United's Tokyo route faces another setback

A Department of Transportation official has recommended thatUnited Airlines lose its Chicago-Seattle-Tokyo route to archrivalAmerican Airlines, but a higher-level DOT official has asked him toreconsider that opinion.

Richard Walsh, director of the DOT's Office of Economics, issuedan opinion on Aug. 5 that American should be granted the right to flyfrom Seattle to Tokyo on a route that likely would originate inChicago. That decision overturned an earlier ruling fromAdministrative Law Judge Burton S. Kolko that United should beallowed to keep the daily Chicago-Seattle-Tokyo flight.

Walsh's opinion was not made public until Monday night, whenoutgoing Assistant …