European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Doil Magazine airline services Jet lag by Stephen s. Ang Washington stare ver wonder Why those airline advertisements in the yellow pages All look the same Al simple listings rather than the big displays published by other Busi Nesses looking for customers or Why in an age when people can communicate with spacecraft soaring through the solar system an airline passenger can make a phone Call from an air plane in flight or Why for example no airline has offered such inducements to customers As free messenger delivery of tickets or a free direct Telephone line to big customers or even travel agents or Why handicapped passengers Are urged to use expensive first class service rather than the More economical coach one big reason it appears is that each one of these activities Adver Tising Public Telephone service from air planes ticket deliveries travel agent commissions accommodating the handicapped and even the size and shape of tickets the wording of announcements at airports the spacing Between words in computerized reservations messages is covered by agreements among the airlines. In effect under the terms of these agree ments no airline is allowed to do anything different from its competitors or a least it s discouraged from doing anything different. In nearly any other Industry such agreements would be considered conspiracies in restraint of Trade and Wouldhave a pack of Justice department anti Trust lawyers trying to Send the signatories to jail. In the airline Industry however the Yare seen As facilitating the Public s use of the airlines and Are Given the Blessing of Beneficent civil aeronautics Board. Although these agreements have existed for years More than 200 agreements Are compiled in the air traffic conference Trade practice manual they have not been generally known outside the the most part they have been routinely approved by the cab so outta Ely in fact that Board documents from the late sos and Early 60s approving these arrangements simply list them with no explanation of what the agreements do or bythe Board found r in the Public inter est to approve approval was necessary however because Many of these agreements would otherwise violate Laws of attest subject the airlines to the pos a Sty suits. Cab approval immunized the airlines from antitrust suits involving these agreements. Only recently have these Jug rss Wllis. Good a number of them Are j criticized for "�?"j"�1fmlie-Tttioo that could Benefit the Public. Take for example the yellow pages Advertis agreement. Under this one air s agreed to limit themselves to a T their Telephone numbers and local offices for airline wishing to do anything Dif Ferent at least East of the Mississippi must obtain the approval of All the other airlines advertising in the same the airline s own competitors. In any other Industry says Reuben 3d, a Public interest lawyer and frequent critic of the cab an agreement such As this would be an antitrust Viola Tion because this is an agreement that re strains the harm of such an arrangement Robertson says. Is that you. In a sense Are cutting out the Competition of proclaiming your product in a Way that May Best at tract customers for equally questionable is the agree ment involving air ground Telephone service. In to four airlines con ducted tests Between Chicago and the East coast involving the possibility of offering Telephone service for airline passengers. The tests went Well but the airlines re ported that Only 12 channels were Avail Able and it was Felt that this was sufficient to accommodate the anticipated demand passengers would get frequent Busy signals and blame the Telephone com Pany and the a result in 1963 the airlines agreed that nobody would offer air ground Tele phone service to the Public without getting approval from everybody some reason the cab was consider ing this agreement 10 years later because in 1973, the Board decided that the joint refusal of the airlines to participate in the development of air ground Telephone was depriving the Public of a useful service. I therefore indicated it intended to disapprove the Early 1974. However the Board re versed itself. The airlines had change their agreement to specify that nobody would offer Telephone service As Long As Over 200 agreements regulate competitive activities among airlines. Only 12 channels were available an member airlines were not prohibited from aiding in technological improvements that might some Day Lead to Telephone service to air planes. The cab s reversal came alter aeronautical radio inc. A company largely owned and controlled by the airlines told the Federal communications commission which allocates radio channels that 508 channels would be needed to provide nation wide service and after american Telephone & Telegraph co. Said it would take 220 channels. However an at to spokesman said the other Day that when at to asked the acc to allocate some additional channels for air ground Telephone service in 1974, the airlines did not join in the request and the acc citing the fact that there was no appreciable demand for the service that the airlines weren t providing anyway turned Down the at to has no airline Ever offered such a service there was for example no Indi cation in cab records that even though the number of channels is limited an airline that wanted to be creative might offer Tele phone service Only to first class Passen Gers and charge first class prices for use of the service. Sen. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., who directed a massive investigation into How. The airlines Are regulated May have one answer this looks suspiciously like an agreement among competitors by which no firm will offer to customers a potentially useful service until All firms Are capable of doing and Why the restriction on yellow Page advertising there the answers seem to vary even among airline officials. Estorer vice president for Industry affairs at United airlines was asked about the re St non Pink Ani faster to Kkt lines tuesday May 24, 1977 Striction. I could go further and make it More ridiculous he said it does t apply West of the said one airline May decide it wants to advertise More than just a listing in the Minneapolis directory. So they can request and get an exemption and then everybody says o.k., Well be exempt too rather than do that we simply say it does t apply in Minneapolis " but he says the purpose of any such re Striction is basically Cost if you take the advertising Cost in one edition of the Tele phone Book and Multi it by All the cities in the Usa and you have to match the Large amount of advertising which is being done by another Carrier you re adding a tremendous amount of Cost which eventually has to be passed along to the not so says Norman Phillon executive vice president of the a trans port association Trade organization of the scheduled airlines. The Cost is a very Small Small part of the airline advertising budget. It s peanuts interns of the total Media advertising the real reason says Pillion is that the Standard format in the yellow pages makes it easier for a potential customer to find what he s looking for. If you turn to other competitive areas of travel and tourism there s no consistency he says. That however was not Good enough for Kennedy. Testifying during Senate Avia Tion regulatory Reform hearings he said neither the advertising nor the air Tele phone resolutions offer Public benefits sufficient to justify what would otherwise be illegal conspiracies in restraint of but what about the other agree ments the hundreds of them that currently exist Ata president Paul r. Ignatius in testimony before a Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee recently died a statement by the Justice department s antitrust chief Donald l Baker to the effect that the overwhelming majority of them Are beneficial and not anti com pet Tive in any Kennedy Robertson and others have been urging Congress to take away the cab s authority to Grant immunity from antitrust prosecution for airline agree ments on the grounds that the Public May be suffering from higher prices and Lack of innovative new services. Donald Flexner head of the regulated Industry Section at Justice s antitrust Divi Sion says though that the department never has had a formal study of All the air line agreements to determine the extent to which they May hamper beneficial compe of the agreements among the air lines Are widely conceded to Benefit the Public. They allow the airlines for exam ple to make it easier for passengers to travel on several airlines without having to buy More than a single ticket they ease the use of credit cards they permit bag Gage to be transferred quickly from Planeto plane at intermediate stops they permit freight to be sent from airline to airline they make certain that handicapped per sons Are not sold a ticket by one airline Only to be turned away by another. The stars and stripes Page 11
