American Airlines wins US$15m in antitrust case against Sabre

American Airlines Group Tuesday won about US$15.3m in an antitrust lawsuit that accused airline booking service Sabre of harming competition and charging grossly inflated booking fees. The Manhattan federal jury awarded nearly $5.1m, a fraction of the up to $73m American Airlines was seeking at trial. But the sum automatically will be tripled under federal antitrust law. American Airlines was suing under the name of US Airways, the carrier it merged with in 2013. US Airways had filed the lawsuit in 2011. American Airlines welcomed the verdict, saying it hoped the jury's finding that Sabre had violated federal antitrust law in a 2011 contract with US Airways could result in changes in how the airline's services are sold. The jury rejected a separate claim that Sabre conspired with its competitors to not compete with each other. <br/>