In what may be the first of many legal challenges to the proposed Continental-United merger,
Forty-nine air travelers from 15 states filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco Tuesday seeking to block the planned merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines…The lawsuit claims the merger would violate the federal Clayton Antitrust Act by reducing competition and thereby raising prices and decreasing service for consumers.
As an armchair lawyer, I predict this lawsuit has a 0.23% chance of success.
The big hurdle for the UA/CO will be clearing Justice Department review and intense scrutiny from skeptics in Congress like Rep. James Oberstar.
Even with the Justice Department review and Oberstar’s 30+ year opposition to deregulation, I give it a 0.21% chance of being blocked. 😉
Oberstar is a bumbling fool trying to get recognition.
This exact thing happened with the DL/NW merger as well. Random folks trying to file lawsuits to block it and we see what happened there.
I would vote yes for any merger than having the jobs farmed out of the COUNTRY.