Transportation Chief: 4 Airlines probed for price-gouging

WASHINGTON U.S. authorities are investigating possible price gouging by four U.S. airlines while train service was disabled between New York and Washington after a deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May, the Transportation Department said on Friday.

Foxx’s department sent letters to the five airlines alerting them that a practice qualifies as unfair if it causes “substantial injury” to customers, “is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumer or competition”, and cannot be reasonably avoided by customers, the AP reports.

Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand. Delta did not increase air fares following the crash-to the contrary, Delta lowered its highest Shuttle prices by almost 50%, to about $300 each way, for travel between New York, Boston and Washington, DC.

The May derailment in Philadelphia left eight dead, injured dozens and interrupted service for almost a week. The letters, obtained by the Dallas Morning News ask each airline for detailed information on airfares between Northeast airports, as well as explanations of any changes in fares and comparisons to other routes.

“Those airlines have allegedly increased fees beyond what you would ordinarily expect in the northeast corridor at a time when the Amtrak line was shut down”, Foxx said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor on Friday.

The airlines have 30 days to respond, according to Foxx.

“The idea that any business would seek to take advantage of stranded rail passengers in the wake of such a tragic event is unacceptable”, Foxx said. He added that the department’s investigation would be separate from the criminal inquiry into airline price gouging from the Justice Department.

Foxx said the investigation being launched on Friday comes after Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut contacted the Obama administration about his concerns.