16 Major Corpse and 4 Persons Plead Guilty (Re Airline Cargo Price Fixing) Baggage Fees connected?

[2 Much Tribulation]

At the moment, I can't prove a definite connection between Airline Baggage fees & antitrust air cargo price fixing in which 16 corporations and 4 individuals have now pled guilty -- but the juxtaposition is interesting nonetheless.

These 16 airlines and 4 executives have pled guilty to Sherman Antitrust violations for “levying cargo rates in accordance with the agreements reached.”

Such illegal (price fixing) agreements are illegal conspiracies, so if you thought airlines were engaged in a massive criminal conspiracy to monopolize and/or price fix in the air cargo business, you would not be engaging in conspiracy-theory you would be pointing to conspiracy-fact.

The nearly universal charging these days for even the first bag checked onto a domestic flight reflects, as a matter of economics, a choice to pressure airplane flight customers to reduce baggage in order to sell more commercial air cargo at higher rates than free luggage can command (or, alternatively, to get as much money as possible from the airline customer that is still checking baggage).

Only now, of course, the airlines are all over the map in terms of their various rates for baggage, creating at least the patina if not the reality of “competition” on what to charge for luggage. But, FYI if you're interested, a list comparing the policies of airlines serving the USA regarding baggage fees is here: http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/3801089/airline-baggage-fees-chart-updated/

Noting the interrelationship (but perhaps not a direct causative relationship) between luggage fees and commercial air cargo policies, here’s the roll call of the latest guilty plea, and the names of the 16 airlines and 4 executives who’ve pled guilty so far.

1. Northwest Airlines Cargo, which is no longer in operation, engaged in a conspiracy to fix the cargo rates charged to customers in the United States and elsewhere for international air cargo shipments from at least July 2004 until at least February 2006. http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2010/260906.htm

2. British Airways Plc,
3. Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd.,
4. Qantas Airways Limited,
5. Japan Airlines International Co. Ltd.,
6. Martinair Holland N.V.,
7. Cathay Pacific Airways Limited,
8. SAS Cargo Group A/S, Société
9. Air France,
10. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines),
11. EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd.,
12. LAN Cargo S.A.,
13. Aerolinhas Brasileiras S.A.,
14. Cargolux Airlines International S.A.,
15. Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. Ltd. and
16. Asiana Airlines Inc.

Airline executives who have pleaded guilty as a result of the investigation are

1. Bruce McCaffrey of Qantas,
2. Keith Packer of British Airways,
3. Franciscus Johannes de Jong of Martinair and
4. Timothy Pfeil of SAS.

On Aug. 12, 2009, Jan Lillieborg, a citizen and resident of Sweden and former vice president of global sales for SAS Cargo, was indicted for participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by allocating customers and coordinating surcharge increases for international air shipments to and from the United States.

Text source: http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2010/260906.htm

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Better fix that sub line. "CORPSE"?

I thought we were going to read about a remake of "The Night of the Living Dead"

[2 Much Tribulation]

2. The spelling is intentioanl!! ; ) n/t

But "intentioanl" is unintentionally misspelled! :rofl:

[BrklynLiberal]

3. ooooooo ooooooo hhhhhhhhh hhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhh!!

[Land Shark]

4. Usually still one free bag on int'l flights, for those who can afford that! :) n/t