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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
#2431
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
I'd be real confident when someone planning to fly a lot on United Airlines Googles "Million Miles Flyer United" and gets this as first match.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Sep 12, 2014 at 2:16 am Reason: unduly personalized remarks removed; let's keep this civil, please
#2433
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAS HNL
Programs: DL DM, 5.7 MM, UA 3.1 MM, MARRIOTT PLATINUM, AVIS FIRST, Amex Black Card
Posts: 4,479
Why did UA not simply wipe this off their books when they entered Chapter 11? They did so with many other things. Add this change into their reorganization. The only one getting anything out of this are the lawyers.
I am no defender of UA, but give me a break. It's called give and take. UA has added some good and bad to MM status. (see up-thread). And I have a few miles on UA.
If UA gives lifetime free membership to the UC and than starts to charge for F&B and $20.00 to take a shower and $20.00 for a chair - $5.00 for a newspaper - are you going to sue? Times change.
UA should have added this as being removed during bankruptcy - and this case would be gone.
Live for today, and enjoy. I once was guaranteed Green Stamps at my Gas Station and Grocery Store. I have a few books I'll sell you.
I am no defender of UA, but give me a break. It's called give and take. UA has added some good and bad to MM status. (see up-thread). And I have a few miles on UA.
If UA gives lifetime free membership to the UC and than starts to charge for F&B and $20.00 to take a shower and $20.00 for a chair - $5.00 for a newspaper - are you going to sue? Times change.
UA should have added this as being removed during bankruptcy - and this case would be gone.
Live for today, and enjoy. I once was guaranteed Green Stamps at my Gas Station and Grocery Store. I have a few books I'll sell you.
#2434
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,426
#2435
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,358
Why did UA not simply wipe this off their books when they entered Chapter 11? They did so with many other things. Add this change into their reorganization. The only one getting anything out of this are the lawyers.
snip snip
UA should have added this as being removed during bankruptcy - and this case would be gone.
-
The bankruptcy occured in 2002. How could United (or anyone), predict an issue like this that happened in 2012 (ten years later)?
A frequent flier program is a marketing tool; nothing more, nothing less. Contrary to most airline operations, a frequent flier program is usually a profitable entity, as was (and is) Mileage Plus (or now - MileagePlus).
Consequently, in 2002, there were no substantive liabilities in UA's frequent flier program for which UA could have asked the court for relief.
-
#2436
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: UA 1K 3 Million/ex-many year GS, AA PLT/2 Mil, AS MVPG, HH Dia, Starwood Life Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,401
I agree with what you say. But there was an explicit, separate, item, the 2 annual RPU's for life. Now you could say, as UA is, that they substituted it with the spouse/companion/whatever sharing your status. Where the RPU's probably benefited well over 90% of the MM people, the other is probably less, especially when it was just spousal/SO. I know FT is not a representative slive of what is out there, but what has been posted here is most of their spouses/SO's/Companions/ may have some ind of equivalent or higher status on their own, or like me, my spouse doesn't fly unless I am with her and she would get my benefits anyways as she would be with me.
#2437
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
The records show that Jeffy has literally made BILLION$ selling miles to Chase so the Kettles can all get their shiny new Visa card and 30,000 miles or whatever, and get to board early "GASP". How important. BILLION$.
Qantas just posted their worst loss result in history .. one of the largest losses in Australian Corporate History. It is estimated that if the FF program were sold off, it would bring more than Qantas itself is worth. @:-)
.
Last edited by ozstamps; Sep 12, 2014 at 9:42 am
#2439
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SFO South Bay
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 3,052
To me, the only case here is for the 2 RPUs. They were promised for lifetime. They are stand alone, not part of Premier Exec.
Taking these away was one of the main reasons I stopped using UA for my international business class travel. I hate being lied to. Really, it is kind of silly that I did this, since I usually had RPUs that expired unused each year. But it was an emotional issue.
Taking these away was one of the main reasons I stopped using UA for my international business class travel. I hate being lied to. Really, it is kind of silly that I did this, since I usually had RPUs that expired unused each year. But it was an emotional issue.
#2440
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,140
I would be incredibly surprised if was more than a few hundred. (I'm also not convinced as to the accuracy of the view count anyway.)
#2441
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Usually in SAN or Central Europe.
Programs: AA:EXP/1MM. Accor/Radisson:Silver; HH:Gold; ICH:Plt Amb.
Posts: 22,307
Seriously? A YouTube video showing a dog being best friends with a horse would get millions of views. A thread on a forum that is basically frequented by FFers receiving 200K views really isn't making UA pee its pants. Particularly since UA has about 50 million Mileage Plus members.
#2442
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,513
The District Court was AFFIRMED over a pretty interesting dissent:
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bi...:N:1474449:S:0
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bi...:N:1474449:S:0
#2443
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near SEA
Programs: UA MM, AS MVPG75K, Marriott Lifetime Gold
Posts: 7,969
Yeah this basically seems over..
#2444
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,508
The District Court was AFFIRMED over a pretty interesting dissent:
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bi...:N:1474449:S:0
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bi...:N:1474449:S:0
#2445
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: LAS, ZQN
Programs: UA PP (2MM), BA gold
Posts: 2,199
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In 1978, I purchased the Lifetime Membership to the Red Carpet Club. It is still honored. Please do not give them more ideas.
Last edited by goalie; Dec 22, 2014 at 5:47 pm Reason: fixed bb code