First Class Appeals Sabre Case To DOT

<B> First Class Appeals Sabre Case To DOT</B>

By Mary Ann McNulty

Taking its case to the Department of Transportation, First Class Travel last week accused American Airlines and The Sabre Group of unfair competition and deceptive practices for interfering with four corporate customers and violating CRS rules.

The agency took its complaints to DOT after a federal judge ruled that that was the proper jurisdiction for the case. First Class seeks actual and punitive damages, a ruling that the parties violated federal law and an injunction to prevent future violations.

At issue are allegations that "American's discount contracts with its corporate customers tie discounts to the use of Sabre in more than 80 percent of those contracts," in violation of CRS rules, First Class stated.

In a letter to U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, DOT general counsel Nancy McFadden wrote that her staff will consider two issues relating to the litigation in its current rule making process: whether an airline may make discount fares available only when agencies and corporations use the CRS affiliated with that airline and whether productivity pricing restricts the ability of agencies to choose the CRS they will use.

First Class, Orange County, Calif., initially sued AA and Sabre in July 1996, after Sabre demanded $100,000 in liquidated damages when the agency dropped the CRS as a means to deal with lost revenue from the 1995 commission caps, said agency attorney Steve Gardner of Dallas.

After it stopped using Sabre, First Class lost several accounts, including Hyundai Motors and Mendoza Dillon, contending that it could not book the company's negotiated fares through its Worldspan CRS.The travel agency argues that American conspired with former employees to steal other business, MAI and Sensormedics. Sabre later counter-sued.