American Airlines Class Action Says Ticket Prices are ‘Bait and Switch’

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A new class action lawsuit accuses American Airlines of using a “bait and switch” marketing scheme to dupe customers into paying more for pricey plane tickets.

Lead plaintiff Margaret Schultz alleges in her class action lawsuit that American Airlines uses Internet “cookies” to track individuals’ behavior while on their website, aa.com.

The plaintiff says that the cookies and “other machinations” will change prices on consumers while they are searching for airline tickets.

Schultz says that while searching for a ticket from Miami International Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, aa.com listed a price of $197. The plaintiff alleges that after she entered her personal and payment information for the ticket, American Airlines revoked the $197 ticket and changed it to $297.

The American Airlines class action lawsuit claims this happened to Schultz again after she entered her personal and payment information; American Airlines reportedly replaced the $297 ticket and changed the price to $397. The plaintiff says that she ultimately used $320 in air miles to purchase the ticket that was originally offered for $197.

“American’s breach of its contract with Plaintiff for the $197 ticket is part of a systematic and purposeful effort by American to dishonestly lure customers with contracts it knows it cannot honor, then fatten its coffers after the consumer—having already accepted the contract at a lower price—is forced to pay more for the same service,” alleges the American Airlines class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff accuses American Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the world, of taking advantage of the fact that its customers will end up paying more for a plane ticket if they have selected the particular flight and entered their personal and payment information to avoid the time and hassle of searching again.

“At the time of Plaintiffs and each Class Member’s purchase, American used a web cache system that it knew does not update inventory in real time,” states the American Airlines ticket pricing class action lawsuit. “American knew at all material times that using this system would guarantee it would have to renege on multiple contract offers to customers on a daily basis.”

American Airlines breaches a contract with each customer it reneges a plane ticket price with on its website, alleges the ticket pricing class action lawsuit. The plaintiff says that she and other putative Class Members had accepted American’s offer for a certain plane ticket at a certain price when they selected “Pay Now” on the website.

“As the individual Class Members were poised to hit their respective ‘Pay now’ buttons—clicking on which was explicitly the last and only task remaining to fully accept American’s clearly delineated offer—American had created a reasonable expectation in an objectively reasonable consumer that American had a willingness to enter into a contract with each Class Member pursuant to the terms that American itself had spelled out,” claims the American Airlines class action lawsuit.

In addition to breach of contract, the plaintiff says American Airlines is unjustly enriched by the scheme.

Schultz seeks to represent a nationwide Class of individuals who were duped by American Airline’s alleged bait and switch scheme and ended up booking more expensive airfare after being presented with a cheaper ticket on aa.com.

The American Airlines ticket pricing class action lawsuit was originally filed in a Florida Circuit Court in April but was removed to federal court on Monday.

The plaintiff is represented by Mason Kerns of Mason Kerns Law PA and Robert Burkett, Jr. of Burkett Law Office.

The American Airlines Bait and Switch Class Action Lawsuit is Schultz v. American Airlines Inc., Case No. 9:18-cv-80633-RLR, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.