In the interest of transparency, I’m keeping you updated on what/how I communicate with Aeroplan concerning the SWISS First Class award controversy. Having been thus far unable to resolve this in a manner that suits me, I just mailed Aeroplan a formal demand letter.
A demand letter is a letter stating a legal claim which makes a demand for restitution or performance of some obligation, owing to the recipients’ alleged breach of contract.
I was originally going to publish the full letter, but have opted to hold off for a number of strategic reasons, primarily because I don’t want others copying and pasting my letter. If you’re serious about holding Aeroplan accountable, I recommend a letter of your own that calls upon Aeroplan to honor its contractual obligations.
Here are a few excerpts from my letter:
This letter formally objects to Aeroplan’s expressed intention to unilaterally cancel or materially alter the contract it formed with me in connection with the two tickets referenced above. While I am prepared to initiate legal proceedings if necessary, it is my sincere hope that we can informally resolve this dispute.
…
Aeroplan’s proposed alternatives do not provide for a comparable experience, and I reject the proposition that Aeroplan can simply walk away from its contractual obligations by merely refunding my miles and taxes.
…
Lastly, it is not just me who has been harmed by your unilateral action. Hundreds of others SWISS first class tickets were similarly cancelled or modified by Aeroplan. Consequently, if we are unable to reach an agreement, I reserve the right to pursue remedies on a group, or class-wide, basis.
I plan to publish the entire letter one day, if for no other reason than to carefully document how this issue was resolved. I also wish to thank Mitch, a blog reader, attorney, and points aficionado, for helping me form this note.
Once again, Aeroplan has the chance to do the right thing and honor its contract. I hope it will before it is too late…
The selfishness of this blogger is unbelievable. He isn’t interested in helping others, it’s just about him. “If MY ticket isn’t honored, I will sue you.” Couldn’t give two dimes about others, except to use them as a possible threat to further his own little interest. So we’re fed up with your constant whining and using your blog for your personal enrichment. I hope Aeroplan doesn’t give in to his extortion.
Yet you keep reading. Also, is it selfish to ask that corporations honor commitments made pursuant to the current advertised terms (i.e. 70,000 miles for available partner First Class award tickets)? Finally, in threatening a class action, Matthew is (unlike many class representative attorneys) actually trying to get Aeroplan to honor the commitments it made. This was not a scrivener’s error in drafting a contract (like a mistake fare). I’m confident Aeroplan will change it’s terms and conditions when this is all resolved to state Swiss First Class is not redeemable unless notice is given to Aeroplan that Swiss intends to open it up. Swiss won’t do that now because altering the terms and conditions at this stage would be a tacit acknowledgement that the t&c’s in effect at the time of booking allowed Swiss First bookings should they become available.
John, can you please go away and be happy being miserable somewhere else?
John, you’re kidding right? If he wanted to take legal action against Aeroplan for the heck of it, he would have done that two weeks ago. Come on, this has been going on for far too long for a comment like that.
1. This blog is for his enrichment, just as anyone’s job is… or do you use your time at work to further humanitarian causes at your own expense?
2. Can you not read? Or do you not know what class-action is? Or could it be that you’re biased and don’t see reality?
3. When you have an individual problem, do you go out and find everyone else that might have it also? Hmm, nope.
4. “We” are not fed up with anything, or are you trying to speak for a group that you don’t have the support of?
5. Hoping they don’t give in is like hoping the legal system is usurped just for your dislike of one person, nice ethics you’ve got.
You’re uhhh not smart.
OMG get on with it and move on with your life.
You win some, you lose some.
Forget these jealous losers. Keep up the good fight. The law is on your side!
I called Aeroplan and they were able to release award space in business-class on the flight I had booked in first, and put me there (with the cost-differences being refunded). I understand that the law is on our side, but I consider business class (with refunds, and the same schedule/carrier/routing) to be an amicable solution.
Matt, I am totally against this. While I haven’t reviewed Aeroplan terms and conditions, I highly doubt you will prevail on this issue. Even putting aside the highly probably contractual and procedural issues with suing Aeroplan, you subjectively knew that the Swiss ticket was likely a mistake as it was against Aeroplan’s established policy. You failed to notify Aeroplan of your subjective understanding of the mistake and instead are trying to hold them “accountable” when you likely had knowledge of the mistake. I highly doubt that a court would provide monetary or injunctive relief in this case.
While you may have went to law school — mistakes in contracts are basic and to me it looks like this was a mistake making the contract rescindable.
A, let me point out a few things about Matt’s case. For one, its not a mistake in the fare. Maybe it was a mistake that those spaces were available, but thats not the same as a mistake fare in the court of law. Second of all, do you honestly, seriously think that Matthew would have put his name on a lawsuit, a demand letter, or anything at all, without seriously thinking about it first? He’s willing to accept the contractual and procedural issues that go with the lawsuit. He does not do these lawsuits for himself, if he did he would not waist his time on the blogs to discuss it. Matthew will prevail, I’m not concerned about it. He’s not looking for money or restitution here, it doesn’t seem like it at least, he simply wants the airline to honor these tickets.
@Alan – a mistake in contract is any material aspect of the contract. It doesn’t have to be strictly “price” to be a mistake. The mistake can be quantity, quality, etc.
I am confident that Matthew will not prevail in this (in litigation) and if he does file suit, I would urge opposing counsel to file an ethics complaint if he is barred after conclusion of the matter.
The Aeroplan award chart is crystal clear that members can’t redeem for LX F. So it’s an obvious mistake. There is no “correct price” for LX F meaning the redemptions were erroneous. And as someone who holds himself out as an expert on award bookings, this blogger knew full well that this was a mistake.
Pursuing things like this will ultimately only make things worse for the rest of us in the long run.
Wrong. “Available” ≠ “Permitted”. But you’re welcome to keep spreading confusion and error.
Matt,
I want to thank you for doing this. Most of us are probably too intimidated to fight against these corporate tyrants and some others probably has Stockholm Syndrome over it. It is not right for SWISS and Aeroplan for doing it. SWISS clearly made a mistake and they should own up to their mistake. At the minimum they should offer some kind of compensation, but instead they just just wiped their hands and pretended they didn’t do anything wrong. I applaud you for this fight.
I support you. There are couple of items with suing a corporation, every time someone sues or threatens to sue, companies tent to prefer to settle this out of the court. They will offer non-disclosure agreement if you agree to settle.
Let’s see if this is same case here. If you are doing it only for yourself, the moment airline wants to deal with this in “Private” we will not hear what happened. If you are doing it for readers, you will keep us updated until final resolution is reached, whatever it might be.
It will be hilarious if Matt filed suit in California and Aeroplan moved to dismiss it because the terms and conditions of Aeroplan say Ontario is the proper forum. Consider the irony of a company relying on its terms and conditions to move/dismiss a lawsuit premises entirely on that company’s violation of a contract issued in accordance with the express terms and conditions of that company. I could see a U.S. District Court denying the motion and allowing the suit to move forward, at least until initial discovery takes place.
Aeroplan has office in the USA:
Minneapolis
100 North Sixth Street, Suite 650C
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone: 763.445.3500
Newark
1501 Casho Mill Rd. #14
Newark, DE 19711
IV, you are brilliant!
haaaa as if forum selection clauses for foreign companies are respected by US courts… we love to gain jurisdiction over foreigners we probably shouldn’t have
i love this
Not a regular reader of this blog. I discovered it during this Aeroplan fiasco. The takeaway seems to be that Matt is the king of walkbacks. Not going to spend time digging up other examples, but how many times in this saga has he said he will do X, and then take it back?
“I will publish that letter, with personal details redacted, on this blog.”
As Commenter #1 (John) pointed out, this blog reads very selfish (and whiny).
I’m all for fighting for your due, but the sensationalization/clickbaityness is a little much. Especially when you lack follow-through.
Matthew, I will be taking Aeroplan to small claims court for the outbound that I’m now in J. I am waiting to see if LH F opens up on my return. Aeroplan has promised to make the change without any additional costs/fees. If LH F doesn’t open up then I’ll be claiming the return portion in my filing as-well.
That’s exactly what I would do. I’d find a “good ol'” court/judge that would love for a simple small town American to prevail over a foreign corporation trying to escape accountability.
Did this same thing against AA and got default judgment with very little work.
YOU’RE A F* CRYING BABY! GET OVER YOURSELF. STOP BEING “ME ME ME ME’ POOR ME!!! It was an honest mistake and no-one should honor mistake fares. GET OVER IT. SHUT UP AND MOVE ON INSTEAD OF ACTING LIKE A 5 YR CHILD.
I think it is obvious who is acting like a child….
Except it wasn’t a mistake fare. Some of you keep missing that fact. Airlines are banking on the fact that when they screw up, that customers will just accept that it was an error and walk away. If folks like Matthew don’t fight them on it, they’ll keep doing it and expect that they can just walk all over their customers as they see fit.
Mistake – that it was. Everyone is focusing on “price” as the lone sign of a mistake in contract. A mistake in contract includes any “material” aspect of the contract. In this case, the material fact is first class space on Swiss – not something that they typically release.
And in fact, it’s more than just space that isn’t typically released, it’s a type of space that the Aeroplan award chart specifically states is not available for redemption!
“Not something that they typically release” does not necessarily mean it is a mistake when released or never released.
Air New Zealand went more than three years without releasing a single premium cabin award seat, then suddenly began releasing gluts of award space.
SWISS released first class space last year and honored it…on Aeroplan.
Your contention that I focus on price only is a non-sequitur.
No it isn’t. ANZ didn’t release space because they were stingy with premium cabin awards seats, not because they didn’t explicitly state that premium cabin awards seats weren’t available like Aeroplan did with Swiss F on an award chart that was their only official policy on the matter the day you bought your ticket, its not like there was any indication beyond the sudden availability that would make you think the policy had changed.
Also, the fact that Swiss honored the seats the last time awards seats were mistakenly released on their part still shouldn’t create the expectation in your mind that they would do it again. And even if it did, it still doesn’t make sense to me why you are demanding Aeroplan should be on the hook here. As you even admit, the last time this happened, Swiss was the one that ultimately decided to honor the tickets. How is Aeroplan on the hook for the fact that Swiss didn’t honor the tickets? Aeroplan’s inability to force Swiss to honor your ticket is the textbook situation where monetary damages are called for instead of specific performance.
This is an assumption on your part concerning both Air New Zealand and SWISS. I’ve never seen an official document from LX stating no partner first class space and the caveat on the Aeroplan award chart is not at all compelling.
I don’t understand why you are so quick to let Aeroplan off the hook or how there is even privity of contract with SWISS. Aeroplan issued me the ticket and waited two weeks to contact me. They should be on the hook and their contact of adhesion will not stand. They should be the one to go after SWISS, not me. SWISS is the carrier that released first class space into StarNet.
While I think this is a waste of time and kind of petty, I 100% support Matthew in this process. The reason being is airlines and airline programs really have no one policing them so they can do as they wish outside of a public relations standpoint.
While I don’t think you will win on this because as others have stated you knew this was a mistake, I think it is important to push back to these programs to remind them that their policies can be policed by their customers.
So…. no airport check-in persistence?
Go there by yourself and claim that right now it is only you and not 3 passengers any longer. They ought to let you board. If not tell them to at least be Switzerland in this matter lol
@John: You said: “So we’re fed up with your constant whining and using your blog for your personal enrichment”
Oddly, i don’t recall anyone appointing you to speak for “us.”
@Matthew: Did you notice them through the registered agent in California? Through other means also?
I’m sure I can write a decent letter without help, but am curious as to where you sent notice.
Seriously, good luck! Given the amount of money that Swiss spent on lawyers to fight back my CTA claim for the YGN First Class drama, it is going to be a tough road. And my ticket was ‘cancelled’ mid-trip!
Matt, lesson one for writing demand letters — don’t use adjectives unless absolutely necessary. Not trying to be insulting, but the letter reads like it was written by a law student. Adjective addiction and passive voice are the two cardinal sins.
Lots of problems with the sections of the letter that are quoted, starting with the fact that if, indeed, it’s the letter itself that objects to the ticket cancellation, the problem can easily be solved by transporting the letter to and from Switzerland in first class. Also, is Aeroplan “you” or “it”. And if “it”, to whom is the letter addressed?
Not withstanding those flaws and assuming that the harm alluded to in the last quoted paragraph is actually substantiated in an unquoted section then it’s reasonably persuasive in its arguments, at least to this layman.
@Geo King: The section you refer to was written by a California-licenced attorney (not me). But I’m very comfortable with the tone and style of my letter.
@LarryInNYC: This is three excerpted paragraphs from a three page letter. I’m confident the full letter clearly and unequivocally articulates my cause of action.
Swiss’s response to the DOT is an error fare, noting the statement on the Aeroplan reward chart that “Swiss first class is not available for reward travel” and providing a copy of their CoC noting erroneous fares.
They will indeed try that, but I doubt it will work.
That is exactly their official DOT response
I would demand SWISS reveal (discovery request) if they have ever release award space in the past five year and under what circumstances. I would also look to other readers that may have flown on such award space in the past. We know that Ben Schlappig did this in 2016, so it is not an accurate statement by SWISS that “Swiss first class is not available for reward travel” since it was and has been in previous circumstances. Once that door has been opened, then they can not longer stand on that claim of “NEVER, EVER” as it is proven as a false statement.
I still don’t understand why you think Aeroplan is obligated to specific performance (aka providing you Swiss F tickets) instead of just having to find a mutually agreed upon alternative itinerary or refunding miles and any costs incurred as a result of their breach. Unless you negotiated for specific performance to be the form of damages in the case that Aeroplan breached their agreement (which obviously did not happen), you don’t really have any legal justification in demanding specific performance as damages. No one’s disagreeing with you that Aeroplan breached their contract by cancelling the ticket, but most courts would see refunding you or finding alternative routings that are agreeable to be perfectly reasonable damages for Aeroplan to pay.
Because only SWISS First offers what I need — 1.) nonstop flight 2.) first class service 3.) three checked bags each.
There is no other remedy.
Also, per Quebec Law (though there are pros and cons to choosing venue, as you know) specific performance is the legal (per code) mechanism to resolve contract disputes…not just damages.
Did you sue them in Quebec? Unless I’m wrong, it has a civil legal system instead of a common law one, which would pose problems for you if you are representing yourself.
Also, still Swiss being the only airline providing the service that you need still doesn’t change the fact that the remedy for breach of contract, especially in the case of mistake (which, they would justifiably argue happened, since I still refuse to believe that this whole thing wasn’t some error at Swiss unblocking first class redemptions for partners), can still just be restitution (for non-lawyers, putting Matthew back to the point he was before he entered into the contract). Contract law does not contain the concept of punishment for breach of contract, in fact, many law and economics theorists argue that the way contract law is designed, it essentially encourages parties to breach contracts when that is the most economically beneficial decision. As a result, courts are very reluctant to award specific performance when you can be made whole by reliance (damages for any costs incurred in reliance on the contract being honored, like non-refundable hotels or something, in this case)/restitution damages (essentially refunding any money they accepted from you) will make you whole. You only get specific performance in cases where you literally can’t be made whole simply by monetary damages.
You can argue that you won’t be made whole unless you are able to fly on Swiss F, but that’s not really going to get you very far, since Aeroplan is (probably rightfully) going to claim they made a mistake out of their control. More importantly, their lawyers will also highlight the fact that their awards chart noted that Swiss F tickets weren’t available and thus you shouldn’t have expected to be able to use your Aeroplan miles on Swiss F in the first place. Throw in the fact that their lawyers will almost definitely use this blog against you to show that you knew you shouldn’t have been able to book a Swiss F flight and the uphill battle to get specific performance damages baked into centuries of precedent in our courts gets even harder. You should know as a lawyer that your expectations factor into the court’s decision, and the fact that, at best, you were skeptical about these tickets being legit or, at least not being some kind of error, won’t help your case. At the end of the day, I simply don’t see how your case would justify the extraordinary remedy of specific performance when monetary damages will make you whole.
I don’t plan to sue in Quebec, but if I do I already have counsel willing to help.
@John: You said: “So we’re fed up with your constant whining and using your blog for your personal enrichment”
Oddly, i don’t recall anyone appointing you to speak for “us.”
@Matthew: Did you notice them the the registered agent in California? Through other means also?
I’m sure I can write a decent letter without help, but am curious as to where you sent notice.