Sep 9, 2014, 5:54 am
Last edit by: mbwmbw
All files are available for download at: http://mbw.name/Files/FlyerTalk/Delta_Class_Action/
Furthermore, each document has been linked to the download location.
For a full download of the complaint and attachments click here.
Date Filed # Docket Text
08/07/2014 1 COMPLAINT with Jury Demand; against Delta Airlines, Inc. by Darla Opper. ( Filing Fee PAID $400 receipt number 0757-1939172) (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Civil Cover Sheet, # 9 Summons)(Shah, James)
08/07/2014 NOTICE Regarding assignment of this matter to Chief Judge William C Griesbach ;Consent/refusal forms for Magistrate Judge Duffin to be filed within 21 days;the consent/refusal form is available on our web site ;pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7.1 a disclosure statement is to be filed upon the first filing of any paper and should be filed now if not already filed (jcl)
08/07/2014 2 DISCLOSURE Statement by Darla Opper. (Shah, James)
08/08/2014 Summons Issued as to Delta Airlines, Inc. (mec)
08/20/2014 3 Refusal to Jurisdiction by US Magistrate Judge by Darla Opper. (Shah, James)
08/25/2014 4 SUMMONS Returned Executed by Darla Opper. Delta Airlines Inc served on 8/14/2014, answer due 9/4/2014. (Shah, James)
08/29/2014 5 Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time by Delta Airlines Inc. (Smith, Renee)
08/29/2014 6 DISCLOSURE Statement by Delta Airlines Inc. (Smith, Renee)
09/02/2014 TEXT ONLY ORDER GRANTING 5 Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time filed by Delta Airlines Inc., signed by Chief Judge William C Griesbach on 09/02/2014. The deadline for filing its responsive pleading is extended 14 days, until September 18, 2014. (cc: all counsel)(Griesbach, William)
09/18/2014 7 MOTION to Dismiss by Delta Airlines Inc. (Balassa, Gabor)
09/18/2014 8 BRIEF in Support filed by Delta Airlines Inc re 7 MOTION to Dismiss . (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A - Best Fare Guarantee, # 2 Exhibit B - Best Fare Guarantee Claim Form, # 3 Exhibit C - Tabatabai v. West Coast Life Ins. Co, # 4 Exhibit D - Marine Travelift, Inc. v. Marine Lift Sys., Inc, # 5 Exhibit E - Tilstra v. Bou-Matic, LLC, # 6 Exhibit F - PNC Bank, N.A. v. Van Hoornaar, # 7 Exhibit G - NIIJII Entmt, LLC v. Troha) (Balassa, Gabor)
10/03/2014 9 Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time by Darla Opper. (Shah, James)
Furthermore, each document has been linked to the download location.
For a full download of the complaint and attachments click here.
Date Filed # Docket Text
08/07/2014 1 COMPLAINT with Jury Demand; against Delta Airlines, Inc. by Darla Opper. ( Filing Fee PAID $400 receipt number 0757-1939172) (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Civil Cover Sheet, # 9 Summons)(Shah, James)
08/07/2014 NOTICE Regarding assignment of this matter to Chief Judge William C Griesbach ;Consent/refusal forms for Magistrate Judge Duffin to be filed within 21 days;the consent/refusal form is available on our web site ;pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7.1 a disclosure statement is to be filed upon the first filing of any paper and should be filed now if not already filed (jcl)
08/07/2014 2 DISCLOSURE Statement by Darla Opper. (Shah, James)
08/08/2014 Summons Issued as to Delta Airlines, Inc. (mec)
08/20/2014 3 Refusal to Jurisdiction by US Magistrate Judge by Darla Opper. (Shah, James)
08/25/2014 4 SUMMONS Returned Executed by Darla Opper. Delta Airlines Inc served on 8/14/2014, answer due 9/4/2014. (Shah, James)
08/29/2014 5 Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time by Delta Airlines Inc. (Smith, Renee)
08/29/2014 6 DISCLOSURE Statement by Delta Airlines Inc. (Smith, Renee)
09/02/2014 TEXT ONLY ORDER GRANTING 5 Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time filed by Delta Airlines Inc., signed by Chief Judge William C Griesbach on 09/02/2014. The deadline for filing its responsive pleading is extended 14 days, until September 18, 2014. (cc: all counsel)(Griesbach, William)
09/18/2014 7 MOTION to Dismiss by Delta Airlines Inc. (Balassa, Gabor)
09/18/2014 8 BRIEF in Support filed by Delta Airlines Inc re 7 MOTION to Dismiss . (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A - Best Fare Guarantee, # 2 Exhibit B - Best Fare Guarantee Claim Form, # 3 Exhibit C - Tabatabai v. West Coast Life Ins. Co, # 4 Exhibit D - Marine Travelift, Inc. v. Marine Lift Sys., Inc, # 5 Exhibit E - Tilstra v. Bou-Matic, LLC, # 6 Exhibit F - PNC Bank, N.A. v. Van Hoornaar, # 7 Exhibit G - NIIJII Entmt, LLC v. Troha) (Balassa, Gabor)
10/03/2014 9 Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time by Darla Opper. (Shah, James)
Class Action Federal Lawsuit Aginst Delta RE: Best Fares Available
Sep 1, 2014, 6:33 pm
#31
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,688
Maybe not. They could claim that the BFG is separate from the fare itself and that it represents a claim about the capabilities of Delta.com as a ticket agent / fare search engine, not the regulation of "a price, route, or service of an air carrier."
Sep 1, 2014, 7:03 pm
#32
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,614
.
Sep 1, 2014, 8:32 pm
#33
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Quick question, is it against DL policy/terms/rules etc to book multi segment trip in order to force a lower price? Ex. MSP - ATL - ATL - FLL return FLL - ATL - ATL - MSP
Multi city prices out in L for each leg, pricing it out MSP - FLL - MSP (connections in there still) prices out with K fares and lots of S fares even some M fares!
Doing the multi city booking method would save me about $200 rt per ticket at least.
Is this ok to do or will DL catch me and cancel my tickets?
Multi city prices out in L for each leg, pricing it out MSP - FLL - MSP (connections in there still) prices out with K fares and lots of S fares even some M fares!
Doing the multi city booking method would save me about $200 rt per ticket at least.
Is this ok to do or will DL catch me and cancel my tickets?
Sep 1, 2014, 8:57 pm
#34
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 1,580
I have not done it on DL and the posters above imply that you won't be able to do it at delta.com. On other carriers I've never had an issue with it. I did have one case where irrops caused me to need to connect through a different city and an agent had to reissue the ticket to make that happen, but honored the original fare I had paid.
Sep 1, 2014, 9:12 pm
#36
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I have not done it on DL and the posters above imply that you won't be able to do it at delta.com. On other carriers I've never had an issue with it. I did have one case where irrops caused me to need to connect through a different city and an agent had to reissue the ticket to make that happen, but honored the original fare I had paid.
Sep 2, 2014, 12:49 am
#38
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Sep 2, 2014, 11:48 am
#39
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Manhattan Beach, California
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Posts: 6,367
A few things to keep in mind:
(1) Like any case seeking class certification, what happens will over the long term largely hinges on whether the plaintiffs succeed in getting class certification. This is the leverage the plaintiff is looking for to get a larger settlement or proceed to trial under a larger damages model (and I mean significantly larger). If the plaintiff doesn't get a class certified, this will settle within weeks of the denial of class certification. If a class is certified, it will get interesting.
(2) Delta will try to get the case dismissed before the motion for class certification is heard and more importantly before it has to give much discovery.
(3) Don't underestimate the ability of the plaintiff (and counsel) to get outside experts involved (even prior to filing the complaint). This is a pretty common playbook by plaintiff class action lawyers, they pick a case, invest in some technical experts up front and through early stages of discovery and seek to ensure they get past a motion to dismiss and have the facts to support the case should they succeed in getting class certification. I know of cases where experts have performed hundreds of transactions on a web property to in effect reverse engineer what is happening on the back end. And they will likely use discovery to quickly confirm their understanding and delve deeper...
(4) It will be interesting to see if the decisions about willingness to paid are tied to various data about potential purchasers that (as a previous poster highlights) we know Delta has access to. This is the most interesting angle of the case to me, it raises some fascinating issues around big data use in the commercial marketplace.
(5) The "best fare guarantee" may have fine print that effectively tells the user "hey, we don't really mean we're selling you the BEST fare as you would understand that term..." But that doesn't mean that Delta is immune from attack here. There are plenty of successful complaints about deceptive claims where the defendant has tried unsuccessfully to point to clarifying or disclaimer language.
(1) Like any case seeking class certification, what happens will over the long term largely hinges on whether the plaintiffs succeed in getting class certification. This is the leverage the plaintiff is looking for to get a larger settlement or proceed to trial under a larger damages model (and I mean significantly larger). If the plaintiff doesn't get a class certified, this will settle within weeks of the denial of class certification. If a class is certified, it will get interesting.
(2) Delta will try to get the case dismissed before the motion for class certification is heard and more importantly before it has to give much discovery.
(3) Don't underestimate the ability of the plaintiff (and counsel) to get outside experts involved (even prior to filing the complaint). This is a pretty common playbook by plaintiff class action lawyers, they pick a case, invest in some technical experts up front and through early stages of discovery and seek to ensure they get past a motion to dismiss and have the facts to support the case should they succeed in getting class certification. I know of cases where experts have performed hundreds of transactions on a web property to in effect reverse engineer what is happening on the back end. And they will likely use discovery to quickly confirm their understanding and delve deeper...
(4) It will be interesting to see if the decisions about willingness to paid are tied to various data about potential purchasers that (as a previous poster highlights) we know Delta has access to. This is the most interesting angle of the case to me, it raises some fascinating issues around big data use in the commercial marketplace.
(5) The "best fare guarantee" may have fine print that effectively tells the user "hey, we don't really mean we're selling you the BEST fare as you would understand that term..." But that doesn't mean that Delta is immune from attack here. There are plenty of successful complaints about deceptive claims where the defendant has tried unsuccessfully to point to clarifying or disclaimer language.
Sep 2, 2014, 12:18 pm
#40
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,679
I'm a bit surprised this hasn't ended up in the courts before. IIRC about 3-4 years ago DL was caught red handed by several media organizations offering more expensive fare buckets to logged in HVC customers vs not logged in customers. DL claimed it was a computer error at the time, but it's not like they went back looked for customers that paid too much either.
Sep 2, 2014, 4:01 pm
#41
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Posts: 2,885
That's a bit much isn't it... calling Delta a fraud and saying good riddance?
Sep 2, 2014, 4:04 pm
#42
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Sep 2, 2014, 5:48 pm
#43
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Sep 2, 2014, 6:22 pm
#44
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, as surely you cannot mean the Americans with Disabilities Act.