Speeches by Western.

“In which year was it £39?”

“They have pegged with inflation?”

“Phil Bowdery, can you explain how your ticket prices have changed since the pandemic?”

“In principle, should the CMA allow that?”

“Coming back to my question, should the CMA allow a provider, such as you, that sort of significant market power?”

“Your share of the market is getting stronger. Your CEO will be wanting a similar sort of performance in the UK as is being achieved in the US and Ireland, surely.”

“Just coming back to the market power that Ticketmaster and Live Nation enjoy, I was interested to see that, in the United States, Ticketmaster has been alleged by the US Department of Justice to control 80% or more of major concert venues’ primary ticketing for concerts. In Ireland, I see that Ticketmaster holds 90% of…”

“When you are doing an analysis, what are the criteria on which you base the reasonable grounds for doing an inquiry or investigation?”

“Is mergers the rest of it?”

“Emma, you said earlier that you perhaps do four or five inquiries or studies. Is that at any one time or is it over a year? Just out of interest, how many people does the CMA employ?”

“On tickets, you heard us referring to what the US Department of Justice is doing. Do you have concerns about the growing dominance of a company such as Ticketmaster? Do you fear that it could achieve a similar sort of market dominance to that currently enjoyed in the US market and in Ireland?”

“You have not looked at transparency for the consumer, or anything like that, in the other part of what they do?”

“You may have heard earlier that I have done some analysis over the last three years looking at certain supermarkets and how they price. Hayley, you said that the CMA has done a grocery inquiry. In that inquiry, did you discover that supermarkets label products of a similar category differently? Did you come across that…”

“It is the sense of missing out, is it not? That is why airlines do it.”

“There is a running joke among consumers that you go on to a site and it says that there are two left against that particular seat. It is always two left. What is that about?”

“They would not?”

“I was asking about purchase history, browsing history and personal data. Other carriers would use that, would they not?”

“Can you give me some examples?”

“Robert Griggs, you are representing the industry. How does it work across the industry? Is it exactly the same, or are there variations?”

“How do you use algorithms, AI or whatever to price the flights? Do you use information about consumers who are on the interface looking to book a ticket? Do you take history from that consumer, which may impact on the price they pay?”