A competition lawyer comments on the menacing letter from a US travel agent

posted: 24.03.04

On March 18 we reported that Stelios had addressed the Seatrade conference in Miami and despite his suggestion that he would work with travel agents on easyCruise we received and published an angry letter from a US travel agent. Now we have received the following letter from a competition lawyer, respecting the author's request for anonymity.

"Dear Stelios,

A suggestion that came to mind when I read the travel agents' menacing e-mail on your website.

Although I am not an expert on U.S. antitrust/competition laws, I am nevertheless an international trade and competition lawyer and I believe that the letter has a certain "anticompetitive" tone to it, which would be a borderline violation of competition laws in some countries. It seems to me that the travel agency "coalition" might be dangerously close to a definition of a cartel and they seem to be afraid that EASY might steal away some of their monopoly rents.

All I have to say is you have a great company and your succesful business model is likely to affect vested interests, but don't let yourself be bullied and fight back! If you happen to see anything vaguely resembling a boycott by these or other interest groups, just remember that their actions could be violations of competition laws (in the U.S. and elsewhere).

You might want to send that letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice (both are U.S. antitrust agencies) and see what happens. The travel agents might be in for a surprise."

Regards