FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1995                            (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
  REVISIONS IN PRIVATE SETTLEMENT BETWEEN TWA AND TRAVEL AGENTS
        ALLEVIATES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S ANTITRUST CONCERNS


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice said today
that it will not challenge a revised agreement that settles a
private suit between Trans World Airlines Inc. and the nation's
25,000 travel agents.  The parties dropped two provisions
concerning travel agent commissions that appeared in the original
settlement and that the Department had said raised
anticompetitive concerns.
     The Department, in a brief filed in U.S. District Court in
Minneapolis today, said it will not object to the modified
settlement agreement which strikes the two anticompetitive
provisions.  One of those provisions had pegged TWA commissions
at 10 percent until September 30, 1995, and the other had
required TWA to pay 10 percent commissions as long as total TWA
sales by all travel agents continued to generate a 10 percent
increase in TWA's revenues.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said, "Under the modified settlement
proposal, TWA's future commission policies will be established by
its independent business decisions rather than by an agreement
with all travel agents."  Bingaman also said that "The modified
proposal eliminates the incentive for travel agents to act
collectively to shift passengers from other airlines to TWA."
     The proposed settlement involves a private antitrust suit
brought by the American Society of Travel Agents and other travel
agents against TWA and six other major airlines alleging that the
airlines colluded to reduce travel agent commissions.  The
Department has expressed no view as to the merits of the
underlying action.
     In February, each of the defendant airlines announced that
it would place a cap on travel agent commissions at $50 for
roundtrip tickets and $25 for one-way tickets.  For many years
prior to the announcements, travel agents earned a commission of
10 percent on the total cost of each ticket sold, the Department
said.
     TWA has announced that it will terminate the cap on
commissions, although it does not commit to do so for any fixed
period of time into the future.  Under the modified agreement,
TWA would pay agents 10 percent retroactively for the period
February 15 to April 30, 1995.  The modified settlement also
states that TWA will announce a "travel agent appreciation
program" in the next 21 days, the provisions of which are not
specified.  
     The proposed settlement must be distributed to travel agents
for comment and approved by the court before it becomes
effective.
     The other airlines in the lawsuit that are not parties to
the settlement are:  American Airlines, Continental Airlines,
Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Air Lines, and USAir.
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