Skip to footer

Airlines can boot whiny frequent flyers, Supreme Court rules

Airlines offering frequent flyer benefits now have the Supreme Court's permission to drop you from their loyalty programs at will. What does the ruling mean for passengers? 

|
Chris O'Meara/AP/File
A Delta Airlines Boeing 757 taking off in Tampa, Fla. The Supreme Court ruled last week that airlines can suspend frequent flyer benefits for obnoxious passengers.
  • By Elizabeth Harper Guest blogger

Frequent flyers, watch out, because the airlines offering these benefits now have the Supreme Court's permission to drop you from their loyalty programs at will. With passengers already frustrated by high fees on everything from snacks to baggage, and dwindling carrier options, do consumers have any power left when flying?

Frequent Flyers at the Supreme Court

The ruling comes from a case between Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg and Northwest Airlines, which kicked Ginsberg from their WorldPerks program after frequent complaints. The airline accused Ginsberg, who took up to 75 flights a year and accumulated hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles, of booking reservations on full flights with the intention of being bumped from the flight in exchange for compensation.

Though Ginsberg filed 24 complaints over the course of eight months, he claims that the airline ditched him in order to cut costs. The resulting case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court found that Ginsburg could not sue for breach of contract according to state law, because a federal law explicitly prevents state-level regulation of airlines.

While other remedies may be available, for now, the final ruling effectively says that airlines can drop individuals from their frequent flyer programs at their sole discretion — and that flyers who don't like a particular airline's policy can always do business with a competing airline.

Limiting options for frequent flyers isn't anything new: back in 2012, cash-strapped American Airlines went after frequent flyers who were seen to be abusing the program and costing the company too much money.

But while industry groups rejoice at this ruling, customers may have cause for concern. Ginsberg's attorney, Adina Rosebaum, says that the ruling "gives airlines greater freedom to act in bad faith … to the detriment of the millions of consumers."

What Does This Mean For You?

So should frequent flyers expect even less from their programs in the future? For the average consumer, programs will probably remain very much the same — though airlines might feel free to scrutinize frequent travelers more carefully, whether it's because they're filing too many complaints or seen to be abusing the program, even if those flyers are acting in good faith. In a worst case scenario, frequent flyers could lose all of the value they have accrued as part of the program.

Consumers, however, can still file complaints with the Department of Transportation, which has the authority to investigate unfair or deceptive practices by airlines.

For programs designed to recognize customer loyalty, this really seems to give flyer — especially those who stick to a single airline in an effort to earn those frequent flyer miles — the short end of the stick. But what do you think, readers? Just how much complaining is too much, and when is an airline justified in kicking someone out of its frequent flyer program because of it?

Elizabeth Harper is a contributor for Dealnews.com, where this article first appeared: http://dealnews.com/features/Supreme-Court-Airlines-Can-Boot-Whiny-Frequent-Fliers/1020960.html

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Airlines can boot whiny frequent flyers, Supreme Court rules
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2014/0407/Airlines-can-boot-whiny-frequent-flyers-Supreme-Court-rules
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe