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An Arizona man suing American Airlines over its refund policy – or refund denial policy – for flights cancelled due to COVID-19, is asking the court to certify the case as a class action lawsuit.
Lawyers for lead plaintiff Lee Ward and two other American Airlines customers submitted the request for class certification to Judge Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth on Oct. 29.
They say there are thousands of potential Class Members in the same situation, all of whom were denied refunds for flights they paid for, but the airline cancelled. Instead, American has offered vouchers that can be applied to the purchase of future flights.
The customers could file separate lawsuits and sue American Airlines as individuals, offering the same evidence and raising the same legal issues, but that would clog the court system and cost more, Ward’s lawyers argued.
Ward and fellow plaintiffs James Saunders and William Holloway filed the lawsuit in April, about six weeks after the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and all but grounded every flight, foreign and domestic.
Starting March 12, federal officials issued travel bans that blocked most visitors from continental Europe to the United States. Domestic travel restrictions began four days later, on March 16, limiting the number of flights to a bare minimum for weeks. Travel restrictions were also placed on Americans, with several other countries barring entry of those traveling from the U.S. Many of those bans remain in place today, including in most of Europe.
Ward had purchased tickets for multiple flights that American Airlines canceled, including one that was supposed to return him to the U.S. from Peru on March 31, he said. That cancellation forced him to purchase another ticket for a flight on another airline, but when Ward later requested a refund from American Airlines, he was only offered a travel voucher. The voucher was less valuable than a refund of the ticket price, he claims.
Saunders and Holloway bought tickets for American Airline flights through Hotwire and Expedia. By accepting the terms and conditions on those travel booking websites at the point of purchase, they agreed to settle any disputes through mandatory arbitration or in small claims court, American says. The airline filed a motion to compel the plaintiffs to arbitration in August. Judge O’Connor has not yet ruled on it.
American Airlines is not the only airline with a refund policy that called for travel vouchers to be offered instead of reimbursement for cancelled flights during the pandemic.
The practice became so controversial the U.S. Department of Transportation twice issued warnings to the airlines reminding them of their obligation to refund passengers for cancelled or significantly delayed flights.
When the first warning went out, in April, the department said it had already gotten more than 25,000 complaints about denied refunds.
Lawsuits like Ward’s proposed class action lawsuit have been filed against numerous online travel booking agencies and major airlines since March. According to The USA Today, the transportation department’s refund requirement is vague in its wording, and “some are using that lack of clear guidance as a way to get out of issuing refunds.”
Has American Airlines’ refund policy of offering vouchers instead of reimbursement for flights the airline cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic cost you money? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Lead plaintiff Ward and the rest of the potential Class Members are represented by Daniel J. Kurowski, Whitney K. Siehl and Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP; Allen R. Vaught of Vaught Firm, LLC; and E. Adam Webb and G. Franklin Lemond Jr. of Webb, Klase & Lemond, LLC.
The American Airlines Refund Policy Class Action Lawsuit is Lee Ward v. American Airlines Inc., Case No. 4:20-cv-00371, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division
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22 thoughts onAmerican Airlines Passengers Seek Cert. in Refund Policy Class Action Lawsuit
I had an issue on my recent 08/21 American Airlines flight where I was apparently singled out for not keeping my mask fully over my nose for the entire flight from Philly to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. I was issued a Passenger Disturbance Report (I have a pink carbon copy of) after exiting the flight and I later received a letter from American stating that I had been placed on their no-fly ban list for this incident for as long as American Airlines requires their passengers to wear masks. Upon calling the airline, I learned that they placed my return flight ticket into “suspended” status and I was given no further explanation or recourse to seek.
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This is still happening. My daughter and I were traveling from Los Angeles to Nashville TN for a funeral. After so called “maintenance issues”, after boarding 2 different planes over the coarse of 12 hours they canceled our flight. We were in Phoenix AZ for our layover and never made it to Nashville. I had to get a hotel in Phoenix which the airline will reimburse me for but they are only offering me vouchers. This was 6/18/21. I was told to file a claim with Department of Transportation which I will do today but like some of you, I dont travel regularly nor do I trust this airline. The planes are in bad shape and were making some crazy noises. If there is a class action lawsuit I would like to join.
Myself, my daughter And future son in law flew out to alburqueque NM in april 2021 we flew out on one way tickets cause we were not sure how long we were staying so when we decided to fly back home we booked our flights and My son in law became sick so we needed to change our flight and the nightmare began we booked with price line and asap tickets ok so we had to change our flights and 1,200 dollars later were still stuck in New Mexico on the phone with price line ,Asap tickets and american airlines I paid for tickets in full plus bought the insurance that does nothing to help yhey kept me on phone for several hrs.after about 6hrs.on phone trying to resolve issues i was put on hold several times disconected several times and 3 days and 6 hrs later i still have no resolution to my cancelled tickes and flights .Please sign me up i wouyld like to join the class action lawsuit.
American would not allow me to extend my trip to 2022 and required I complete my travel by 2021 which was not possible. I was advised there was nothing they could do. I purchased insurance through American Arlines carrier they denied reimbursement too and I purchased a cancel anytime policy what a scam never again. I am fight for my 3k+++
Please add me. I have requested online and via letter to American Airlines for a full refund for 2 tickets, I purchased for my brother and his wife to attend their son’s college graduation that was cancelled. I was denied but it did show on their website that I received a refund but I did not! Please add me.
Have full history of correspondance AA where I had to change flights and they told me I would be refunded and then that I could not use the credit to change flights. So have paid 3 times for the same flight. 4 weeks on have not had any correspondence on credits so have no ability to use the money obtained from my falsely.
The history on this clearly shows and processes created to maximise the amount of cash retained for the longest period possible.
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