Originally Posted by
ctownflyer
Except that when we bought CO Lifetime memberships there was zero requirement for any boarding pass and if you were not flying, CO would issue a gate pass so that you could use the lounge at any time.
A frequent flyer program involves miles earned from travel. A Club that is accessible regardless of if you are flying is very different.
GG Check Point line 53 even lived on post merger for several years, making it clear that club members did not have to be flying:
My point, though, is that the club is a "service" of "of an air carrier that may provide air transportation under this subpart" and the preemption language is broad and doesn't restrict itself to cases where the service is exclusively related to air travel. The fact that it is/was possible to use the club without actually traveling doesn't change the fact that the Clubs act as an adjunct to the airline and the core service (transportation), not a distinct and unrelated offering.
After I posted the previous reply I thought of another case that highlights that the Club "service" is generally related to the airline's services: United doesn't operate any clubs at locations it doesn't serve. If United operated clubs at offline stations (for sake of over-the-top example, a UC at LGB or ULN) or non-transportation locations, such as the local mall, it would help to make the argument that the clubs are wholly unrelated to the airline's rates, routes, or services -- but there are no permanent UC locations in places not served by UA.
Reading
Wolens further appears to confirm that breach of contract claims are not per se barred by the ADA (and rejects the notion that something "not essential" to aviation would fall outside of the ADA's preemption), but looking at the rules posted on CO's site as of February 2007
[random date] but has the typical escape clause:
Continental reserves the right to restrict, alter or modify the fees, benefits, services and clubroom locations at any time with or without written notice to its members.
Continental reserves the right to revoke membership privileges of those who fail to comply with the above guidelines and/or disrupt other members.
While I can't find any lifetime terms (the signup is behind a OnePass login which obviously doesn't go anywhere useful--and I went back to 1999 trying to find anything useful), I would find it hard to believe if that language was in the 'generic' rules and regs it wasn't also in the lifetime rules and regs.
Of course its possible that this specific application of the rule is in some way unconscionable, but that doesn't avoid the ADA's preemption which kicks the court costs up, and based on the outcome from the Silver Wings litigation that seems like a rather tenuous argument.
But again, I'm not a lawyer
