ANALISA TORRES, District Judge.
Plaintiff, Planetarium Travel, Inc. ("Planetarium"), brings this action alleging violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. Defendant, Altour International, Inc. ("Altour") moves to dismiss the amended complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). For the reasons stated below, Altour's motion is GRANTED.
Planetarium is a travel agency that specializes in selling discounted first and business-class airline tickets.
In 1995, Planetarium signed a non-exclusive franchise agreement with non-party American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. ("Amex"), a travel-focused subsidiary of the American Express credit card company. Id. ¶¶ 10-11
In March and April 2009, Altour, a competing discounted ticket consolidator with $850 million in annual sales, met with Amex regarding a possible business arrangement. Id. ¶¶ 25, 46. Altour represented itself as a "key strategic participant" in the market for discounted first and business class airline tickets, and Altour and Amex entered into an agreement whereby Altour would become a supplier of discounted airline tickets to the Amex Network. Id. ¶¶ 24, 26. As part of their agreement, Altour negotiated "a number of so-called `host agreements'" with members of the Amex Network in which these members agreed to exclusively purchase discounted airline tickets from Altour. Id. ¶¶ 49.
Planetarium refused to sign a "host agreement" with Altour and "protested their proliferation" within the Amex Network. Id. ¶¶ 52. As a result, Amex, induced by Altour, notified Planetarium in December 2009 that its franchise agreement with Amex would not be renewed and that Planetarium's status as a travel representative office would be terminated on March 31, 2010. Id. ¶¶ 20, 53. Planetarium was the only travel representative office that was not renewed. Id. ¶¶ 22. Planetarium contends that Altour persuaded Amex to terminate Planetarium's status as a travel representative office in order to engage a "long term de facto exclusive dealing arrangement" and that Altour and Amex engaged in a group boycott of Planetarium. Id. ¶¶ 26, 30.
To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must plead sufficient factual allegations in the complaint that, accepted as true, "`state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). A plaintiff is not required to provide "detailed
To state a claim under Section 1, a plaintiff must first allege a relevant, plausible product market that bears a "rational relation to the methodology courts prescribe to define a market for antitrust purposes—analysis of the interchangeability of use or the cross-elasticity of demand." Todd v. Exxon Corp., 275 F.3d 191, 200 (2d Cir.2001) (Sotomayor, J.) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Re-Alco Indus., Inc. v. Nat'l Ctr. for Health Educ., Inc., 812 F.Supp. 387, 392 (S.D.N.Y.1993) ("Absent an adequate market definition, it is impossible for a court to assess the anticompetitive effect of challenged practices."). The relevant market must include all products that are "`reasonably interchangeable by consumers for the same purposes,' because the ability of consumers to switch to a substitute restrains a firm's ability to raise prices above the competitive level." City of New York v. Grp. Health Inc., 649 F.3d 151, 155 (2d Cir.2011) (citation omitted). Different products may be considered reasonably interchangeable if there is cross-elasticity of demand, which exists when "consumers would respond to a slight increase in the price of one product by switching to another product." AD/SAT, Div. of Skylight, Inc. v. Associated Press, 181 F.3d 216, 227 (2d Cir.1999). A failure to include reasonably interchangeable products or to assess the cross-elasticity of demand renders the market definition legally insufficient and is grounds for granting a motion to dismiss. Chapman v. New York State Div. for Youth, 546 F.3d 230, 238 (2d Cir.2008).
Planetarium alleges that Altour conspired with Amex to restrain trade in the sale of discounted first and business class airline tickets in three markets: the Amex Network market, the Amex Cardholders market, and the general public market. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 34, 38-40. The Second Circuit has stated that "[c]ases in which dismissal on the pleadings is appropriate frequently involve either (1) failed attempts to limit a product market to a single brand, franchise, institution, or comparable entity that competes with potential substitutes or (2) failure even to attempt a plausible explanation as to why a market should be limited in a particular way." Todd, 275 F.3d at 200. Planetarium's market definitions fail for both of those reasons.
First, Planetarium's division of the market by customer is too narrow and is unsupported. Although a market may be limited to a particular group of consumers, PepsiCo, Inc. v. Coca-Cola Co., 114 F.Supp.2d 243, 248 (S.D.N.Y.2000), aff'd, 315 F.3d 101 (2d Cir.2002), such limits must be justified, see City of New York, 649 F.3d at 156 (rejecting a market defined by the City of New York's preferences for health insurance providers that ignored the larger competition among insurance
Here, Planetarium provides no basis for narrowing the market for discounted airline tickets to members of the Amex Network and to Amex Cardholders. With respect to the Amex Network, Planetarium defines this market as "a conglomerate of several hundred independent U.S. entities holding franchise agreements with Amex" that purchase network services such as Amex marketing, branding, customer information, and invitations to franchisee conferences. Am. Compl. ¶ 38. However, as is the case with Planetarium, these entities are independent, and there is no allegation that all Amex Network members are required to operate exclusively within the Amex Network. See, e.g., id. ¶ 43 (examples of Planetarium's business indicating non-exclusivity of franchise agreement). In addition, although Planetarium states, in a conclusory manner, that Amex and Altour conspired to make Altour the exclusive supplier of discounted first and business class airline tickets, a cursory inspection of the amended complaint and attached documents reveals that any exclusivity agreement was voluntary, not mandatory, for members of the Amex Network. See id. ¶ 49 ("Altour negotiated a number of so-called `host agreements' to provide Altour dominant trade status in the Amex Network Market.") (emphasis added); id. Ex. 4 (e-mail from Amex representative to Altour representative: "Technically, we cannot stop our Reps from soliciting members in the Rep Network. They network and exchange emails on their own. However, we (Amex) only promote and provide member lists of email[s] to our preferred suppliers. . . . In the case with Altour partnership, we would endorse your program and market accordingly through various communications channels.") (emphasis added).
With respect to the Amex Cardholder market, there are similarly no allegations that Amex Cardholders are required to purchase discounted first and business class tickets through the Amex Network or from Altour. In the case of both the Amex Network market and the Amex Cardholder market, there is no basis to conclude that, in the event of a price increase in discounted airfare by Altour, these consumers would be constrained from purchasing airline tickets from non-Amex or non-Altour entities. Moreover, courts routinely reject markets defined by a single product or brand. Mooney v. AXA Advisors, L.L.C., 19 F.Supp.3d 486, 500-01 (S.D.N.Y.2014) ("The widespread rejection of single-brand markets is not some creature of brittle formalism. Rather, courts rebuff these market definitions because single-brand markets—whatever their theoretical possibility—are consistently pled in a manner that lacks plausibility or is otherwise untethered to economic reality."); Integrated Sys. & Power, Inc. v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., 713 F.Supp.2d 286, 298 (S.D.N.Y.2010) (collecting cases). Planetarium's attempt to limit the product market to specific Amex-based customer groups is unsupported by the allegations in its own complaint and by the realities of the market for airline tickets. See Skyline Travel, Inc. (NJ) v. Emirates, 09 Civ. 8007, 2011 WL 1239783, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 28, 2011) ("Plaintiffs' papers are also devoid of any explanation as to why the consumer side of the relevant market could properly be defined for antitrust purposes to exclude all but Indian and Pakistani passengers from New Jersey."), aff'd, 476 Fed.Appx. 480 (2d Cir. 2012).
Second, Planetarium's narrowing of the product market by price to discounted first and business class tickets is implausible and unsupported. Planetarium does not provide details regarding the degree of discounts offered or any allegations to support a division of the market for first and business class airline tickets by price.
Section 1 prohibits "concerted action between two legally distinct entities resulting in an unreasonable restraint on trade." E & L Consulting, Ltd. v. Doman Indus. Ltd., 472 F.3d 23, 29 (2d Cir.2006). Although rare, some agreements are considered so manifestly detrimental to competition that they are presumed per se unreasonable and illegal without an extensive inquiry. Major League Baseball Props., Inc. v. Salvino, Inc., 542 F.3d 290, 315 (2d Cir.2008). In most cases, however, conduct is evaluated under the rule of
Planetarium alleges violations of Section 1 under both the per se and rule of reason analyses. Planetarium's claims fails under either theory. First, Planetarium cannot make out a per se claim because the arrangements at issue are vertical, and the per se rule does not apply. Planetarium has a franchise agreement with Amex and is permitted to supply discounted airline tickets to the Amex Network and to Amex Cardholders. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 16-18. Planetarium does not compete with Amex to sell discounted airline tickets. Any restraints placed on Planetarium by Amex are vertical. See Ace Arts, LLC v. Sony/ ATV Music Pub., LLC, 13 Civ. 7307, 56 F.Supp.3d 436, 447, 2014 WL 4804465, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 26, 2014) ("[A]greements between persons at different levels of a market structure, for example between manufacturer and distributor or between franchisor and franchisee—referred to as vertical restraints—are analyzed under the rule of reason.") (citation and quotation marks omitted). Altour is a direct competitor to Planetarium and is similarly situated with respect to Amex. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 25, 44, 53. Thus, any restraint between Altour and Amex is also vertical. Given the vertical nature of the agreements at issue, the per se rule is inappropriate, and the rule of reason applies. See Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 877, 899, 127 S.Ct. 2705, 168 L.Ed.2d 623 (2007); see also Flash Electronics, Inc. v. Universal Music & Video Distribution Corp., 312 F.Supp.2d 379, 386 (E.D.N.Y.2004) ("Courts have refused to place exclusive distributorship agreements within the category of per se restraints not simply because they are vertical in nature, but because vertical restrictions on intra-brand competition often have the procompetitive effect of increasing interbrand competition in the relevant market.").
Under a rule of reason analysis, Planetarium still fails to state a claim. Planetarium must show either: (1) that the defendant has sufficient market power to reduce competition market-wide and there is reason to believe that the defendant will, in fact, harm competition, or (2) an adverse effect on competition. Bookhouse of Stuyvesant Plaza, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 985 F.Supp.2d 612, 619-20 (S.D.N.Y.2013) (citing K.M.B. Warehouse Distributors, Inc. v. Walker Mfg. Co., 61 F.3d 123, 129 (2d Cir.1995)); see also Tops Markets, Inc. v. Quality Markets, Inc., 142 F.3d 90, 96 (2d Cir.1998). Importantly, "[b]ecause the antitrust laws protect competition as a whole, evidence that plaintiffs have been harmed as individual competitors will not suffice." Geneva Pharm. Tech. Corp., 386 F.3d at 507.
Planetarium alleges that Amex "controls a major market share of the supply, distribution and sale of discounted first and business class airline tickets . . . to U.S. based end-using individuals and travel agencies," Am. Compl. ¶ 7, but Planetarium's amended complaint reveals that this purported market share is conclusory and implausible. Planetarium states that Amex controlled only 9% of its cardholders' travel spending at some point prior to this litigation. Id. ¶¶ 15. This market share is insufficient to provide Amex, and in turn, Altour, with the market power to affect competition in any market. See Jefferson Parish Hosp. Dist. No. 2 v. Hyde, 466 U.S. 2, 26-27, 104 S.Ct. 1551, 80 L.Ed.2d 2 (1984) (holding that a market
Planetarium states that its termination has resulted in higher prices for first and business class airline tickets, but it fails to offer a plausible theory of anticompetitive harm. Stripped of its labels and conclusions, all that Planetarium alleges is that Amex terminated its franchise agreement after prodding from Altour. Without more, this is insufficient to state a violation of the antitrust laws. An exclusive dealing arrangement between a distributor and a supplier is presumptively lawful, E & L Consulting, Ltd., 472 F.3d at 30, and Planetarium has not explained how an arrangement between Altour and Amex, exclusive or not, would affect the market for first and business class airline tickets. See Electronics Commc'ns Corp. v. Toshiba Am. Consumer Prods., Inc., 129 F.3d 240, 244 (2d Cir.1997) ("Nor is it a violation of the antitrust laws, without a showing of an actual adverse effect on competition market-wide, for a manufacturer to terminate a distributor . . . and to appoint an exclusive distributor."); Bel Canto Design, Ltd. v. MSS HiFi, Inc., 11 Civ. 6353, 2012 WL 2376466, at *5, *12-13 (S.D.N.Y. June 20, 2012) (holding that a manufacturer's decision to terminate a price-cutting dealer was not concerted action and that such actions were not unreasonable); see also NYNEX Corp. v. Discon, Inc., 525 U.S. 128, 137, 119 S.Ct. 493, 142 L.Ed.2d 510 (1998) ("The freedom to switch suppliers lies close to the heart of the competitive process that the antitrust laws seek to encourage.").
As noted above, Amex Network members, Amex Cardholders and the general public are not required to purchase discounted first and business class tickets through Amex or from Altour. If Altour were to raise its prices on discounted airline tickets, all customer groups would have less incentive to purchase tickets through Amex—undermining, if not killing, Amex's and Altour's business—and customers would still be able to purchase airline tickets from the myriad other travel agencies and websites available. Neither Amex nor Altour has the ability to foreclose competition or raise prices in the market for discounted first and business class airline tickets. Because an arrangement between Amex and Altour that excludes Planetarium will not inhibit the
For the foregoing reasons, Altour's motion is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is directed terminate the motions at ECF Nos. 43 and 66 and to close the case.
SO ORDERED.