A class action has been certified against 15 major U.S. and foreign airlines on behalf of all travel agents in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands who issued tickets, miscellaneous charge orders, or prepaid ticket advances between October 1, 1997, and the eventual date of any judgment in the action. The action alleges that the airlines for whom the travel agents issued the tickets unlawfully conspired to reduce or eliminate the commissions they pay to travel agents for sales of domestic and international travel tickets, in violation of federal antitrust laws. The action seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and an order prohibiting the airlines from engaging in further anticompetitive activity.

The action alleges that the named airlines conspired in four base commission cuts since 1997, and structured their announcements to occur at different times, to make it look as though each airline made its cuts independently rather than in concert with the others. The action also alleges that if any of the airlines had cut commissions individually without similar cuts by all other airlines, it would have been harmful to those that introduced the cuts, not economically helpful. Only by the coordinated commission cutting by all airlines could they avoid being subjected to losses of fares from agents.

As an example of what would have happened in the absence of a conspiracy, the action points to United Airlines' attempts to cut commissions in 1981: It lowered its commission rates by imposing a system of flat-fee commissions. The system was in place about five days, but when other carriers failed to follow suit, United withdrew its reduced commission program and reverted to the pre-existing system so as not to lose business to other airlines because of travel agents' shifting business to those airlines paying higher commission rates.

The four commission cuts or caps listed in the action include a reduction from ten percent to eight percent in September 1997; an imposed commission cap of $50 for one-way international air travel and $100 for round-trip international air travel beginning in October 1998; a reduction from eight percent to five percent beginning in October 1999; and a cap reduction for domestic tickets starting in August 2002.

Additionally, the action alleges that certain airlines jointly formed the Orbitz website to sell airline tickets in the United States with the goal of eventually eliminating the need for travel agents. United, Delta, Northwest, Continental and American Airlines allegedly formed a joint venture as an opportunity to collectively further reduce travel agent commissions even further by excluding them from the sale of airline tickets altogether.

The airlines named in the action are United Airlines, Inc.; American Airlines; Delta Airlines; Northwest Airlines, Inc.; Continental Airlines, Inc.; US Airways, Inc.; Midwest Express Airlines, Inc.; Airtran Holdings, Inc.; America West Airlines, Inc.; Frontier Airlines, Inc.; Alaska Air Group, Inc.; Alaska Airlines, Inc.; Societe Air France; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines; Deutsche Lufthansa, AG; and Air Canada.

From 1995 to 2000, the number of travel agencies in the United States declined by roughly 25 percent.