Airline-DOT codeshare dispute draws travel agents into the mix. (In the News).

Travel Agent, January, 2003 by Shannon, Darren

WASHINGTON -- Travel agents and corporate travel managers are expressing surprise and resentment at becoming embroiled in the dispute between the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Delta, Northwest and Continental over the airlines' plans to form a codeshare despite DOT objections.

In a Jan. 21 joint letter sent by the airlines' CEOs to Read Van de Water, the DOT's Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, the three carriers said they would comply with a number of restrictions placed on the codeshare by the Justice Department (DOJ), but would stop short of some DOT requests.

For example, the DOT maintains that potential joint sales pitches by the combined airline group to corporate and agency accounts would be anticompetitive....

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