I hope you felt the excitement in my two posts yesterday and post earlier today about flying with my family in SWISS First Class. I was truly ecstatic.
So you can imagine how I felt when One Mile at a Time reported that SWISS (or Aeroplan) were cancelling these tickets. I was also incredulous.
Unfortunately, my ticket has been cancelled.
Three words: that is illegal.
This was NOT a mistake fare. 70K points for a one-way first class is the standard, published price for flights between Western Europe and the USA. That was paid and the miles were deducted from my account. My credit card was charged for government taxes and fees. And the tickets were issued. I have ticket numbers and confirmed the reservation with SWISS.
Note something above. I am not threatening to sue SWISS. At least, not at this point.
My contract was with Aeroplan…the seller of the tickets. And if SWISS does not wish to honor the booking, Aeroplan must find another way to get my family home from Zurich to Los Angeles nonstop in first class…even if that means buying me revenue tickets.
An interesting data point. I called SWISS to see if they were the ones that canceled the reservation. They denied it, claiming that the cancellation notice came from Air Canada’s system (Galileo) and not from the SWISS system (Amadeus). This was verified by another poster on Ben’s blog.
Waiting Game
I’ve reached out to my contacts at Aeroplan, but for now am just going to wait. I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, but I’ll wait till Monday for the dust to settle.
But mark my words: my family will fly in SWISS First together to end our holiday trip to Germany. If Aeroplan and SWISS want to play games, they will regret it. They have no legal leg upon which to stand and any exculpatory clauses in their T&Cs will not stand in a court of law.
And if I am ultimately forced to litigate this matter, it will be in Los Angeles and I will share with you every moment of the play-by-play.
CONCLUSION
I hear that Aeroplan is offering to send points back to American Express. Don’t take them up on the offer if you want to fly in SWISS First. Instead, insist that Aeroplan honors its contract. That is what I am going to do.
Love,
Matthew
Bravo Matthew!
You should do just like you did with Ethiopian. Just appear in the airport and act like you did not know a thing lol
George, if he takes that solution this time, I would not think his wife would be quite so supportive, because she and her baby boy would have to watch the fiasco. Matthew will settle this one out of court, I suspect. 🙂
lol wtf do you think you are!? I hope they do cancel your tickets and moreover after your stunt with ET, you get banned from Aeroplan and well flying in general.
I like it when contracts I enter into are honored.
Big ego much? “Let’s sue everyone”.
Seriously, big deal.
Big deal? AC, remind me never to make a transaction with you. I won’t expect your end of it to be paid up. This is so illegal, I bet thousands of people are affected by it, Matthew could be looking at pay day if he seeks it. Rightfully so, too. Irrefutable, unless they can come up with a damn good reason, and “we’re broke” or “we announce it” is not one of them. They aren’t either. I can’t wait for the resolution.
Illegal? LOL
I feel *terrible* that you couldn’t fly on award ticket in first class, which wasn’t supposed to be available to book for the public anyways.
You really need some perspective in life on what is important.
You’re probably right, maybe I do need some perspective on life. Maybe, I should aim to be an advocate for proper ethical behavior. These people are not stupid, they definitely know that what they did was illegal, and that makes it so much more unethical I can’t even begin to tell you. It is stories like this that make me mad at rich, money-obsessed dopes that care more about personal satisfaction than about that of the community at large. Clearly, these people care more about themselves than about the community at large, and I think that you are right. We should all make sure we reevaluate ourselves and what is important to us, and if proper ethical and legal behavior is not right at the top, then we need to evaluate our lives and values and what really matters because something is flawed.
@Alan Brint
“It is stories like this that make me mad at rich, money-obsessed dopes that care more about personal satisfaction than about that of the community at large.”
It”s quite a stretch to turn this into a class warfare struggle when your “victim” is a well off professional seeking to fly in first class. Not much community outreach going on in the front cabin, comrade.
Your response shows just how distorted the lens you view the world through is. Surely a good SJW like yourself wouldn’t even dare travel by air anyway, since the carbon emissions are going to destroy the environment, kill polar bears, and flood some poor villager’s summer beach homes, or something like that, right?
Per FAA regulation, airlines have the right to cancel bug fare, where bug fare are defined as “obviously wrong price”. This is not a bug fare. To people who have no idea of the hidden rule that Swiss seldom offer First class redemption for other partners, this is a perfectly legit redemption.
There is never a written rule says that Swiss won’t offer First Class redemption through partner. NEVER!! So it was supposed to be available. Now nobody can legally control what airline want or not want to release to partner. But it is definitely not legal to cancel a ticket that was supposed to be redeemable.
“These people are not stupid, they definitely know that what they did was illegal, and that makes it so much more unethical I can’t even begin to tell you. ” @Alan: I don’t want to get into this fight but I was just curious to know more about what you just said. IF they (a corporation with many many lawyers) really know that what they did is illegal why do you think they did? You said they are NOT stupid but if they really know what they did is illegal (as you said it is) then I would say they are indeed stupid. Look, they may come back and issue the tickets back but I am trying to understand why if really illegal would they do it? To get bad press? To have to fight on court with passengers affected? Thus, if you are correct that this is illegal, they are stupid. Will wait and see.
I tend to think Alan is right: this is illegal under general principles of contract law, but they think they can get away with it…perhaps even with the blessing of the U.S. DOT.
@Santastico, there is a huge difference between cowardice and stupidity. Stupidity is when someone does something that is not good for themselves, or shows a genuine lack in intellect by a decision or an action that they make. Cowardice is when someone does something that they know is wrong, but they do it anyway. I am almost 100% positive that Aeroplan and Swiss knew exactly what they were doing when they made these decisions. They simply felt like they could get away with it. That is not stupidity at all, it is pure intellect used the wrong way. I’d call the decision cowardly, not stupid. I hope this makes sense. Good day to you.
+1 to this.
If AP reads this, please ban the author and cancel all his AP accounts.
More power to you!
If it does turn into something, I imagine the T&C’s will eventually be even more unfriendly to consumers to protect themselves.
I admire your tenacity Matthew and of course you are on the right side legally. The question becomes, have you ever gotten into a legal squabble with a company that has deep pockets and a floor of in-house attorneys? Maybe Aeroplan isn’t that big but to be sure Swiss is, if not 2 floors of attorneys and they’ll certainly get dragged into this. Once the attorneys start pushing paper, buying 2 first class tickets on Swiss is a minor deposit on this lawsuit, sorry to say. But, good luck! I’m cheering for you.
I have prevailed legally against SWISS and Air Canada in previous cases. I want to resolve this quickly and amicably, but this won’t be my fist time fighting an airline….
Like I said, wishing you the best of luck!
Could I ask about what you’ve fought against them legally in the past? Was there a blog post?
No blog post.
Class action suit?
Perhaps
THIS.
Earlier this year I was booked in Swiss J from ZRH-LAX-SFO – through Aeroplan. Was super surprised to see availability well in advance in Swiss business class.
Then inexplicably about 2 months before the flight I was rebooked on a flight through Copehagen on a much inferior SAS flight with an extra connection. I called and held my ground. The alternative was not acceptable – I wanted to fly Swiss and I did not want an extra connection in Europe. The supervisor ended up purchasing me a revenue J ticket from ZRH-SFO. Hold your ground.
Excellent data point. Thanks for sharing.
Wishing you luck!!!!
Good! This is so black and white I can’t see how they wouldn’t honor it. Tickets were redeemed at the published rate and ticketed all the way through. They can’t simply take them back afterwards. I’ll join in the lawsuit!
A wrinkle in the story is that these tickets were also bookable on United for 110k mils and Miles and More for 85k miles. Can’t just be an Aeroplan screw up.
Exactly. And they appeared under ANA as well.
Couple observations on your argument here:
1. I’m not so sure that the fact that this is an award ticket helps your case. The fact that this is a mistake fare (and you unequivocally stated so), is only a detriment to your position, as DOT protections would not apply.
2. I wouldn’t say the T&Sc are exactly silent. Paragraph 9 in the General Terms and Conditions reads: “Aeroplan assumes no liability with respect to rewards claimed, and in particular, shall have no responsibility for the delay or failure to deliver rewards or for their cancellation, damage or defects. You agree that Aeroplan and any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or representatives are not responsible for, and you release us and them from any and all liability arising as a result of, any accident, loss, injury or damage caused by any rewards supplied or requested in connection with the Aeroplan Program.”
Paragraph 10 reads: “Aeroplan or its partners may refuse reward redemptions, reverse reward redemptions already claimed, or deduct miles from a member’s account where the redemption is based on an error in the mileage required for the redemption or an error in the amount of miles credited to an account, whether that error occurred through an act or omission of Aeroplan or one of its partners or suppliers. Each Aeroplan Member consents to the disclosure of the account information that is necessary or useful to achieve the reversal.”
I’m not rooting against you or trying to rain on your parade, but just wanted to share my thoughts. Hope you are able to get the tickets reinstanted.
Who ever said that this was a mistake fare? This was not a mistake fare, under any definition of the term.
What is your response to point 2?
Apologies, i misspoke, this is not a mistake fare, as everyone has said. My point still stands.
And under the general principles of contract law, you have effectively given Aeroplan a contract defense of unilateral mistake. Your bookings are clearly not made in good faith, as you and all the other bloggers have more or less admitted that is is a mistake in SWISS and/or Aeroplans part (and I believe Aeroplans award chart says SWISS F is not available). Under that principle it seems Aeroplan would be free to cancel your tickets. Without this being a mistake fare, you have less protections.
Anyway, wondering how you’d respond to the actual Terms and Conditions that you said don’t exist or are silent.
I am so turned on right now <3
Same boat, would love to join your suit. Can you contact me
You are an idiot. You knew this was a mistake ‘fare’. You knew you weren’t supposed to have access to this and it was because of a computer glitch not because of a change of policy or LX feeling generous. You knew there was a fair chance these tickets would be cancelled.
Suck it up. You win some you lose some. If LX bill AC they are not going to give you a 10k fare for 70k points. They will fight you until the death.
Exactly. This guy is exactly why people think lawyers are southerners.
He didn’t even lose anything ( it’s not like he made a non refundable hotel reservation and lost money)
He is just upset he isn’t flying in first class
I lost my ticket and in losing it, my nonstop flight home for my wife, son, and me in the comfort of first class. That’s something.
I guess now you will have to suffer in Lufthansa F or god forbid Swiss J. Really. I feel terrible.
Not planning on it.
No. You are wrong that I imagined there was a “fair chance” of these tickets not being honored.
This was not a mistake fare.
Totally agree with AC. The frequent flyer blogger community has gotten so addicted to traveling in first class for free that they’ve become entitled and demanding, like spoiled little children who are denied their candy. For God’s sake, slay your appetite for getting your butt wiped by flight attendants and feeling “faux special” flying first, and gain a little perspective. “Mark my words – my family and I WILL fly Swiss first.” Those “remarkable” words make you sound like a complete derp. Get a hold of yourself. You have 24 hours to back out of the contract that is an airline ticket; why shouldn’t they? I’m not particularly thrilled they cancelled ours either, but the best moments of my life are not spent in a plane.
Why do you repeat the flawed notion that using miles is flying “first class for free”?
70K miles at market price (2.5 cents each) is $1750…if want to go down that path.
Yesterday SWISS also had a fare sale..
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals/1880357-lx-first-2×1-cdg-dar-2-000-eur-jnb-2-600-eur-gru-2-600-eur-per-pax.html
or
http://youhavebeenupgraded.boardingarea.com/2017/12/ein-sehr-guter-swiss-first-sale-ab-paris-first-ab-1799-euro/#_ga=2.268677874.2015627369.1510128242-1791746808.1490124182
That turns out to be cheaper than the value of the mileage if you factor the distance of the trip.
Should SWISS cancel that too?
There is nothing free about paying 70K miles for a one-way first class ticket.
Lol replacing *d*ouche*bags with “southerners”? Really now
I didn’t touch your comment.
Depending on how you entered your comment, it’s entirely possible this was a (hilarous) autocorrect
If we had managed to book via LH M&M, I bet we wouldnt’ have been cancelled, as they would have happily taken our $1,200 taxes per person.
Will be interesting to see if M&M and United-issued tickets are cancelled.
I guess they get to keep the Y surcharge, but the others are pass through no?
There was a post on Ben’s thread that specifically calls out M&M cancelling F awards mistakingly ticketed to non-HON members.
Thank you Matthew. I have no stakes in this game (didn’t have time to book something when the deal was active), but I agree that it is a breach of contract and hope you can get your tickets reinstated or honored in some way.
We know that award inventory is limited in each cabin so coming across more than 2 F awards on a given flight would suggest a computer glitch. So there is a slight bit of chutzpah in your claim. Also shows the folly of having leg banks/financial institutions issue award miles since it essentially has perverted the whole original concept of FF programs and earning miles by flying and not spending and referrals.
I changed an in progress aeroplan ticketed return leg on Dec 5th to Swiss first, and it’s the third of 4 segments. Not sure what’s going to happen if this gets cancelled! Just logged in and it’s still there. This is going to be fun.
If they do end up letting these stand do you think they will put restrictions on changes? Or would they say “Whoops, when we were trying to change it we somehow lost space and now we can’t get it back”
I need to add a connector flight that is currently available on miles.
Omg I didn’t book this ticket but when compared to other reversals in the past this was at the published rates. If they finally decided to release the space that’s awesome but there is no mistake fare for allowing people to book published mile fares. That like stating delta one is not bookable at all for miles then poof award space shows up.
If they allow these to be pulled back where does it stop? Can you just have any award ticket pulled at any time? Say they have a route that you booked far in advance then yields turn out to be much better than they thought for that route. POOF, we can get $8k for this ticket lets re-route them! They won’t fight us.
I’ve read all of these comments…I have to laugh at all the sanctimonious folks who replied that Matt should have known better…and that bloggers have ruined the world. I think Matt’s expectation that the contract be honored is completely reasonable. What the blaters (blog haters) fail to recognize is that miles are currency. They are not “free” tickets, they are tickets paid for with miles. There is no difference to me other than I don’t earn miles on award flights. This is not the same as a mistake fare because these were being sold at the standard advertised F price. If he paid the economy price for a F seat I would support moving him to Y. But in this case that’s not what happened.
Matthew,
Unfortunately I don’t think your fixed-price argument holds. The award chart does say F to Europe is 70k points, but it also says: “SWISS First Class is not available for reward travel.” Right under the award chart. So 70k points is NOT a published fare for Swiss F and they have grounds to claim it was a mistake fare. Even more than if it was a cash fare, since you should know that Swiss F is not supposed to be bookable with points.
Good luck!
I don’t think Aeroplan can argue “SWISS First Class is not available for reward travel” when it 1.) offered it over the phone and online 2.) confirmed it 3.) ticketed it and 4.) charged my credit card for the taxes.
Expedia offers mistake fairs over the phone and online, confirms it, tickets it, and charges your card, but they can still cancel the ticket if it was a mistake. I don’t think you can argue this wasn’t a mistake, since Aeroplan clearly states you can’t book Swiss F. It would be like if they charged half the points by accident.
Again, this wasn’t a mistake. Mistake fares traditionally refer to pricing, not product offered. Aeroplan doesn’t choose to not offer SWISS. Rather, SWISS chooses not to offer Aeroplan the space. Yesterday they did.
So I see your argument is AP stated the product cannot be offered but they offered it online or over phone (did you book it over the phone? that seems to matter to me a lot in the argument because it is not a technical glitch or error if AP offered it over phone and an agent charged confirmed the ticket), thus it should be honored. It would be interesting to see how judges decide. I am not a lawyer so it’s interesting to me at least. Keep us posted.
Say “litigate” again, only slower. And deeper. And arch your back
Be gentle to Matthew. He is special and deserves this. Read his bio. First Class is his calling.
This is fascinating! I will be following along. Did you purchase your sons lap infant ticket too? If so how much was that?
100CAD…a great perk to buying award tickets with Aeroplan.
Bravo Matthew, I agree completely. This was ticketed at the published price. There was no steep discounting and its not an “error” fare. This is a fair market priced PURCHASE — emphasis on purchase as miles do equate to money for all those who don’t know better. The banks can justify offering up points and miles to customers because of the BILLIONS in interchange fees they collect from merchants. And the banks are able to collect his fee because of what you pay as a customer. Let’s not be naive.
Second, this is an error with Swiss’s loyalty control which they translate into a capacity control rule. Swiss elite member miles pay the same as we would on Aeroplan or through partners, or certainly the airlines calibrate it that way. Does their elite status somehow make their points equate more in terms of financial value?
I would find the airlines hard pressed to make an argument for why they are reneging on their contract of carriage. “You paid the same price as everyone else yet you’re not an elite member so we refuse you service.” This argument is not going to bode well as a legal argument. This is Jim Crow-era stuff right there.
(Ok, that might be a tad too far but…whatever, I’m amused)
Let me into that lawsuit. There definitely would be enough people for a “class”.
I am with you man! I didnt get on the booking cause I couldnt find the flights on the dates I needed but I agree with you. Please sue them if you dont get the tickets or make them pay for a revenue ticket.
Its their fault not yours, just because they made a mistake you dont need to pay for it.
And for everyone else saying “why are you whinning for a free ticker” eh no, its not free. Thats the advertized correct amount of miles needed for first class redemption.
Fight the good fight! Pass the popcorn . . .
Matthew, I think all of your prior postings about rushing to make a booking, the window closing, Aeroplan “allowing” such bookings will probably used against you and support the argument that there was a unilateral mistake, if not a failure of the minds to meet (for example, leaving a door unlocked is not an invitation to enter), thus preventing the formation of a contract. I hope you win, but just wanted to give you a little bit of grounds for concern.
I’m in the same boat, with the added wrinkle that my outbound in Swiss F remains valid on Swiss.com, but the return (on a separate ticket) has been cancelled. I am also more than willing to fight in court to get this contract honored. Very eager to hear what Aeroplan and/or Swiss say when they finally get around to communicating to us.
Good luck! Will be following this. You should sue. I live in Montreal (Aimia / Aeroplan / AC HQs) if I can help in any way 😛
Hi Matt:
Send me an email. I have information to share with that is relevant to your situation. And seriously, stop posting about this immediately, if you are even remotely contemplating a lawsuit.
It’s his right to pursue the legal avenue but it’s also anyone’s right to question the value and productivity of it.
I’d hope our courts limited resources are used on cases where substantial harm is done – like a breach of contract with no refund of the money paid for the good or service
In this case the money paid is fully refunded promptly even though the travel contract wasn’t honored.
I know that doesn’t change the honoring of the ticket / validity but let’s be clear they aren’t refusing to return the money used to start the contract. And your holiday plans were in place before this ticket.
I hope it doesn’t come to court…I am simply drawing a line the sand. My reservation is still intact at Aeroplan, no one has contacted me, and I hope this can be resolved amicably. But I am not going to rollover and simply accept being told it is my problem Aeroplan and SWISS cannot communicate correctly.
This is fair but writing a public headline of “I will sue you” before they’ve had a chance to respond to your personal inquiry is an extreme response vs rolling over. There’s a middle ground.
If they came back and said no way after review, and there’s no viable course, then hinting at legal action feels less extreme.
It is always my hope to resolve this amicably.
+1 Matthew just ends up looking super entitled with the threats to sue, particularly at this point. One irony is that I was completely on his side before he chose this avenue before trying a more moderate path. This actually makes lawyers look bad, which is no small feat. Now Matthew just exemplifies the over entitled. This doesn’t help anyone.
I pray that it ends well, my friend.
It looks like the airline could use this site to hire the staff necessary to call all the people with confirmed Swiss F.
I can’t believe the number of people who don’t understand the elements of a contract.
On the other hand , Matthew, what is your thought on the effect of Northwest v Ginsburg here?
I don’t think Northwest v. Ginsburg will apply here, but I’ll flesh out more legal discussion next week.
Sue them Matthew!!! I relish all lawsuits against the scum working at airlines that are constantly playing games with FFs.
I’m totally with you bro, even I wasn’t able to upgrade my I to O in time.
This is awesome!, good luck and can’t wait to see how it goes forward 🙂
Matthew, you have the law on your side.
Because Aeroplan HQ is in Quebec they are governed by civil law.
They cannot unilaterally cancel the “contract”
11.1. Any stipulation that obliges the consumer to refer a dispute to arbitration, that restricts the consumer’s right to go before a court, in particular by prohibiting the consumer from bringing a class action, or that deprives the consumer of the right to be a member of a group bringing a class action is prohibited.
If a dispute arises after a contract has been entered into, the consumer may then agree to refer the dispute to arbitration.
2006, c. 56, s. 2.
11.2. Any stipulation under which a merchant may amend a contract unilaterally is prohibited unless the stipulation also
(a) specifies the elements of the contract that may be amended unilaterally;
(b) provides that the merchant must send to the consumer, at least 30 days before the amendment comes into force, a written notice drawn up clearly and legibly, setting out exclusively the new clause, or the amended clause and the clause as it read formerly, the date of the coming into force of the amendment and the rights of the consumer set forth in subparagraph c; and
(c) provides that the consumer may refuse the amendment and rescind or, in the case of a contract involving sequential performance, cancel the contract without cost, penalty or cancellation indemnity by sending the merchant a notice to that effect no later than 30 days after the amendment comes into force, if the amendment entails an increase in the consumer’s obligations or a reduction in the merchant’s obligations.
However, except in the case of an indeterminate-term service contract, such a stipulation is prohibited if it applies to an essential element of the contract, particularly the nature of the goods or services that are the object of the contract, the price of the goods or services or, if applicable, the term of the contract.
Any amendment of a contract in contravention of this section cannot be invoked against the consumer.
This section does not apply to the amendment of a contract extending variable credit as provided for in section 129.
2009, c. 51, s. 2; I.N. 2016-12-01.
11.3. Any stipulation under which the merchant may unilaterally cancel a fixed-term service contract involving sequential performance is prohibited, except under articles 1604 and 2126 of the Civil Code and, in the latter case, only in accordance with article 2129 of the Code.
Yes, but that would require him to file his claim in a Quebec court. That probably means hiring a Quebec lawyer, travelling to Quebec, and potentially being liable for court costs if he loses.
You clearly knew that it is an error before booking it.
Easy case.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
So far they have cancelled my wife’s first class ticket and left my business class intact. We cancelled an AA award that is no longer available and booked connecting flights because of this. Please feel free to contact me as I will be more than happy to hire counsel and if possible (I’m certain there will be enough participants) file a class action lawsuit against them if they do not reinstate the ticket or tickets
Same happened to me Marc, first cancelled, business intact. Cancelled an AA award, moved miles from AmEx and booked this. Too much to unwind on my end.
Is Matthew really serious here? If so, he’d buy two first class tickets for $20K from SWISS, fly on the tickets, and then litigate at Stanley Mosk.
Which crap law school did you graduate from? Your previous posts show how shocked you were that the award space was available. You demonstrated ample knowledge that this could be an erroneously issued ticket.
I hope LX stands their ground and enters this post into evidence. Seriously deranged and entitled thinking. But they’ll probably just issue you a ticket because it’s cheaper than getting the attorneys involved.
You confuse surprise and mistake. Don’t make that mistake.
Good luck threading that needle. How many posts can I find in this blog where you talk about mistake fares? You’re asking us to believe you’ve gone naive on this issue.
And I love all the self appointed lawyers citing UCC (and whatever) with about the same precision I’d expect from my 10 year old niece.
Your only hope here is that aeroplan doesn’t take you up on your gracious offer.
You’re coming off horribly here.
Have your Aeroplan miles been refunded?
Thanks for sharing your story! Please keep us up-to-date! It seems my ticket still seems to be in place.
Miles have not been refunded. Reservation still untouched at Aeroplan.
This is laughable. You got the tickets by mistake and now think you’re going to sue your way into them? Give me a break.
you clearly have no basic understanding of contract law and argue with emotions.
Maybe you are jealous that you did not get in on this special offer?
I agree with Greg – writing a blog post with “I will sue you” in the title is just extreme.
Let’s hope Augustine will read this blog one day to be ashamed of her father.
His
After reading your blog post, I really hope that you buy your F tickets, sue and lose.
As SWISS own programm Miles&More showed bookable availabilty in First, it cannot be a glitch with *A-Partners alone.
Would be interesting if anyone who booked through Miles&More is affected by canceled tickets?
Holy cow, you are the biggest tool of all the Boarding Area bloggers – even more so than that fat sack of turd Leff.
You knew this was an “error” (I won’t use the word “mistake”, since you love to say that “mistake” is in relation to fares) – SWISS F is not available, it says that right on the chart. You know this, they know this, go ahead and sue like the petulant child you are. I will enjoy watching you flush money down the toilet.
The problem with this, that so long as they gave you your miles back and/or any costs incurred in reliance on the ticket, I don’t really see what your legal argument is to justify forcing them to honor the ticket. Unless the contract explicitly requires them to provide you with specific performance damages (i.e. them having to honor your ticket), they could argue that your damages are limited to the miles/fees/other non-refundable reliance costs you incurred in purchasing the ticket and have no further legal liability in regards to you.
Also, given that its clearly Swiss’s error in letting these tickets be made available for Star Alliance partner bookings, you would be wise to include them on the lawsuit as well.
I’m with you on this one Mathew. Best of luck in getting this resolved amicably.
I am in the same boat. My GVA->JFK flight isn’t scheduled until June, does anyone here have an earlier itinerary? I havent heard a word from Aeroplan or Swiss at this point but I’d love any advice on what the best way to ensure our tickets are valid.
I’m a lawyer and while I don’t do contract law or litigation I do understand how it works. The time and effort and of course money that would go into any lawsuit strikes me as far less as what you’d recover if you even won. Part of the analytics of any claim is whether it’ll be worth the expense. While you may have the law on your side, that doesn’t mean it’ll be worth what you recover. And this hardly seems like a situation where suing for the principle is worth it. At least not in my legal opinion.
(I won’t even charge you for that 😉 )
Yawn. Another self indulgent……wait a minute, haven’t we seen this episode before with Ethiopian? Yawn.
Yawn.
Just an opinion and not looking for any discussion. Anyone who follows this blog knows how Matthew is meticulous in his research for deals, discounts, and availability of award tickets. Sometimes I do not agree with some of his comments but it cannot be denied that this ain’t his first rodeo and he would not have pursued it as intensely as he has if he didn’t have his ducks lined up. Go for it Matt!
If it was cancelled by Aeroplan rather than SWISS, why has my mid-december booking disappeared in the swiss app but is still alive on aeroplan? Haven’t gotten any information from aeroplan yet.
Furthermore I don’t think it was clear upfront that this is a mistake. It was also available on Miles&More online and how should one know that this was unintentionally? I had a confirmed LH F booking the next day which I cancelled after getting LX F ticketed. And now availability is gone.
I gonna ring up SEN hotline to see, what they will do or offer. Ironically, I had exact the same flight – which has now been cancelled by whoever – booked on LX using M&M miles as SEN. I cancelled that one couple of months ago because of travel plan changes and booked myself into said LH F. Bad move….
So Monday came and passed… Curious what aeroplan has been telling you guys? They told me that the message they got was that can only rebook us in J. I made it very clear that it was unacceptable and i expect to be accommodated in F from ZRH to ORD. I would file claim with the DOT, however my flight is /was in 3 weeks from now. I don’t expect them to get back to me and any other calls i made have resulted in the same answer. Anyone hear anything different from?
No updates yet. Hoping for one today since the reservations have now been deleted from Aeroplan.
My flight was in two weeks time, after calling LX to find out, why the booking has disappeared on LX but was still alive on AP they said I have to deal with AP,
AP on the first look said to me, everything appears to be fine but once she tried to pull up the booking she couldn’t. She then had to talk to supervisor and got back telling me they cannot sell LX F.
And without any further discussion she quickly cancelled it.
Since you don’t mind showing up at airports without a valid ticket at hand, you could just show up for the flight. Once you’re denied boarding you can invoke EU-261 on the grounds of involuntary bump, and than you have only the operating carrier to deal with. This way, while Swiss has would have to pay you around 800EUR for each passenger, they will also have the choice of either getting you on another flight in first class, flying you in a lower class + refunding 70% of the ticket cost, or face non-punitive damages when it goes to court.