$58M Settlement Reached With Last Airline in Transpacific Class Action

A $58 million settlement has reportedly been reached to resolve class action allegations that several airlines engaged in a price-fixing scheme on transpacific flights.

On Feb. 13., a class action lawsuit was paused in California federal court after it was announced that passengers reached a settlement with All Nippon Airways Co.

All Nippon was the last carrier facing claims in the consolidated class action lawsuit and the recently announced settlement will stay the trial scheduled for March 4.

The passengers and the airline have until the end of March to motion for approval of the settlement.

The airline price-fixing class action lawsuit was originally filed in 2007 by passengers claiming that several airlines conspired together to artificially fix the price of transpacific flights to Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.

This alleged conspiracy reportedly resulted in long-haul flight ticket prices being fixed at a price higher than fair market value.

In 2014, Air France, Japan Airlines International Co., Vietnam Airlines Co., and other airlines settled claims agains them in settlements totaling $29.6 million. Later that year, Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Qantas Airways also reached deals with the passengers totaling $9.8 million.

After these settlements, five defendants remained in the airlines price fixing class action. These defendants sought summary judgement, claiming that the plaintiff-passengers had no standing to bring their allegations because the U.S. Department of Transportation is responsible for overseeing airline fares and surcharges. The defendants claimed that they were protected under the filed-rate doctrine that prevents lawsuits over rates approved by the DOT.

The court rejected this argument and the rejection was upheld in the Ninth Circuit in April 2017 after it was determined that the filed-rate doctrine does not protect airlines. All Nippon and another airline asked the Supreme Court to review the ruling, but their request was declined in March 2018.

At the same time, Philippine Airlines Inc., Air New Zealand Ltd., and China Airlines Ltd. reached settlements in January 2018 that totaled $29.4 million. Also in 2018, EVA Airways settled claims against them for $21 million.

With All Nippon’s recently announced settlement, all defendants in the airlines price-fixing class action lawsuit will have settled.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The settlement Class is represented by Christopher L. Lebsock, Michael P. Lehmann, Seth R. Gassman and Michael D. Hausfeld of Hausfeld LLP; and Joseph W. Cotchett, Adam J. Zapala and Elizabeth Castillo of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP.

The Airlines Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:07­-cv-05634, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: July 2019, the All Nippon Airways ticket price-fixing class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.