VA and BA Settle Price Collusion Case

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Report: Airlines to settle price claim
WASHINGTON

The Associated Press February 14, 2008, 9:30PM ET

A tentative agreement by Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Airways PLC to settle civil price-fixing claims would give more than $200 million to customers who bought tickets from either airline and who flew between Aug. 11, 2004, and March 23, 2006, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The proposed settlement was presented Thursday to U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco and could be signed Friday, the newspaper reported.

British Airways was fined more than $500 million by U.S. and British authorities for its role in the fuel-surcharge price-fixing case. Virgin was not fined because it came forward to expose the alleged collusion, which involved other airlines and markets, the paper said.

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