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
Sep 13, 2015, 10:16 am
#2521
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 28,878
Sep 13, 2015, 10:24 am
#2522
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,467
I can guarantee you that the severance agreement with Smisek contains no such provision.
Sep 13, 2015, 3:58 pm
#2523
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
But, I would guess his contract has a morals clause or something similar that would void the severance if he was convicted of a felony related to his employment.
Sep 13, 2015, 4:41 pm
#2524
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Menlo Park, CA, USA
Programs: UA 1MM 0P, AA, DL, *wood, Lifetime FPC Plat., IHG, HHD
Posts: 6,912
Any good attorney, and board member, would tell you never to respond to private communication between a plaintiff and anyone at the defendant's side of the table, or their employees. So your error here is to have expected any response. I'm surprised your attorney didn't tell you the same.
That said, thank you for your efforts. I would have liked those 2 RPUs back, and I'd have liked getting Platinum instead of Gold, but my spouse does seem to like being 1K when flying solo, so for me it's likely a wash at this point.
That said, thank you for your efforts. I would have liked those 2 RPUs back, and I'd have liked getting Platinum instead of Gold, but my spouse does seem to like being 1K when flying solo, so for me it's likely a wash at this point.
Sep 13, 2015, 7:28 pm
#2526
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
I am curious what you would advise were the "lessons learned" in your effort?
And, for the others on this forum, I am not even thinking about the pedestrian "Don't trust UA" lesson.
Many thanks!
Sep 13, 2015, 7:43 pm
#2527
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHL
Programs: AA EXP MM, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Ti, UA Silver
Posts: 5,037
Thanks for your efforts UG.
I'm curious if you would be willing to pass along your thoughts about my earlier post here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22497843-post2207.html
Did you and your attorney discuss the idea that a contract could exist based on UA's written promises?
As before, IANAL, but curious nonetheless.
I'm curious if you would be willing to pass along your thoughts about my earlier post here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22497843-post2207.html
Did you and your attorney discuss the idea that a contract could exist based on UA's written promises?
As before, IANAL, but curious nonetheless.
Sep 13, 2015, 10:57 pm
#2528
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,358
And, to Urbane Gent, I also want to express my thanks for your fine efforts.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Sep 13, 2015 at 11:40 pm Reason: OT content removed
Sep 13, 2015, 11:47 pm
#2529
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,857
Topic Check
This is a thread about the MM suit -- discussion of the change of leadership of UA is actively being covered elsewhere (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-chairman.html), so let's not recover that ground here.
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
This is a thread about the MM suit -- discussion of the change of leadership of UA is actively being covered elsewhere (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-chairman.html), so let's not recover that ground here.
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
May 1, 2017, 9:12 pm
#2530
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
House Transportation Committee Hearings
Hello My Fellow Flyertalkers,
The removal of Dr. Dao has brought a renewed interest in Congress wanting to overhaul airline policies.
On May 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2017, the House Transportation Committee is holding hearings on Oversight of U.S. Airline Customer Service in Washington D.C., Messrs. Oscar Munoz and Scott Kirby are in attendance.
This afternoon, the Committee asked me to prepare a letter, which I am enclosing in this thread. They were very familiar with my intended class-action lawsuit to hold United accountable with "lifetime" promises made to loyal customers over the decades.
The Committee has set up an e-mail specifically for United Airlines. Since the hearings are happening as this is being written, if anyone who was a pre-merger United Airlines Million Mile Flyer can send a quick e-mail with the subject line "United Airlines Million Mile Flyer Relief" it would be appreciated.
The following letter is enclosed, if you want to copy and paste from parts of this letter, feel free to do so. As you can see, in this letter, I make reference to a complaint made with the Department of Transportation.
Please, send your own Million Mile Flyer story to the following e-mail address. This is directly to the House Transportation Committee and specifically for United Airlines. There are a group of us who can be very powerful if we combine our voices. This is bigger than just United Airlines. The lawsuit was to serve a precedent to other companies in the travel industry - case in point is this article just published by Gary Leff on View from the Wing called "When Lifetime Status in Taken Away".
[email protected]
Dear House Transportation Committee,
I send this e-mail to the Committee in the hopes of being able to hold United Airlines accountable for promises it made to their top flyers for almost two decades. I seek remedies on behalf of myself and about ten thousand other flyers.
The Committee may be familiar with Lagen vs. United Continental Holdings Inc. In 2014, I sued United on behalf of myself and about 10,000 flyers who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel and flew an actual one million miles. For years, this group was considered pre-merger United's top flyers/customers.
Long before the merger with Continental, in the 1990's, United started a new program called, "Million Miles and Beyond." United was the first airline to create this new level - once one flew an ACTUAL 1,000,000 miles, they would receive lifetime "Million Miler Flyer" status. With that status came a bunch of "lifetime" benefits. On average, it took ten years to obtain Million Mile Flyer and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in business with United.
Other airlines came out with their version of "Million Miler" status. The lifetime benefits offered to flyers of American, Continental, US Airways, etc., was a step below United's. Additionally, the other airlines would include class of service bonus, partner airlines and other ways - for example, if you opened an American Airlines CITI credit card, the flyer would get 100,000 miles added to their million miler bank.
United had no gimmicks, they kept it simple, one had to fly an actual one million miles regardless of where one sat on the plane (what was called "BIS" miles or "Butt In Seat" miles). However, United's Million Mile Flyer "lifetime" benefits were incredible, one being guaranteed lifetime Premier Executive, second tier in the Mileage Plus Program (please see attachment). All other million miler programs gave their flyers the lowest elite level for a lifetime. United differentiated themselves by calling the status "Million Mile Flyer" as opposed to "Million Miler" because one had to fly an actual million miles.
When Continental merged with United in 2014, Jeff Smisek, the new CEO, went after this specific group, United's Million Mile Flyers, by downgrading and taking away all the promised LIFETIME benefits, even though UA flyers were constantly told nothing would change with regards to status (enclosed). He then upgraded all Continental one million milers. The issue for me was what does LIFETIME mean when a company promises "lifetime".
It went through the courts, I won, UA appealed, they won, I appealed, all the way to the 7th District Court of Appeals. One of the judges called United "fraudulent", "deceptive" and "dishonest".
A key section of the Court of Appeal wording starts on Page 7, i.e.
We close with a word about the common-sense argument that Lagen presents and our dissenting colleague emphasizes: that United must be accountable under some body of law because its representation that it was bestowing “lifetime” benefits on its Million-Mile flyers is irreconcilable....
The judge said that United should be held "...accountable under some body of law." It seemed to me the court was telling me to take it up with the DOT for help because there is no where else to take it for relief - until I came across House Transportation Committee.
United stated they can say anything, in this case "lifetime" and then not mean "lifetime". I went to the FAA/DOT on their website and lodged a complaint. My complaint was answered by UA's attorneys and not by DOT. In other words, DOT passed the complaint to UA. Sadly, the DOT did not perform its intended purpose with respect to the complaint.
United simply said, when we say lifetime, we don't mean it.
I am hopeful the Committee can be of help to myself and former Million Mile Flyers. Rather then send the Committee a bunch of snapshots and other things, I am sending one screenshot from the United website in 2007 as well as assurances from United everyone's status would not be affected with the merger. There are more screenshots for other years; they are available if the Committee requests them.
Thank you in advance.
Yours,
George Lagen
Cook County, Illinois
The removal of Dr. Dao has brought a renewed interest in Congress wanting to overhaul airline policies.
On May 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2017, the House Transportation Committee is holding hearings on Oversight of U.S. Airline Customer Service in Washington D.C., Messrs. Oscar Munoz and Scott Kirby are in attendance.
This afternoon, the Committee asked me to prepare a letter, which I am enclosing in this thread. They were very familiar with my intended class-action lawsuit to hold United accountable with "lifetime" promises made to loyal customers over the decades.
The Committee has set up an e-mail specifically for United Airlines. Since the hearings are happening as this is being written, if anyone who was a pre-merger United Airlines Million Mile Flyer can send a quick e-mail with the subject line "United Airlines Million Mile Flyer Relief" it would be appreciated.
The following letter is enclosed, if you want to copy and paste from parts of this letter, feel free to do so. As you can see, in this letter, I make reference to a complaint made with the Department of Transportation.
Please, send your own Million Mile Flyer story to the following e-mail address. This is directly to the House Transportation Committee and specifically for United Airlines. There are a group of us who can be very powerful if we combine our voices. This is bigger than just United Airlines. The lawsuit was to serve a precedent to other companies in the travel industry - case in point is this article just published by Gary Leff on View from the Wing called "When Lifetime Status in Taken Away".
[email protected]
Dear House Transportation Committee,
I send this e-mail to the Committee in the hopes of being able to hold United Airlines accountable for promises it made to their top flyers for almost two decades. I seek remedies on behalf of myself and about ten thousand other flyers.
The Committee may be familiar with Lagen vs. United Continental Holdings Inc. In 2014, I sued United on behalf of myself and about 10,000 flyers who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel and flew an actual one million miles. For years, this group was considered pre-merger United's top flyers/customers.
Long before the merger with Continental, in the 1990's, United started a new program called, "Million Miles and Beyond." United was the first airline to create this new level - once one flew an ACTUAL 1,000,000 miles, they would receive lifetime "Million Miler Flyer" status. With that status came a bunch of "lifetime" benefits. On average, it took ten years to obtain Million Mile Flyer and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in business with United.
Other airlines came out with their version of "Million Miler" status. The lifetime benefits offered to flyers of American, Continental, US Airways, etc., was a step below United's. Additionally, the other airlines would include class of service bonus, partner airlines and other ways - for example, if you opened an American Airlines CITI credit card, the flyer would get 100,000 miles added to their million miler bank.
United had no gimmicks, they kept it simple, one had to fly an actual one million miles regardless of where one sat on the plane (what was called "BIS" miles or "Butt In Seat" miles). However, United's Million Mile Flyer "lifetime" benefits were incredible, one being guaranteed lifetime Premier Executive, second tier in the Mileage Plus Program (please see attachment). All other million miler programs gave their flyers the lowest elite level for a lifetime. United differentiated themselves by calling the status "Million Mile Flyer" as opposed to "Million Miler" because one had to fly an actual million miles.
When Continental merged with United in 2014, Jeff Smisek, the new CEO, went after this specific group, United's Million Mile Flyers, by downgrading and taking away all the promised LIFETIME benefits, even though UA flyers were constantly told nothing would change with regards to status (enclosed). He then upgraded all Continental one million milers. The issue for me was what does LIFETIME mean when a company promises "lifetime".
It went through the courts, I won, UA appealed, they won, I appealed, all the way to the 7th District Court of Appeals. One of the judges called United "fraudulent", "deceptive" and "dishonest".
A key section of the Court of Appeal wording starts on Page 7, i.e.
We close with a word about the common-sense argument that Lagen presents and our dissenting colleague emphasizes: that United must be accountable under some body of law because its representation that it was bestowing “lifetime” benefits on its Million-Mile flyers is irreconcilable....
The judge said that United should be held "...accountable under some body of law." It seemed to me the court was telling me to take it up with the DOT for help because there is no where else to take it for relief - until I came across House Transportation Committee.
United stated they can say anything, in this case "lifetime" and then not mean "lifetime". I went to the FAA/DOT on their website and lodged a complaint. My complaint was answered by UA's attorneys and not by DOT. In other words, DOT passed the complaint to UA. Sadly, the DOT did not perform its intended purpose with respect to the complaint.
United simply said, when we say lifetime, we don't mean it.
I am hopeful the Committee can be of help to myself and former Million Mile Flyers. Rather then send the Committee a bunch of snapshots and other things, I am sending one screenshot from the United website in 2007 as well as assurances from United everyone's status would not be affected with the merger. There are more screenshots for other years; they are available if the Committee requests them.
Thank you in advance.
Yours,
George Lagen
Cook County, Illinois
Last edited by UrbaneGent; May 2, 2017 at 8:52 am
May 1, 2017, 9:32 pm
#2531
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Syd
Programs: UA 1k 1MM, VA G
Posts: 886
Thanks for this,
I've got 2 family members who both hit 1mm before the merger and I've talked both of them into taking the time to send emails
I've got 2 family members who both hit 1mm before the merger and I've talked both of them into taking the time to send emails
May 1, 2017, 10:47 pm
#2532
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 889
Dear House Transportation Committee,
Like Mr. Lagen I also am a United Airlines Million Miler Flyer. Like him I depended on the promises the company gave regarding my benefits. Had I known those promises were false I never would have continued to patronize the airline and in response to their actions I have not done so since they reneged on what they agreed to.
But the underlying fault, and the solution, lies with Congress. It was Congress that took away our right to pursue legal action. So please give travelers their rights back. Change the law so that when we are cheated, lied to or ripped off we have the right to seek redress in our state courts.
Like Mr. Lagen I also am a United Airlines Million Miler Flyer. Like him I depended on the promises the company gave regarding my benefits. Had I known those promises were false I never would have continued to patronize the airline and in response to their actions I have not done so since they reneged on what they agreed to.
But the underlying fault, and the solution, lies with Congress. It was Congress that took away our right to pursue legal action. So please give travelers their rights back. Change the law so that when we are cheated, lied to or ripped off we have the right to seek redress in our state courts.
May 1, 2017, 11:00 pm
#2533
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 889
Peter Defazio is the ranking member for the Democrats. If there is anyone from his district you can email him.
Bill Shuster is the Chairman.
You can see all the members here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...Infrastructure
Emailing the members directly will have a much bigger impact. They sit up and listen when constituents contact them.
Bill Shuster is the Chairman.
You can see all the members here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...Infrastructure
Emailing the members directly will have a much bigger impact. They sit up and listen when constituents contact them.
May 1, 2017, 11:02 pm
#2534
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: KFCA + KMSO
Programs: UA 3MM, Lifetime 1K, Lifetime UC, Lifetime Marriott Platinum, CMEL pilot
Posts: 203
Okay, I'll write the House Committee too as I was 2MM prior to the merger.
deek
deek
May 2, 2017, 8:42 am
#2535
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: SEA/YVR/BLI
Programs: UA "Lifetime" Gold, AS MVPG100K, OW Emerald, HH Lifetime Diamond, IC Plat, Marriott Gold, Hertz Gold
Posts: 9,490
Peter Defazio is the ranking member for the Democrats. If there is anyone from his district you can email him.
Bill Shuster is the Chairman.
You can see all the members here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...Infrastructure
Emailing the members directly will have a much bigger impact. They sit up and listen when constituents contact them.
Bill Shuster is the Chairman.
You can see all the members here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...Infrastructure
Emailing the members directly will have a much bigger impact. They sit up and listen when constituents contact them.