,
- Delta and USAir. The four carriers agreed to pay the money out
- in the form of consumer discounts to settle their part of one
- of the largest class-action lawsuits in history. Along with
- several other airlines, some of which are now bankrupt or have
- discontinued operations, they had been charged with price
- fixing.
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- The suit accused the airlines of using a code on
- computerized reservations systems to signal when prices were
- going up or down. The airlines denied any wrongdoing. As part of
- last week's settlement, though, the four agreed to provide
- $368.5 million worth of discounts to passengers who can prove
- they purchased a ticket on one of the four carriers and flew
- through any of 34 principal U.S. airports between Jan. 1, 1988,
- and June 30, 1992. If the settlement is approved by a federal
- court in Atlanta later this year, vouchers usable for discounts
- of up to 10% on most future flights will be distributed.
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