The consumer plaintiffs' "generalized" claim that the merger will harm them as air travelers isn't enough to sustain a challenge against a specific merger, attorneys for JetBlue and Spirit said.
The two airlines also criticized the plaintiffs' legal team, saying despite years of fighting in court to block airline mergers "not once have they prevailed, but they have accepted monetary settlements." The plaintiffs' case "is fundamentally about money," lawyers for JetBlue and Spirit said. The DOJ, joined by Massachusetts and other state attorneys general, alleged in March that the deal was "presumptively illegal" and would "lead to higher fares and fewer seats, harming millions of consumers on hundreds of routes."In their latest filing in the private lawsuit, JetBlue and Spirit said the deal, announced in July 2022, would force larger carriers "to compete harder to win the business of American consumers.
But lawyers for the airlines said a legal expert for the plaintiffs "offers zero evidence" of alleged harms as travel agents.