Court tosses out antitrust ruling against United Airlines in luggage dispute

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Posted 9:03AM on Wednesday, January 16, 2002

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court ruled that a judge did not have enough information when he ruled that baggage-size frames used to weed out oversized carry-on luggage at Dulles International Airport illegally restricted competition among carriers. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III's ruling in favor of Continental Airlines and returned the lawsuit to the district court for a more thorough review. "In a nutshell, although the district court demonstrated mastery of many intricacies of antitrust law, it performed too quick an analysis on an insufficiently developed factual record," Judge Diana Motz wrote in the unanimous opinion. Last January, Ellis found that United Airlines and local managers of other airlines agreed to illegally restrict competition by installing the baggage templates in front of security checkpoints. United has been using the box-shaped, 10-inch-by-15-inch frames to set a maximum size for carry-on luggage since 1999. At Dulles -- located 25 miles west of Washington, D.C., in Virginia -- that made it difficult for passengers with luggage exceeding the maximum size to reach Continental gates. Continental allows passengers to carry larger bags on board and said the templates created a burden for the airline and its customers. United claimed that Continental suffered no real competitive harm because its customers could obtain tokens allowing them to bypass the baggage sizers, which had been authorized by Dulles' Airports Management Council. Dick Favretto, lawyer for Chicago-based United, said he was pleased with the appeals court's ruling that there are enough disputed factual issues to send the case back to the lower court for closer scrutiny. "The district court has to take under consideration a variety of factors, all of which we believe will tilt in our favor and result in a finding that the templates are legitimate under antitrust law," Favretto said. Alden Atkins, attorney for Houston-based Continental, declined to comment because he had not finished reading the ruling. ------