Originally Posted by
mahasamatman
I think you're just missing the rule that says United can change the program at any time without notice, and they have done exactly that with MM benefits before.
Just so. And an appeal court majority in the best-known case suggested the avenue for complaints is the DOT.
The affirming justices in the 2-1 decision
wrote:
If we were to sanction the transformation of consumer fraud claims into contract disputes in this way, we would fatally undermine the statutory scheme, which dictates that consumer fraud cases must be handled through the Department of Transportation.
However bad United’s conduct may have been, it must be addressed in the manner that Congress
prescribed.
Yet the DOT
proclaims on its website:
The Department of Transportation does not have rules applicable to the terms of airline frequent flyer program contracts. These are matters of individual company policy. If you are dissatisfied with the way a program is administered, changes which may take place, or the basic terms of the agreement, you should complain directly to the company. If such informal efforts to resolve the problem are unsuccessful, you may wish to consider legal action through the appropriate civil court.
It seems well established at this point that airlines can pretty well make whatever changes they want with impunity, barring an extreme customer revolt, caught between, as my grandmother used to say, the devil and the deep blue sea.