American Express Membership Rewards - Amex Cheated Flight Insurance Buyers-new Calif. Court Decision

According to a new decision by the California Court of Appeal, American Express has been cheating insurance buyers for years, lied about it to the Court and the card holders.

The Court's decision is here:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A111602.PDF

In AVIATION DATA, INC., et al., v.
AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES COMPANY, INC.,et al. the Court said:

"Amex offers flight and baggage insurance programs, under which cardholders are automatically charged a premium from $4 to $14 for each flight they charge. In September 2001, William Hoffman sued Amex on behalf of the general public of California under the California Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 17200, 17500.) The complaint, as ultimately amended, alleged that Amex represented to card members enrolled in its flight and baggage insurance programs that it would bill them for travel insurance only when they actually flew and that it would refund or credit premiums assessed for cancelled flights and unused tickets. Instead, the complaint alleged, Amex engaged in a scheme to cheat and defraud its cardholders by assessing premiums for trips it knew were never taken; intentionally designed its billing practices, procedures and computer programs to bill customers for services they did not receive or use and to double-bill for the same service; and intentionally failed to issue refunds or credits on cancelled flights or unused tickets. Plaintiffs further alleged Amex deliberately exploits the fact that many cardholders do not notice that promised refunds never materialize, and improperly places the burden on millions of cardholders to apply for individual refunds, knowing that most will not apply. "

As this concerns the American Express Card, it's best discussed in this specific forum. Please follow it there. Thank you, Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

According to a new decision by the California Court of Appeal, American Express has been cheating insurance buyers for years, lied about it to the Court and the card holders.

Those are the allegations. The 25 page decision pertains to whether a resolution will be reached through arbitration or other means. The decision does not address the accuracy of the allegations.

Reading the entire document, American Express has already implemented data processing changes to make it less likely that incidental airline charges will trigger unearned premiums, and that their system can now automatically detect refunds of cancelled tickets. It is unclear if they already use that capability to automatically generate corresponding premium refunds.

IMHO, no. The Court did determine that Amex had lied to it and the potential class members about what it had been and was doing. Naughty, naughty. ;)

One of the issues was that Amex claimed it could not identify those card holders who had been incorrectly charged. But that was a lie. If Amex had admitted it could identify them, it would probably have had to pay them back the millions in overcharges.

Check out the link above. Makes interesting reading for any Amex card holder. Especially if you have been paying for Amex flight insureance.

I have two charges (Travel Delay and Baggage Delay) on my last statement that came about from a CO F ticket that I didn't use and haven't gotten around to refunding yet. But I'd always figured I'd have to call AmEx (well, use the on-line form, anyway) to get the premiums refunded- after all, how could they know for sure?

Lots of people get refunds from airlines for a variety of reasons.

Amex would have no way of knowing for certain whether your baggage was loaded on the plane or not unless you called them and told them it wasn't.

I upgraded to business class a few times at the airport and I was charged twice for this service.... which in theory I was traveling on 1 ticket when i called the credited my account

you do have to keep a eye out sometimes

Amex would have no way of knowing for certain whether your baggage was loaded on the plane or not unless you called them and told them it wasn't.

Actually, it turns out that Amex kept a LOT of money that it knew should have been refunded. Read the linked Court opinion above for more info.

According to a new decision by the California Court of Appeal, American Express has been cheating insurance buyers for years, lied about it to the Court and the card holders.

The Court's decision is here:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A111602.PDF

In AVIATION DATA, INC., et al., v.
AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES COMPANY, INC.,et al. the Court said:

"Amex offers flight and baggage insurance programs, under which cardholders are automatically charged a premium from $4 to $14 for each flight they charge. In September 2001, William Hoffman sued Amex on behalf of the general public of California under the California Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 17200, 17500.) The complaint, as ultimately amended, alleged that Amex represented to card members enrolled in its flight and baggage insurance programs that it would bill them for travel insurance only when they actually flew and that it would refund or credit premiums assessed for cancelled flights and unused tickets. Instead, the complaint alleged, Amex engaged in a scheme to cheat and defraud its cardholders by assessing premiums for trips it knew were never taken; intentionally designed its billing practices, procedures and computer programs to bill customers for services they did not receive or use and to double-bill for the same service; and intentionally failed to issue refunds or credits on cancelled flights or unused tickets. Plaintiffs further alleged Amex deliberately exploits the fact that many cardholders do not notice that promised refunds never materialize, and improperly places the burden on millions of cardholders to apply for individual refunds, knowing that most will not apply. "


It looks like this is now going to trial according to an email I just recieved.

sdcarver

NOTICE OF PENDING CLASS ACTION AND TRIAL DATE

William D. Hoffman, et al. vs. American Express Travel Related Services Company, et al,
California Superior Court, Alameda County, Case No. 2001-022881

TO: ALL PERSONS OR ENTITIES RESIDING IN THE UNITED STATES WHO HELD AMERICAN EXPRESS CHARGE CARDS GOVERNED BY NEW YORK LAW AND WHO WERE ENROLLED IN ANY OF THE FEE BASED TRAVEL INSURANCE PROGRAMS AFTER SEPTEMBER 6, 1995 AND ON OR BEFORE FEBRUARY 12, 2008.

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. The purpose of this Notice is to advise you of the certification and impending trial of a class action relating to AMEX's fee based travel insurance programs.

...

V. THE TRIAL DATE. The Court has set a trial date of September 2, 2008. You do not need to attend the trial. Class Counsel will present the Plaintiffs' case. You or your own lawyer are welcome to attend the trial at your own expense. The Court has not decided the merits of Plaintiffs' claims. However, you have a choice to make now: You have to decide whether to stay in the Class or ask to be excluded before trial.

....

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the website, www.hoffmanclassaction.com or the court's website, http://www.alameda.courts.ca.gov/courts/ , where you will find important orders and documents from this case.