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
May 3, 2017, 10:36 am
#2551
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: What I write is my opinion alone..don't read into it anything not written.
Posts: 9,686
I'm curious as to what the desired end game is? AFAIK, the legislature cannot overturn a court (nor can the executive branch). As far as wanting new regulations, they wouldn't retroactively overturn a previous court decision on a past action, could they?
May 3, 2017, 10:58 am
#2552
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LHR (sometimes CLE, SFO, BOS, LAX, SEA)
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 5,893
It's unlikely that Congress can pass a law forcing United to do this specific thing.
But they could certainly *effectively* make United do this one very specific thing if they wanted. Imagine a law that says "no airline will be awarded Essential Air Service contract subsidies if the DOT determines that they have broken promises to more than 100,000 customers in the past ten years." Or "before the DOT will approve any new international routes, the CEO of the airline who requests the route must publish a YouTube video in which they state all the promises they have broken in the past year", etc. Just to make up a few random examples. There's plenty of room for leverage.
Hard to imagine why Congress would focus on this one very specific instance of customer service failure unless some of the 1MM flyers are wealthy donors or Congresspeople.
May 3, 2017, 11:34 am
#2553
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum Elite; UA MM
Posts: 325
United betrayed some of its best customers. I think the language in the court decision that refers to United's actions speaks for itself. Just as overbooking, rude treatment of passengers, and the host of other bad actions by United and other airlines may not be illegal, they also may represent terrible customer service that shows no respect for customers.
I think it would be useful for those of us who are still dissatisfied to not only contact our congressional representatives, but to write letters to the editor of our newspapers about United's actions and encourage any consumer columnists to look into this matter.
Given all the focus on United's gross mishandling of the Dao situation and the hearing in Congress, the handling of promised "lifetime" benefits is very timely.
It shows the long history of United's disrespect or disregard for customers. United apparently needs to be shamed into doing the right thing. That seems to be the outcome of the Dao debacle. The United corporate handling of the lifetime benefit was indeed shameful in my opinion.
If Munoz is committed to doing the right thing he will go back and fix this because as he said it is never too late to do the right thing.
May 3, 2017, 11:55 am
#2554
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Chicago USA
Programs: *A Junkie, SQ PPS, Skywards Gold, 2 Million Mile Flyer;*wood LT Plat, BA MM
Posts: 1,762
Thank you for the correction.
Actually I did. I received a generic response.
That was my point. That United as an air carrier can life and can't be touched whereas any other company would have problems.
THIS.
Beautifully said. It's about having a voice. Plain and simple. Alone and by itself, it's not as big as adding it with all the other things - Dr. Dao + Silver Wings + MMF Program + + +....
I keep saying, if United can tell people "lifetime" and then cancel it, who is to say another airline or company will do the same thing, which is now happening. Companies will think twice before doing it.
Some have said, "I can't believe this is still going on," and don't realize next is their own lifetime benefits with another company, or how it will effect their colleague, brother, sister, etc.
It is "still going on" in the sense that the re-definition of "lifetime" might just have been the beginning of the anti-customer attitude that has resulted in the current situation.
In the first of the recent posts concerned Flyer Talk users were simply asked to contact the House Transportation Committee with their stories.
In the first of the recent posts concerned Flyer Talk users were simply asked to contact the House Transportation Committee with their stories.
I think these specific people (people who flew 1 million or more miles on United prior to 2014 or so) are hoping that United will spontaneously voluntarily choose to electronically award additional Global Premier Upgrades to those people.
It's unlikely that Congress can pass a law forcing United to do this specific thing.
But they could certainly *effectively* make United do this one very specific thing if they wanted. Imagine a law that says "no airline will be awarded Essential Air Service contract subsidies if the DOT determines that they have broken promises to more than 100,000 customers in the past ten years." Or "before the DOT will approve any new international routes, the CEO of the airline who requests the route must publish a YouTube video in which they state all the promises they have broken in the past year", etc. Just to make up a few random examples. There's plenty of room for leverage.
Hard to imagine why Congress would focus on this one very specific instance of customer service failure unless some of the 1MM flyers are wealthy donors or Congresspeople.
It's unlikely that Congress can pass a law forcing United to do this specific thing.
But they could certainly *effectively* make United do this one very specific thing if they wanted. Imagine a law that says "no airline will be awarded Essential Air Service contract subsidies if the DOT determines that they have broken promises to more than 100,000 customers in the past ten years." Or "before the DOT will approve any new international routes, the CEO of the airline who requests the route must publish a YouTube video in which they state all the promises they have broken in the past year", etc. Just to make up a few random examples. There's plenty of room for leverage.
Hard to imagine why Congress would focus on this one very specific instance of customer service failure unless some of the 1MM flyers are wealthy donors or Congresspeople.
I keep saying, if United can tell people "lifetime" and then cancel it, who is to say another airline or company will do the same thing, which is now happening. Companies will think twice before doing it.
Some have said, "I can't believe this is still going on," and don't realize next is their own lifetime benefits with another company, or how it will effect their colleague, brother, sister, etc.
Last edited by Pat89339; May 4, 2017 at 1:26 am Reason: Remove OT remarks
May 3, 2017, 12:17 pm
#2555
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SFO South Bay
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 3,052
Interesting that this thread is still active after all this time. But I will say that I still carry a BIG grudge against United taking away the 2 RPUs that were promised for life. I have already hit 2MM so the impact is moot for me (2MM gives me 2 RPUs). But I hate it when a company is so arrogant that it feels it can renege on a promised lifetime benefit that it had already conferred on me. This says everything about the company and how it views customers.
May 3, 2017, 12:18 pm
#2556
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Chicago USA
Programs: *A Junkie, SQ PPS, Skywards Gold, 2 Million Mile Flyer;*wood LT Plat, BA MM
Posts: 1,762
Oscar Munoz said recently in response to the Dao debacle that it is never too late to do the right thing. I'd like to see United do the right thing which in my view is to offer permanent second tier status (not third tier gold) and restore any other perks taken away such as the upgrade certificates.
United betrayed some of its best customers. I think the language in the court decision that refers to United's actions speaks for itself. Just as overbooking, rude treatment of passengers, and the host of other bad actions by United and other airlines may not be illegal, they also may represent terrible customer service that shows no respect for customers.
I think it would be useful for those of us who are still dissatisfied to not only contact our congressional representatives, but to write letters to the editor of our newspapers about United's actions and encourage any consumer columnists to look into this matter.
Given all the focus on United's gross mishandling of the Dao situation and the hearing in Congress, the handling of promised "lifetime" benefits is very timely.
It shows the long history of United's disrespect or disregard for customers. United apparently needs to be shamed into doing the right thing. That seems to be the outcome of the Dao debacle. The United corporate handling of the lifetime benefit was indeed shameful in my opinion.
If Munoz is committed to doing the right thing he will go back and fix this because as he said it is never too late to do the right thing.
United betrayed some of its best customers. I think the language in the court decision that refers to United's actions speaks for itself. Just as overbooking, rude treatment of passengers, and the host of other bad actions by United and other airlines may not be illegal, they also may represent terrible customer service that shows no respect for customers.
I think it would be useful for those of us who are still dissatisfied to not only contact our congressional representatives, but to write letters to the editor of our newspapers about United's actions and encourage any consumer columnists to look into this matter.
Given all the focus on United's gross mishandling of the Dao situation and the hearing in Congress, the handling of promised "lifetime" benefits is very timely.
It shows the long history of United's disrespect or disregard for customers. United apparently needs to be shamed into doing the right thing. That seems to be the outcome of the Dao debacle. The United corporate handling of the lifetime benefit was indeed shameful in my opinion.
If Munoz is committed to doing the right thing he will go back and fix this because as he said it is never too late to do the right thing.
THIS - and this is why we have to collectively combine our voices to be heard. I am going to put together a list of names and address to collectively write to everyone in he committee.
United is going to be meeting again with the Committee. I would like to get this topic on the agenda. But I will need the support of all the MMFs.
May 3, 2017, 3:28 pm
#2557
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: BUR / LAX
Programs: UA MM/Gold; WN A-list; HH something depending; Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,552
My biggest gripe on how pmUA folks were treated. This kind of gesture would go a long way towards me shifting business back to UA. (Disclaimer: I was very, very almost MM when the rug got yanked, but had stuck with UA based on the expectation, so it really stung, especially when pmCO folks were treated nicely.)
May 3, 2017, 8:32 pm
#2558
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,142
Can someone post the members who are on this committee?
May 3, 2017, 9:46 pm
#2559
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 889
May 4, 2017, 12:48 am
#2561
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,142
Too bad no one from my state is on the committee. Really too bad, as Hawaii is totally dependent on transportation infrastructure.
May 4, 2017, 1:42 am
#2562
Moderator: Mileage Run, United Airlines; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: The City/Honolulu
Programs: UA 3MM; Hyatt Glob*****; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,473
Topic reminder
TOPIC CHECK
Hello all,
Let's keep posts to the current topic of Million Mile Flyers writing to the House Transportation Committee to share viewpoints on the "lifetime" promises made.
It is not time to rehash the merits of the formerly planned class action. There is nothing new there.
Pat89339 on behalf of the United Forum Moderation Team.
Hello all,
Let's keep posts to the current topic of Million Mile Flyers writing to the House Transportation Committee to share viewpoints on the "lifetime" promises made.
It is not time to rehash the merits of the formerly planned class action. There is nothing new there.
Pat89339 on behalf of the United Forum Moderation Team.
Last edited by Pat89339; May 4, 2017 at 1:52 am
May 4, 2017, 1:55 am
#2563
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 60,174
George,
I sent an email and included a copy of the original email from United from May 2008 "You have earned Million Mile status" and congratulating me for becoming a Million Mile Flyer.
Again, thanks for fighting the good fight on behalf of all Million Mile Flyers.
Pat
I sent an email and included a copy of the original email from United from May 2008 "You have earned Million Mile status" and congratulating me for becoming a Million Mile Flyer.
Again, thanks for fighting the good fight on behalf of all Million Mile Flyers.
Pat
May 8, 2017, 9:06 pm
#2564
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
George,
I sent an email and included a copy of the original email from United from May 2008 "You have earned Million Mile status" and congratulating me for becoming a Million Mile Flyer.
Again, thanks for fighting the good fight on behalf of all Million Mile Flyers.
Pat
I sent an email and included a copy of the original email from United from May 2008 "You have earned Million Mile status" and congratulating me for becoming a Million Mile Flyer.
Again, thanks for fighting the good fight on behalf of all Million Mile Flyers.
Pat
Agree with Pat and others above - well done George. Hope our emails had some effect!
Have not given United one CENT in ticket revenue for 7 years or so despite being a 1K for more than a Decade solid. Other airlines get my bucks, as United LIED to me in writing. I fly next week on a $10,000 ticket to Europe - zero revenue to United or Star.
Warren Buffett (whose company is the largest stock owner of United Airlines) came out yesterday saying Munoz and United handled the Dao mess horribly.
http://fortune.com/2017/05/08/warren...rible-mistake/
If Buffett was aware of United LYING to their biggest flyers at the time, I suspect he'd hold the same view. They made a huge mistake.
2 x measly CR1 a year they totally controlled inventory on anyway, was a tiny bennie to hand out each year to loyal clients who had flown MILLIONS of BIS miles.
Newer CEO .. who knows, maybe they will revisit this broken promise?
May 11, 2017, 11:14 pm
#2565
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Sacramento area, CA USA
Programs: UA Gold Million Miler, HH Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,858
My husband and I are both Million Milers and counted on the upgrades to enhance our travel. Instead, we received worthless Gold designation for anyone in our household. Our household consists of US. Between that and basing points on revenue, our use of United has drastically gone down. It was a great run for a while but it is no fun anymore. Lifetime benefits should mean the lifetime of the recipients, not the lifetime of a fake promise.