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:

Xyzzy

Further to the point of the preceding pst, the stated reason for discontinuing gate passes for members who were not traveling was that the TSA was clamping down, not that UA had any problem in issuing them. In fact, one of the reasons I ended up buying my membership was to get gate passes to go airside and visit a club when I wished to do so.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Actually, this just gets you a gate pass to get through security. But ability to get gate pass reflects the membership. And as we all know, UA has a hard time synching all their rules.

Xyzzy

In order to get the gate pass one had to show a club membership card. Often agents would call the club to verify access to the club. The two were absolutely cnnected.

nsx

It's sad when a company's management chooses to break its promise to customers, especially when keeping the promise would be so easy and inexpensive. If there's a lawsuit I predict that only the lawyers will win.

United had ranked high, right up near Southwest and Alaska, in my perception of how they treated customers. No longer. They are cheating me out of a benefit I paid serious money for, and I won't forget.

lincolnjkc

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:

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

ctownflyer

How is that not an illusory contract?

HNLbasedFlyer

Because you still have a membership and you can still use the club. If they make a reasonable effort that you can use the club, the barrier for you to succeed is more challenging. Just saying.

Reasonable can always be defined by a court - but UA has proved to have deep pockets in lifetime litigation. They'll say, buy a ticket on UA, fly that day, and you are more than welcome to enter.

soartoday

What about the Amtrak lounges with heavy United branding?

lincolnjkc

I haven't seen one of these first hand but I would presume that, (a) these are operated by Amtrak and not United, and (b) these only exist at locations with UA codeshare service [e.g. the northeast corridor] so it would still be closely related to the provision of transportation.

ctownflyer

Where does it end?

First they started requiring boarding passes, now they'll require *A boarding passes.
Will they next restrict lounge access on basic economy or low fare class tickets?

A contract term that says we can do whatever we want is not likely to be enforceable.

Fredd

It's been tested in court and worked successfully for UA in no fewer than three Million-Miler and Silver Wings lawsuits.

I hope you lifetime club members can find a way to prevail.

ctownflyer

Weren't those defeated by the deregulation act? I guess it would come down to whether clubs that didn't require flying are protected by the ADA.

Fredd

IIRC US prevailed in the Silver Wings lawsuits on its right to determine and change terms and conditions, and our inability (in the first lawsuit in which I was a named plaintiff) to produce a written contract (this for something we signed up for online!). I don't know that airline deregulation per se was an issue.

The somewhat sympathetic appeals court judges in the Million-Miler suit opined that any relief would have to come from the DOT, which states on its own website that "Airlines have wide discretion to change the terms of their frequent flyer programs, but are required to disclose their frequent flyer program rules in their customer service plan and must adhere to any promises made in their customer service plan."

I'm not a lawyer, and I'd be pleased if a distinction like the one you describe between a "club" and "flying" could be drawn. I'm pessimistic but I'll certainly be cheering you on from the sidelines.

nsx

How lifetime United Club members feel: