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Last week, British Airways, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and United Airlines were named as subjects of an investigation into price-fixing, accused of artificially inflating ticket prices across the Atlantic by moving up fuel surcharges in tandem. The fact that fuel costs have risen is no surprise — the accusation rests on the means by which the airlines came to share common pricing, not the reasons behind the increase per se.

Adding some spice to the story, Virgin was the whistleblower, according to Reuters, trying to bring down BA. (All the while participating in the collusion. Nice work.)

But now, they’ve all also been named in a lawsuit that hopes to gain class-action status. The plaintiffs, building on the existing investigation, accuse the airlines of bilking the public. (My question: These four airlines all fly to London-Heathrow. Why isn’t Continental, who flies to Gatwick, included? Their prices aren’t any lower.)

It looks bad for British Airways, and they’re throwing some of their executives overboard. But common pricing doesn’t always necessarily mean illegal behavior. Airlines load thousands of fares (and surcharges) into the global computer networks every day. Seeing changes, whether up or down, other airlines respond. It might be collusion if secret meetings took place, during which airline executives conspired to raise the price of tickets. (This is what Virgin suggests happened — a BA executive allegedly contacted Virgin about the fuel charges.)

Perhaps in response to these accusations and the negative publicity, there are actually some deals on BA and Virgin from the US to the UK. Virgin’s economy class sale is worth checking out, and British Airways has an interesting luxury package offer for those interested in flying business class.

The business class deal — ~$6000 for TWO roundtrip business class tickets and a three night stay in top London accomodations (the Sanderson, the Berkeley, Claridge’s, or the Savoy) — is good value for business class tickets, and it’s a shot across the bow of all-biz class carriers Maxjet and Eos. (BA offer via Fodor’s)

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