American Air Wins Its Five-Year-Old Anti-Trust Lawsuit Against Sabre
Skift Take
$5.1 million is not a lot of money for a giant global airline, but for US Airways — and later American — this was always about more than money. The airlines argue that firms like Sabre have long held too much power.
A federal jury in New York on Tuesday awarded American Airlines $5.1 million in damages in a five-year-old antitrust lawsuit concerning whether Sabre used its "massive power" over airlines to charge fees and "harm competition."
The case was filed in 2011 by US Airways, which merged with American two years later. At the time, according to the original complaint, bookings through Sabre accounted for 35 percent of US Airways' revenue — so much that the airline estimated it would need to file for bankruptcy if it lost it.
The suit, filed in