United Airlines Sued in In-Flight Wi-Fi Class Action Lawsuit

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On March 13, United Airlines Inc. was sued in an in-flight Wi-Fi class action lawsuit. This United Airlines lawsuit, filed in New Jersey federal court, alleges passengers who purchased in-flight Wi-Fi and DirecTV services during an international flight were not informed by the airline that these two types of services were only available in continental U.S. flights.

Plaintiff Cary M. David filed this United in-flight Wi-Fi class action lawsuit claiming she paid for a DirecTV service during a four-hour flight from Puerto Rico to New Jersey, but was only able to use said service for about 10 minutes. According to her complaint, David alleges United deceives its passengers into purchasing in-flight Wi-Fi and DirecTV services during international flights by neglecting to properly disclose the limitations of these in-flight services.

David alleges that in order for passengers to use DirecTV services during a United flight, they must pay $4.99 for flights that last less than two hours and $7.99 for flights that last longer than that period of time. The United Airline class action lawsuit further claims the Wi-Fi fees range from $4.95 to $49, depending on a consumer’s device and how they choose to use the internet during the flight.

“United sells these services to passengers on the flights and fails to disclose that the services will not work as advertised when the aircraft is outside the continental United States or is over water,” the United class action lawsuit alleges. “It is not until they have crossed U.S. borders or are over water, with no service, that customers learn that their DirecTV and/or Wi-Fi service will not work for all or part of the flight.”

The plaintiff acknowledges that the United Airlines website does disclose to consumers that airplanes equipped with Wi-Fi and DirecTV only have satellite coverage within the continental U.S. However, the in-flight Wi-Fi class action lawsuit argues that this disclosure is not enough because the limitations of these in-flight services are not disclosed on board and is not “readily apparent to potential purchasers of the services,” according to David’s class action lawsuit.

David further alleges that United knew Wi-Fi and DirecTV equipped planes cannot feasibly provided these services outside of the United States because of satellite limitations, yet chose to not disclose this information to their onboard passengers who were allegedly in a position to immediately purchase these in-flight services. In light of these allegations, the United class action lawsuit claims the airline engaged in consumer fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment.

David is seeking to represent herself in this in-flight wi-fi class action lawsuit as well as a Class that would include: “All consumers who purchased DirecTV service or WiFi service on a DirecTV equipped plane from January 1, 2012 through and including the date a judgment is entered in this action, for a flight that flew outside of the continental United States or over water.”

A New Jersey subclass has also been proposed in this United Airlines class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff is seeking an injunction that would stop United Airlines from engaging in the alleged misconduct, as well as compensatory damages and treble damages allegedly due to Class Members under New Jersey consumer law and consumer fraud damages allegedly due to consumers under other states’ laws.

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.

UPDATE: United filed a motion on May 1, 2015 to dismiss the proposed Wi-Fi class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 2: The United Airlines class action lawsuit was dismissed on Nov. 24, 2015.