The Supreme Court will hear the case of a frequent flier that has had his membership revoked by one airline company after making too many complaints, according to CNN. Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg said Northwest Airlines revoked his WorldPerks Platinum Elite membership after telling him he had "abused" his privileges by repeatedly filing complaints for upgrades and other benefits.
Northwest Airlines was purchased by Delta Airlines in a 2008 merger and said it had "sole judgment" over the program's general terms and conditions to make such determinations.
At issue for the court to decide is whether Ginsberg has a right under state law to bring his case before the courts or whether a law passed in the 1970s that deregulated the airline industry preempts it. The law prohibits parties from bringing similar state claims against airlines related to a "price, route or service" of the carrier.
Ginsberg travels frequently to give lectures and joined Northwest's WorldPerks program in 1999 and reached Platinum Elite status in 2005. In June of 2008, Ginsberg claimed a Northwest representative called him and told him his status was being revoked on the grounds that he "abused" the program, according to the court papers. The airline then took away the hundreds of thousands of miles he had accumulated in his account.
"It didn't make sense," Ginsberg said. "When I pushed for a reason and clarification, they told me it was because I was complaining too much."
A month later, Ginsberg received a letter noting that he had made 24 complaints in the past eight months, including nine complaints about his bag arriving late to the luggage carousel, according to the court papers.
"You have continually asked for compensation over and above our guidelines," the letter said. "We have awarded you $1,925 in travel credit vouchers, 78,500 WorldPerks bonus miles, a voucher extension for your son, and $491 in cash reimbursements.
"Due to our past generosity, we must respectfully advise that we will no longer be awarding you compensation each time you contact us," the letter continued.
Ginsberg and his wife averaged about 75 flights on Northwest each year, and only approximately 10 percent of them resulted in a phone call, according to Ginsberg's lawyer.
"I don't think I was a frequent complainer," Ginsberg said. "They should have taken their time and analyzed: Were my complaints legitimate?
"Should they be doing something to improve their service and quality of product?" Ginsberg asked. "Instead of worrying, we've got to shut up somebody who is complaining too much."
Ginsberg sued for $5 million for breach of contract in January 2009 and a federal judge in San Diego, who agreed that the Airline Deregulation Act preempted his claim, dismissed the case.
In 2011, an appeals court in San Francisco reversed the decision, ordering the court to reconsider Ginsberg's class action claims, stating the act was not intended to, "immunize the airline industry from liability for common law contract claims."
Ginsberg hopes to get his miles back, have his status reinstated and get fair compensation for what he has been through.
"To me, it's outright fraud," Ginsberg said. "You can't take somebody's mileage away when they've accumulated it.
"We live in a country that was built on freedom and this to me is a tremendous abuse of freedom," Ginsberg added.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
