WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a Minnesota man who charged Northwest Airlines with violating the law by forcing him out of its frequent flier program.
The justices said the federal Airline Deregulation Act did not allow Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg to sue for breach of what is called in legal terms an "implied covenant."
The ruling overturned an appeals court decision and let stand a U.S. District Court decision in which a federal judge held that the frequent flier agreement gave Northwest "sole discretion to determine whether a participant had abused the program."
Northwest claimed that between December 2007 and June 2008, Ginsberg filed 24 travel complaints for which the airline compensated him with "$1,925 in travel credit vouchers, 78,500 WorldPerks bonus miles, a voucher extension for your son, and $491 in cash reimbursements."
In a class-action lawsuit, Ginsberg claimed that Eagan-based Northwest put him out of the frequent flier program as a cost-cutting measure in its merger with Delta Air Lines. He also claimed the airline violated "good faith and fair dealing" doctrines.
In ruling unanimously against Ginsberg, the justices said Ginsberg was trying to "enlarge his contractual agreement" with Northwest. They did not rule on the merits of his removal from the Northwest program, saying Ginsberg did not appeal a breach of contract claim beyond the trial court, but rather appealed "only the breach of implied covenant claim."
The justices stressed that the ruling did not leave frequent fliers without protections.
"If an airline acquires a reputation for mistreating the participants in its frequent flier program (who are generally the airline's most loyal and valuable customers), customers can avoid that program and may be able to enroll in a more favorable rival program," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court.
