The United States Supreme Court recently held that airlines are allowed to revoke the membership of those of their frequent flyers who complain “too much” about the airline’s services (see Northwest v. Ginsberg).  Contracts ProfBlog first wrote about the case on April 3.

In the case, Northwest Airlines claimed that it removed one of its Platinum Elite customers from the program because the customer had complained 24 times over a span of approximately half a year about such alleged problems as luggage arriving “late” at the carousel.  The company also stated that the customer had asked for and received compensation “over and above” the company guidelines such as almost $2,000 in travel vouchers, $500 in cash reimbursements, and additional miles.  According to the company, this was an “abuse” of the frequent flyer agreement, thus giving the company the sole discretion to exclude the customer.  The customer said that the real reason for his removal from the program was that the airline wanted to cut costs ahead of the then-upcoming merger with Delta Airlines.  He filed suit claiming breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in his contract with Northwest Airlines.

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Tags: frequent flyers, Northwest Airlines, United States Supreme Court