In re Domestic Airlines Travel Antitrust Litigation
In July 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would initiate an investigation to determine whether four of the United States’ largest domestic air carriers engaged in coordinated efforts to limit seat capacity as a way to increase ticket prices and recognize record profits. Shortly after the DOJ’s announcement, dozens of separate class action suits were filed throughout the country, accusing the air carriers of conspiring to fix airline ticket prices in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. On October 13, 2015, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the class actions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. See In re Domestic Airlines Travel Antitrust Litig., No. 15-MC-01404 (D.D.C. 2015). In total, there are 105 cases consolidated in the litigation.