United and Southwest among airlines facing class action over alleged fare sharing

Ashley Ward and Gregory Morris filed a class action lawsuit against the Airline Tariff Publishing Co., its data firm 3Victors and seven airline companies in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Nov. 4, 2026.

The plaintiffs allege American, Delta, United, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska Air Group and its subsidiary Hawaiian Holdings of using ATPCO, an airline-owned fare data company, to share private pricing information with one another and keep domestic fares high.

What is ATPCO?

ATPCO runs the database airlines have long used to publish their fares. A group of airlines, including American, Delta and United, owns it, and representatives of 11 airlines sit on its board.

In 1992, the U.S. Department of Justice sued ATPCO and eight airlines over using that system to signal fare increases. Consent decrees then limited ATPCO to sharing fares the public could already see, but the last of them expired in 2011.

How the data exchange reportedly works

ATPCO bought data firm 3Victors in December 2023. The plaintiffs say its Iris system pools airlines' internal shopping data, including prices offered to travelers who never bought a ticket. 3Victors itself, the class action contends, tells airlines that the more data they contribute, the more they receive.

A companion tool, PriceEye, allegedly alerts airlines within hours when a rival undercuts their fares. The complaint's evidence tying the major defendants to the tools includes an Alaska Airlines PriceEye deal, airline logos on the 3Victors website and airline pricing staff who presented at ATPCO's 2026 conference.

The lawsuit ties a sharp rise in 2026 fares to the exchange, which operated with all of its features for the first time that year. As evidence, it cites Delta's chief executive describing a 20% price increase that met limited resistance from travelers and United's chief executive saying fares did not fall when fuel prices did.

The legal claims

The lawsuit brings four claims under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, the federal law against agreements that unreasonably restrain trade. Two target ATPCO and the airlines that govern it for setting up the exchange, and two target the airlines that used it to share data.

The class action seeks triple damages for travelers who paid inflated fares, a court order ending the exchange and attorneys' fees.

What the lawsuit means for airline passengers

The proposed classes cover anyone who bought a ticket for a U.S. domestic flight from Southwest, Alaska, Hawaiian, JetBlue or United in the past four years. Travelers who bought only from American or Delta do not quaify.

There is no settlement, no claims process and no money available at this time.