United Airlines Dodges In-Flight Wi-Fi, DirecTV Class Action Lawsuit

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Last week, a judge in New Jersey approved a motion by United Airlines to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging the airline shortchanged passengers who purchased DirecTV or Wi-Fi service on international flights. The case was dismissed in federal court with the judge asserting that federal law preempted all of the claims made in the lawsuit.

In a 10-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton stated that the claims in the class action lawsuit regarding the sale of DirecTV and Wi-Fi during flights were preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA), enacted by Congress in 1978. The ruling reads, “As a result, the ADA sets forth that no state may ‘enact or enforce a law, regulation or other provision having the effect or force of a law related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.’”

The original class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Cary M. David in March of this year. David alleged that the airline did not adequately inform passengers that two optional services available for purchase, DirecTV and Wi-Fi, were only available on flights within the continental U.S.

David said she purchased the DirecTV service on her flight from Puerto Rico to New Jersey but was only able to use it for 10 minutes during the 4-hour flight, claiming that the airline deceived passengers on international flights into buying the services. David said the website made the information about the DirecTV and Wi-Fi coverage clear that it was only available within the continental U.S., there was no information disclosed clearly to passengers once they were on the flight. She also claimed that the services were continually advertised on the seat-back screens throughout international flights.

The class action lawsuit claimed that United made millions of dollars from passengers who purchased these optional services that ranged from $4.99 to $7.99 for DirecTV and $4.95 to $49 for Wi-Fi. David sought to represent other United passengers who had purchased the services when flying outside of the available service area since January 2012.

In May, United filed a motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit, saying that “entire complaint is based on a false premise.” United argued that the plaintiff based the claims of the lawsuit as an alleged breach of contract to be able to have the claims fall under an ADA exemption; however, David’s claims did not meet this exception.

Judge Wegenton summarized, “Instead of seeking to enforce defendant’s obligation to provide those services over the continental U.S., plaintiff requests this court to find that United breaches its contracts when it acts precisely as it promises, by providing DirecTV and Wi-Fi services over the continental U.S. Therefore, this court finds that the plaintiff’s breach of contract claim in preempted.”

David is represented by Mark C. Gardy, Jennifer Sarnelli and Orin Kurtz of Gardy & Notis LLP and David L. Eisbrouch of Eisbrouch Marsh LLC.

The United In-Flight Wi-Fi Class Action Lawsuit is Cary M. David, et al. v. United Continental Holdings Inc., et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-01926, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.