Oct 1, 2013, 3:03 pm
Last edit by: Ari
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• • • • •
[Please post
NLY status updates and relevant Q&A here.]Plaintiff: George Lagen, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated
Defendant: United Continental Holdings, Inc. and United Airlines, Inc.
Filed In The United States District Court For The Northern District Of Illinois Eastern Division
Case No. 1:12-cv-04056
Filed: 05/24/2012
Judge Harry D. Leinenweber
Magistrate Judge Young B. Kim
Proposed class: All persons, as of midnight, December 31, 2011, who were members of the Million Mile Program under United Airlines’ Mileage Plus frequent flyer program.
Filings/rulings can be found on www.pacer.gov (requires registration)
12 June 2012 - Amended Class Action Complaint filed
Spring 2013 - Court denies United's request to close case
Spring 2013 - Plaintiff files for suit to become a class action, United asks Judge before he decides if there could be limited discovery (which typically happens after case becomes class-action). Judge allows it.
August 2013 - Depositions/Limited Discovery completed and transcripts were handed over to the court.
22 October 2013 - Pursuant to an order of the Court, both sides filed cross-motions for summary judgment:
Plaintiff contends that he is a United pre-merger Million Miler, that United promised Million Miler fliers certain lifetime benefits on its web site, including two regional upgrades every year and Premier Executive status, which provided certain delineated benefits (e.g., 100% mileage bonus). Plaintiff cites deposition testimony from United stating "lifetime" means: "as long as they were really able to fly … as long as someone is coming on a plane and alive and capable of flying." Plaintiff concludes by stating that United has breached its contract with its pre-merger Million Miler fliers by reducing the lifetime benefits they were promised.
United contends in its motion that Million Miler is part of the MileagePlus program, that United reserved the right to make any changes it wishes to the MileagePlus program, and that the changes it made that plaintiff now complains of are therefore contractually permissible. United does not admit, and does not address, the "lifetime" benefit statements that it made on its website.
23 January 2014 - Judge denies Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and grants United's cross-motion for summary judgment. Judgment entered in favor of United.
The Judge begins his Opinion with a quote from Job: “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away” and then holds that Plaintiff has not produced any evidence that UA made him an offer to participate in a separate MM program.
The Court noted that: “The sum total of his evidence is vague references to ‘electronic and written correspondence’ from United, which, in both instances postdates his qualification as a Million Mile flyer and was not directed to him; and a 1997 Newsletter from United announcing the creation of the program he could not remember receiving. However the card he did receive from United, admitting him to MililionMile Flyer Program, shows that his new status is clearly a status within the Mileage Plus Frequent Flyer Program, as does the form letters United sent to applicants advising them of their admission to the MillionMile Flyer program. In fact, Plaintiff in his Complaint alleges that the MillionMile Flyer program was part of the Mileage Plus program. He has not produced any document that comes close to substantiating that the programs were separate and distinct."
Bottom line: The Court agreed with United's position that the Plaintiff had not proved the existence of a separate contract between itself and the Million Milers.
Full decision: http://media.wandr.me/MMerOpinion.pdf
20 February 2014
Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal of the trial court's decision. The record on appeal is due by March 13, 2014.
Appeal docs available at:
- http://media.wandr.me/UAL-MM-Appeal-filed-2-20-14.pdf
- http://media.wandr.me/UAL-MM-letter-of-appeal.pdf
8 September 2014
Oral arguments were heard by a three judge panel. Links to the original MP3 of the Court's recording and also some transcription can be found around post 2350 and for several more following that.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23496499-post2361.html
22 December 2014
Affirmed over a dissent.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2014/D12-22/C:14-1375:J:Wood:aut:T:fnOp:N:1474449:S:0
Million Miler Sues United [Judgment for UA Jan 2014] Judgment Affirmed Dec 2014
Sep 11, 2014, 9:20 am
#2401
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
That press writer seems to have summed it up well. ^
I spent an hour starting to transcribe just a few key sections of the 30 minute audio, and boy those guys who did it for a living have my admiration - got almost nowhere.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/sound/...09_08_2014.mp3
I spent an hour starting to transcribe just a few key sections of the 30 minute audio, and boy those guys who did it for a living have my admiration - got almost nowhere.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/sound/...09_08_2014.mp3
Sep 11, 2014, 10:05 am
#2402
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 515
It was not mentioned at oral argument. I agree that it would be a strong point, but I think it's problematic for the named plainitff because the RPUs weren't added as an "official MM benefit" until 2007, and he hit MM in 2006 (so he can't argue that he tried to hit MM status for the purpose of getting the RPUs) From the Plaintiff's opening brief:
"Thereafter, in an effort to make the Program more competitive, United added two (2) confirmed regional upgrades, awarded annually, to the benefits provided to Million Mile Flyers. Although the regional upgrades were not added as a published benefit for Million Mile Flyers until late 2007, as early as 1999, certain Million Mile Flyers began to receive two confirmed regional upgrades as a result of accumulating 1,000,000 in-flight miles with United."
"Thereafter, in an effort to make the Program more competitive, United added two (2) confirmed regional upgrades, awarded annually, to the benefits provided to Million Mile Flyers. Although the regional upgrades were not added as a published benefit for Million Mile Flyers until late 2007, as early as 1999, certain Million Mile Flyers began to receive two confirmed regional upgrades as a result of accumulating 1,000,000 in-flight miles with United."
Sep 11, 2014, 10:08 am
#2403
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
Another important point to make on this... this is not a class action suit. Others can bring suit with, IMHO, better council and better arguments.
Sep 11, 2014, 10:21 am
#2404
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 515
"Uninterested" in Mileage Plus? The last figure I saw some years back was the the worldwide Mileage Plus program had about FIFTY MILLION members.
With the quite massive rollout of Chase Visa cards in recent years, it is likely far higher now.
Now sure, a decent chunk of those are not active, but even if we say a super conservative 20% of them are, that is 10 MILLION folks ...
With the quite massive rollout of Chase Visa cards in recent years, it is likely far higher now.
Now sure, a decent chunk of those are not active, but even if we say a super conservative 20% of them are, that is 10 MILLION folks ...
The reality is that this issue, in the eyes of the media and the vast public, affects a fleetingly rare group of flyers. The public and media doesn't sympathize with folks who don't get upgraded as often.
Sep 11, 2014, 10:41 am
#2405
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
Wrong. About 50 MILLION members is the global membership of Mileage Plus. Check it out.
What else they might be members of, has nothing to do with my post. A ton of Lufthansa, Air Canada, SQ, Thai, Air China, Varig, SWiss, Turkish, Asiana and SAA members etc, etc, might also be members, but the fact remains MP itself has a ton of members and 50 million will be conservative.
What else they might be members of, has nothing to do with my post. A ton of Lufthansa, Air Canada, SQ, Thai, Air China, Varig, SWiss, Turkish, Asiana and SAA members etc, etc, might also be members, but the fact remains MP itself has a ton of members and 50 million will be conservative.
Sep 11, 2014, 10:45 am
#2406
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K1.75MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,167
Sep 11, 2014, 11:35 am
#2407
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
"We do publicly confirm the number of people in the (Mileage Plus) program — (more than 54 million) — but we don't typically break it down. It's interesting to people. (At) the top end of Global Services, (they may wonder) how big that is and "how many people am I competing against for my upgrade?" (Just) as it is for general members in terms of just wanting to understand the sort of scope and scale of the program."
(source: USA Today Inteview with Graham Atkinson, the president of United Airlines' Mileage Plus frequent-flier program.)
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/trave...da-part3_N.htm
Sep 11, 2014, 11:40 am
#2408
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K1.75MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,167
In 2009, a USA Today interview puts the number at "more than 54 million".
"We do publicly confirm the number of people in the (Mileage Plus) program — (more than 54 million) — but we don't typically break it down. It's interesting to people. (At) the top end of Global Services, (they may wonder) how big that is and "how many people am I competing against for my upgrade?" (Just) as it is for general members in terms of just wanting to understand the sort of scope and scale of the program."
(source: USA Today Inteview with Graham Atkinson, the president of United Airlines' Mileage Plus frequent-flier program.)
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/trave...da-part3_N.htm
"We do publicly confirm the number of people in the (Mileage Plus) program — (more than 54 million) — but we don't typically break it down. It's interesting to people. (At) the top end of Global Services, (they may wonder) how big that is and "how many people am I competing against for my upgrade?" (Just) as it is for general members in terms of just wanting to understand the sort of scope and scale of the program."
(source: USA Today Inteview with Graham Atkinson, the president of United Airlines' Mileage Plus frequent-flier program.)
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/trave...da-part3_N.htm
Sep 11, 2014, 12:57 pm
#2410
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,358
You are both correct - in a composition writen by Jeffrey Foland back in 2012, he stated, among other things " - - given that we now have over 80 million registered members in our program - - ."
-
Last edited by dgcpaphd; Sep 11, 2014 at 3:28 pm
Sep 11, 2014, 1:02 pm
#2411
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 12 stops from ORD
Programs: UA, AA, DL
Posts: 992
There are, however, several other class actions that have been brought on behalf of 1k/gold/silver tiers as a result of the 2012 changes to the MP program. I think those cases will be much more important in terms of defining what airlines can/can't do within the context of their FF programs. Those are also the cases that the media might pay attention to given that the decisions could affect several hundred thousand flyers -- as opposed to the MM group, which according to UA's counsel, is only several thousand flyers.
Sep 11, 2014, 1:33 pm
#2412
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: MSP
Posts: 482
Wow, Judge Posner is painful to listen to. Chief Judge Wood on the other hand sounds like a friend of frequent fliers. Loved the part of knowing the mileage for a given route.
Posner - "What is an upgrade?"
Your honor, I think it's time to retire.
Posner - "What is an upgrade?"
Your honor, I think it's time to retire.
Sep 11, 2014, 1:38 pm
#2413
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,513
Sep 11, 2014, 2:11 pm
#2414
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
Sep 11, 2014, 2:28 pm
#2415
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: MSP
Posts: 482
To be honest I was going by voice to figure out who said it. I would like to hear some other arguments that he has been part of to get a better perspective. He didn't seem to have a very good grasp of the airline industry as a whole.