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DALLAS --

The Justice Department opposes Continental Airlines Inc.'s broad request for antitrust immunity to work more closely with United Airlines and other carriers in setting prices and schedules for international service.

The department says the airlines should get more limited immunity. It argues that broader immunity could hurt competition on other routes between the U.S. and China and raise fares within the United States.

Continental, the nation's fourth-largest airline, wants antitrust immunity to cooperate with United and other Star Alliance airlines, including US Airways, Lufthansa and Air Canada.

The Justice Department noted that Continental and United also plan to sell seats on each other's U.S. flights, combine customer lounges, consolidate operations at airports served by both, and work together on procurement. Such an arrangement would go beyond normal "code-sharing" deals that involve reciprocal sales and mileage programs.

The DOJ said it could closely resemble a merger, although the department said the two airlines "assert that they will maintain their separate domestic networks and make independent pricing, scheduling and sales" decisions in the U.S. Continental and United discussed a merger early last year, but Continental broke off the talks when United's financial health deteriorated rapidly.

The final decision on Continental's request for immunity to join United's alliance of other airlines rests with the Transportation Department. However, antitrust experts said the Justice Department's stance, disclosed in a regulatory filing late Friday, raised the chances that Continental won't get everything it wanted.

The Transportation Department gave preliminary approval to the request several weeks ago, but soon after that the Justice Department signaled that it wanted a chance to study the proposal.