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United Airlines can’t shake a lawsuit claiming it breached customer contracts when it offered credits instead of full flight refunds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a judge has ruled.
On Friday, Illinois Federal Judge Thomas Durkin partially denied United’s motion to dismiss claims brought by named plaintiffs Jacob Rudolph, Mark Hansen and Jason Buffer in a consolidated proposed class action lawsuit, stating most of the passenger’s claims can go ahead.
Rudolph, Hansen and Buffer, who each had slightly different travel situations with United, say they should have gotten full refunds from the airline when their flights were canceled in March last year during the pandemic, instead of travel credits.
United filed a motion arguing it wasn’t improperly denying customers refunds as the passengers’ canceled flights qualified under a “force majeure event” clause in its contract of carriage, and therefore they only needed to issue credits, not refunds.
The airline defined a force majeure as unique occurrences that physically prohibited it from operating flights, as doing so would expose passengers to a substantial risk of bodily harm. Customers are entitled to a travel credit but not a refund if United cancels a flight due to a force majeure event.
However, if a cancellation is due to a “schedule change” or “irregular operations,” and affected passengers are not rebooked on another flight within the contractually required timeframe, then United must give a refund “upon request.”
The travelers countered that United hadn’t canceled their flights due to force majeure, but “pure economics.” They allege that United canceled their flights to save on operating expenses, even advising investors and the SEC it would be canceling flights until it saw “signs of a recovery in demand.”
Judge Durkin said in his opinion that there must be some point where a force majeure event ends, and a schedule change or irregular operation begins, and to the extent that the boundary is unclear he would have to rule in the plaintiffs’ favor.
“Even assuming COVID-19 and/or the related restrictions United cites qualify as Force Majeure Events, that is not enough to excuse United from offering a refund for flights it cancels. Those events also must have directly and proximately caused the cancellations,” Durkins stated in the order .
He also said that the court mostly agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that reading a “Force Majeure Event” as broadly as United had would “eviscerate” the schedule change and irregular operations provisions, meaning that any change “unforeseen or beyond United’s control” would disqualify affected passengers from receiving refunds.
The judge also denied United’s move to force Hansen to arbitrate his claims because he booked his airline tickets through online travel agency Expedia.
Hansen argued that he could, in fact, bring a claim thanks to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations stating that transport carriers can’t impose contracts precluding customers from bringing claims in court.
“Nevertheless, the Court agrees with Mr. Hansen that United should not be permitted to do indirectly what federal regulations prohibit it from doing directly, particularly given the regulation’s purpose to provide protections to consumers,” Durkin wrote.
Rudolph launched the class action lawsuit in April, with Hansen and Buffer joining later as named plaintiffs, Law 360 reported. They alleged in a consolidated amended complaint in July that United’s refusal to issue COVID-19-related refunds to passengers whose flights were canceled violated federal guidance, the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, as well as the consumer protection laws of the other 49 states.
Has you booked a flight with United Airlines that was canceled or rescheduled? Share your experience in the comments below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Bryan L. Clobes, Daniel O. Herrera and Nickolas J. Hagman of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP, Steve W. Berman, Daniel J. Kurowski and Whitney K. Siehl of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Joseph G. Sauder and Joseph B. Kenney of Sauder Schelkopf LLC.
The United COVID-19 Refund Class Action Lawsuit is Jacob Rudolph et al. v. United Airlines Holdings Inc. et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02142, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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65 thoughts onUnited Airlines Must Face COVID-19 Ticket Refund Class Action, Judge Rules
I booked 3 tickets from Boston to Reykjavik with flight scheduled 6/30/20. I planned to attend a wedding. United cancelled my flight and issued me a voucher which expires 1/26/22. United no longer flies to Reykjavik, rendering these credits useless. Can I please join this lawsuit?
I booked through United Airlines for a flight from Costa Rica to Houston, then onward to Canada from September to October of 2020. I also purchased insurance on my ticket. I explained that I didn’t want the credit and wanted a refund. My flight was canceled 3 times.
I want to join this class action lawsuit.
United owes me $738.35 which they refused to refund me even though they cancelled my flight 3 weeks before my flight. There was no United flight offered that I could use instead.
We had flights from EWR to Denver April 2020. Canceled due to COVID closures. Took us days and hours on the phone just to get vouchers. Now they started just canceling flights left and right giving all kinds of ‘weather’ emails and ‘recommendations’ notices days before the flight.
There was 3 of us with tickets from Los Angeles to Europe when Covid cancelled travel. United denied the refund. I am aware that other airlines issued refunds for their flights but United is the worst. They issued credit for future travel. My daughters’ situation has changed – they started new jobs and won’t be able to travel. I wanted to use the credit, but even with credit the number of flights that United allows for credit is limited that I was offered some with 20 hours layover in both directions. I would like to be included in this class action
In February 2020 I booked two return tickets Barcelona-Boston (June 12-23) through Vayama. The flights were cancelled, no alternative was suggested, which is the ground for a full refund. However, UA only offered points, which I obviously didn’t need and couldn’t really use as I live in Europe. As of May 2021, neither me nor Vayama received the refund from UA.
I purchased 5 tickets to Honolulu Hawaii for my brother-in-law’s retirement ceremony from the United States Navy after 20 years of service. Due to Covid, the ceremony was canceled and Hawaii closed its borders. Our tickets were purchased via Priceline. I contacted both Priceline and United, both of which cited the other company’s policies to not refund. I had also purchased insurance on each ticket but was told that could not be used as the reason for canceling didn’t fall under the insurance’s guidelines. Priceline not only refused to refund our tickets, but they also issued vouchers that they said had to be re-booked before our original flight was set to leave; less than 24 hours time. So not only did we not get a refund, but we also have no vouchers.
This is exactly what happened to me except they issue a flight credit associated with my booking number and then it disappeared when I called to actually book a new flight.
I had four business trips, four business class tickets at $5,000.00 a piece. United is holding them as reservations to be used by March 2022. My business is no longer traveling to Asia or London because of zoom meetings. I work for myself so no company paid for these tickets. Please add me.
Add me
We had tickets with United to travel to South Lake Tahoe in January. We were forced to cancel due to the COVID lockdowns in Much of California including El Dorado county, where we were headed. United would not refund our money instead gave a credit that I’m not sure we will be able to use because of the timeframe. I also purchased travel insurance and they too denied the claim!