Sometimes, you have to put your money where your mouth is.
In what seems like so long ago, I promised:
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.
I’m following through on that promise.
In my demand letter to Aeroplan over my cancelled SWISS First Class award tickets, I provided a deadline to respond by December 29, 2017. Last Friday came and went and I heard nothing.
After weighing my options, I opted to purchase my tickets home from Zurich to Los Angeles in SWISS First Class, exactly as planned.
Spending thousands of dollars on three airline tickets is quite a gamble…this was a serious financial decision for my family that I did not take lightly.
But this will bolster my case against Aeroplan and actually tidy it up quite nicely: I will now be seeking precise compensatory damages instead of travel on SWISS on a nebulous future date.
Why SWISS First?
Why SWISS First? I’ve been over this before, but the reason I wanted this particular flight in this particular class of service for my family:
- Fly nonstop with my 14-month old son, Augustine.
- Enjoy plenty of room to spread out: a toddler does not sit still for 12 hours and the first class suite will give Augustine room to play in without disturbing others. Even a business class seat would not offer this amount of wiggle room.
- Three checked bags each. We are bringing a piece of antique furniture and all our favorite German products home to last us for several months. Business Class would only have afforded us two bags each and I don’t want unnecessary transfers with family heirlooms.
- No viable alternate. The proposed alternate solution was unacceptable: not just because Aeroplan’s business class seats are geared for solo travelers instead of families, but because the ~7 hour layover in Toronto followed by another 5-hour flight to Los Angeles was not at all practical.
- Personalized service. I contracted for the personalized service of a proper first class cabin. This is what I chose this flight for my family, transferred the points from American Express to Aeroplan, then completed my booking with Aeroplan.
The five reasons above are why I bought this particular flight. This is also why any proposed alternative simply will not work.
Aeroplan’s Obligation
But the bottom line is this: Aeroplan sold me a ticket in SWISS First Class. It debited my account 70,000 miles per ticket and charged my credit card for the government taxes. The reservation processed and ticket numbers generated. Seat assignments were reserved on SWISS’ website and the reservation held steady for more than 24 hours. For Aeroplan (or SWISS or Air Canada) to later determine the reservation was not valid is simply not acceptable. This was not a mistake fare: the price paid was not an error by any definition.
Now I plan to recoup the money I paid for my tickets home and hope that will not require a protracted court battle in order to achieve. If you’re reading this Aeroplan, please do not make this difficult.
CONCLUSION
Stay tuned for a full flight review of SWISS First Class from Zurich to Los Angeles. I’m confident this flight won’t be cancelled…
photo: SWISS
Did you book this as a o/w or make it a round trip? I’m seeing o/w fares at $14k? x3 is a giant gamble.
I did not pay $14K/ticket.
You keep declaring it was not a mistake fare, based on your on extremely narrow definition. However, we all knew from the beginning that it was obviously a mistake that it was available for booking using Aeroplan miles, so that seems like a mistake fare to me. You focus only on the word “fare” and not “mistake”. By your definition it seems that no award ticket could be a mistake fare.
If not for your extra page views, any sane person would have let it go a long time ago. But keep on with your self-victimization and undeserved sense of entitlement. I’d be willing to wager that you won’t ever see a dime from Aeroplan or Swiss. They won’t be as easy to publicly shame as an American airline that are overly concerned about bad press. You might however get blacklisted from them. Enjoy your trip, it might be your last on Swiss.
WR, appreciate your commentary, but please review my earlier posts — I deconstruct each of your arguments.
“Deconstruct” does not mean what I think you think it means.
Deconstruct means to expose hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subvert an argument’s (in this case) apparent significance or unity.
Yes, I do know what it means.
I also refuted his comments.
Good luck. If Aeroplan/Swiss are reading your blog then they’re going to take it as ‘fightin’ words’. You might get a reply from LX thanking you for your patronage. Some reading might assume that if you have hard cash to buy 3 x o/w LX F tickets then what’s the point other than to make a point. Enjoy the flight.
Wow!!!! Happy for you that you can spend that much money to fly Swiss first class with your family. I really hope I am wrong and you get your money back but this seems a bigger gamble than putting your money that the Cleveland Browns will win the Super Bowl next year. 🙂
You are truly insufferable. You do provide your readers with good information at times but your attitude is just too much. I am out.
You named your kid augustine？ FFS…
If i were them, I’d just refund your tickets and refuse to fly you on the basis that you may be a disturbance. Should have kept your plans quiet imo.
Love this. Love this. Love this.
This is great. With your law background hopefully all works out! I just don’t get why SWISS wouldn’t honor the award tickets. Honor whatever was sold in 24hrs and make sure not to have the same mistake again (even though they should be releasing O to partners)
Where are all the idiots who start crying every time someone mentions a toddler in first class? I was expecting like 10 comments by now
Matthew darling! This is wonderful and I am rootin’ and tootin’ for you!
I call BS on your $44k gamble with the ‘hope’ of getting reimbursed, but congrats on the successful click-bait. Too bad you’re driving away readers in droves.
I never said I spent $44K. And I can assure you this is not BS. I’m also confident my readers will understand why I am doing this and even if they disagree, respect my tenacity.
Mathew, I am really disappointed with your childish attitude. This behavior certainly will not help your career as travel consultant nor is what most people expect from a serious lawyer.
In life, to be a winner is not primarily about money but making the right choices.
I believe my attitude is not childish. I also believe that Aeroplan had and still has an ethical obligation to honor the ticket issued. I believe this act shows determination, resolve, and the strongest possible evidence that I believe in my case. This will help my career in every avenue. Finally, your last statement is precisely correct. I have a clear conscience despite this being an arguably poor financial choice and certainly the biggest finical gamble I have ever made. Why? Because I believe I made the right choice in this case. It wasn’t about money.
While I believe that Matthew is being stubborn about this (he’d say tenacious or something similar), I don’t find this to be childish. The thing is, it’s his money, his time, and his blog. There are things he writes about that I fervently disagree with, but I find enough quality to keep returning. As to what to expect from a serious lawyer, I’d imagine many people would take a lawyer less seriously rather than more if the lawyer did not sue when the lawyer felt wronged. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch the show. It should certainly be interesting.
I like it. But glad you taking the risk.
I still don’t understand how this happens. Or isn’t there an alert when tons of seats get taken up? They should automatically pull all space and reassess when this happens?! Suddenly hundreds of seats in first get taken?
You just blew a year of college education for 12 hrs on a plane. Way to go.
I had scholarships.
You sure gotch’ your bad self quite the ego, too!
That was arguably Matthew’s best comeback.
I think the original poster was more concerned with his child going to college. We can assume he used his foreign passport to get US college grants.
All the best! We are rooting for you.
This is the Pickett’s Charge of miles-battles. I *hope* it works out for you, but the risk/reward tradeoff is not justifiable.
All principles aside, I easily converted my Swiss First flight to Swiss Business (same flights, different cabins) after my tickets were cancelled, and it avoided all the issues you listed. I understand that Aeroplan proposed a genuinely unacceptable alternative to you, but sometimes you just need to “hang up, call again”.
Matthew, thank you for fighting the good fight! Aeroplan, Air Canada and SWISS need to be held accountable.
The good fight?! Ha! This is about driving clicks and hoping to get more publicity going forward (news articles, interviews, etc.) to further his business – not out of altruism for the “greater good”. It’s much like the manufactured controversy over the on-board photography that was blown out of proportion for the publicity.
There are some airline shenanigans worth fighting – this isn’t one of them. It was quite clear that this was an error and as a travel/miles expert he knew this was a mistake. The Aeroplan chart very clearly notes that LX F isn’t a redemption option. The Aeroplan T&Cs also provide wide latitude in canceling tickets due to errors. Making a huge deal out of fighting a bad case like this will only hurt the great community in the future, one way or another.
Feel better now?
Good luck!!! There’s nothing like all or nothing! Gives everyone an incentive to take your (forthcoming) complaint seriously!
Have you reached out to any reporters? LX deserves all the bad press they can get! I’m hope they spend more than $30k on lawyers!
Good Luck!!! Keep us updated, airlines need to have same rights that customers have, 24 Hr rule need to apply both ways.
“Now I plan to recoup the money I paid for my tickets home and hope that will not require a protracted court battle in order to achieve.”
THAT, I think, is going to be your real headache. The merits of your case notwithstanding, I fear the protracted court battle is exactly what you’re in for. Of course, I’ve been secretly wishing for some time that somebody would take the airlines to court over canceled fares, if for nothing else to set a precedent on what is and isn’t acceptable. Good luck…
I would think it will settle out of court, and he (Matthew) will agree to a non disclosure agreement and not write about it again. We will all forget about this.
Let the risky cross-border litigation begin. Good luck!
I expect them to quietly reach out to you with a settlement offer and NDA once you file. They really don’t want every other person with a LX ticket joining the suit.
That is what I believe will happen and we will see Matthew keep us updated all the way thru, or signs NDA and we will not know the end.
Airlines would like to settle those claims outside of courts.
So, how much DID you pay? EF Hutton wants to know.
You’re putting family heirlooms in checked bags? That might actually be a worse decision than tilting at the windmills of this LX erroneous redemption.
Not after DHL lost the last package and FedEX lost a shipment of paintings.
Don’t understand the negative posters but this is a big gamble.
Even if you win (hope you do), a long protracted case leaves you carrying a substantial float.
You’re a huge tool.
That is all.
Doesn’t it make more sense to sue Swiss over Aeroplan? Swiss are the ones who cancelled your ticket and they are the ones who currently hold your $$$. A judge will probably feel more comfortable ordering Swiss to reverse the changes than to order Aeroplan to pay for 3 revenue first class tickets out of pocket. If Swiss feels they are wrongly accused they can add Aeroplan or AC as another defendant (without you having to sort out which of the last two). Also, Swiss has an office in most destinations, unlike Aeroplan, giving you more choice as to where it’s best to file the lawsuit.
Speaking of which, where are you going to file the lawsuit? Canada? the US? Switzerland? I don’t know about Switzerland specifically, but in general the EU courts are much more consumer oriented than US courts.
Aeroplan sold me the ticket. I hope Aeroplan impleads SWISS, but my beef is currently with Aeroplan.
The same people who complain about airlines are the same ones giving you flak.
He put his money where his mouth is…something 100% of you wouldn’t do. Y’all need to put some respect on his name!
When you say three tickets, do you mean 2 seats and a lap child? Booked as a one way or round trip?
Augustine was an infant ticket, so three tickets but two seats.
I don’t understand why you bought the tickets. If there are actionable damages, they were incurred on the expectation measure of damages when there was failed performance. Under the common law, purchasing the tickets does nothing to bolster your claim.
The expectation damages are equivalent to the price I paid for the ticket; the *actual* damages I now seek because I was forced to go to open market to procure my tickets. I’m not looking to pocket profit from Aeroplan: I was looking to get my family home from Switzerland in a certain way, SWISS First Class, and set a precedent that mistake fares cannot be cancelled days after booking without notice.
That’s not how it works. You never needed to buy the ticket if you had a valid claim. The damages were incurred at the time of the breach, not when you bought the ticket. The purchasing of the ticket is meaningless.
I never argued the damage occurred when I bought the replacement ticket. Indeed, they occurred at the time of breach.
But how was I supposed to get home? Wasn’t I clear enough in my post that SWISS F was the only option? How else can we calculate the damages than the price I had to pay for my ticket home? I never intended to fly any other way home, so while I agree it was not necessary to prevail against Aeroplan, it was still a necessary step to get me from Zurich to Los Angeles.
“But how was I supposed to get home? Wasn’t I clear enough in my post that SWISS F was the only option?”
You do realize that in all contracts of carriage class of service isn’t an obtained “right”, Swiss/Aeroplan could (should) have just booked you in F and downgraded you at the airport.
Debating that LX F was your only option to get home won’t fly with a judge – how many people fly J yet alone Y every day (including with babies) ? They are all still well alive.
This entire case is just about generating extra traffic to your blog and being very hopeful that LX may fold. Unfortunately for you LX just doesn’t care about its customers and won’t reinstate your ticket or do anything in your favour (similar to how they disregard EC261 payments or don’t allow non-LX/LH ticketed F fares to access their F lounges).
Boilerplate language is not necessarily enforceable and I don’t believe Aeroplan and/or SWISS are going to get away with their bait and switch.
Of course there were many options to get home, but none that I contracted for.
I am rooting for you, Matthew. If you’re doing this for clicks or for your ego, it’s inconsequential to me. I am fundamentally concerned about the precedent this (Swiss and Aeroplan) is going to set, if it has not already been set: that these “so called mistake” fares/awards (call them what you will) can arbitrarily be defined by the airlines. Swiss honored F class awards in the past – those were not a mistake? And these last ones are? I see how people can say: be reasonable, cut your losses, etc.; however, sometimes, somebody needs to do it just for the principle of it.
Thanks for your kind comment. I can assure you I am not doing this for my ego and I am not doing this primarily for clicks.
This is nonsense. You never had any intention of flying Swiss back home via because like all of us you know that AP does not offer LX F. You also would not have bought revenue tickets, you only did that after the free ones were cancelled. If this was a LH M&M award that was cancelled then I could agree with your contention because they offer LX F. But, in this case – like many other bloggers – you only jumped on the AP mistake fare when it became public and are now revising history in your favor. AP hasn’t offered LX F in years. Give us a break.
Thrilled you’re taking them on, and I sincerely hope that you don’t just win but that your case establishes a clear precedent in favor of the passenger.
That is my hope as well. I’ve flown SWISS First before…it wasn’t necessary for the novelty.
Matt, I should point out to you that a pre-judgment attachment is a contractual remedy under CA law. So basically, if you think you have ascertainable damages and can convince a judge you have >51% success on the merits, you can seek to attach Swiss assets located in LA County. Thinking about LASD taking possession of a 77W is making me giggle.
Someone putting their money where their mouth is? That’s called being a man and I for one applaud you, Matthew.
Seriously, don’t mind the angry little voices here. Sounds like they’re just a) envious and b) can’t stand you’re not satisfied being a good little passive victim. Usually this attitude comes from people who don’t achieve much themselves.
Have a good trip – but until then, I’m looking forward to reading the next chapters of this story.
I absolutely agree with you and admire your tenacity, and I believe you took the right course of action by purchasing 3 FC tickets from ZHR-LAX on your original flight and original date of travel.
But, consider this. Aeroplan can now adversely take the position that the dollar amount that you spent per First Class ZHR-LAX ticket (regardless of said amount) is, based on your prior arguments and actions, the equivalent of 70k Aeroplan points. Therefore, what if Aeroplan simply credits your frequent flyer account 210k points?
Doesn’t that mitigate their exposure and effectively nullify your claim? What is your recourse? I would imagine this a possible outcome.
God, reading this makes me so hot and bothered I can’t even tell you. A girl can only take so much.
I’m respectfully intrigued and divided. What happens if they argue against you in terms of Aeroplan miles just being another form of currency that they won’t accept? Haven’t you solved the problem for them by now purchasing the same ticket yourself with another form of currency (in this case, actual USD$). How can you argue that you were the victim if you were still able to get yourself on the same flight in the same seats with just a different method of payment?
It will be very difficult to challenge them on the value of the 70K Aeroplan miles against the price that you just paid. They will just argue that they are both of the same value.
Isn’t it like saying they won’t accept American Express, but will take Visa?
We will see how it turns out, but they cannot sell me a reservation with Aeroplan points then later decide they do not want to accept that form of currency.
Yep. I’m kind of tired of this thread too. Best of luck. I’m out.
I honestly don’t understand all the trolls on here. I support what you are doing, if they had cancelled the reservation within 24 hours AND gave you proper notice, I would feel otherwise. But they didn’t. Most airlines will tell us to go F off once the 24 hour period had passed, why can’t they be held to the same standards?
Thank you. This is indeed the bottom line.
I for one do hope that precedent in favor of the passenger is reached. Airlines need to be regulated more on how they treat people when things don’t go their way. If a passenger makes a tiny mistake, airlines treat it as if it is the end of the world but if someone on their end makes a mistake passengers are still left on the losing end most of the time.
IMO, there needs to be more regulation on how CoC are drafted so comically in favor of the airline.
Rock and Roll! Fight the Good Fight!!
This is getting good, now!
So does Aeroplan have a statutory agent in California? How will they be served in Canada? Maybe you can at least get started on a complaint draft version and ask Aeroplan if they will cooperate in waiving of service of process.
Have you considered suing them in a Canadian court instead? That would earn some good legal experience almost worth the price if the tickets.
Matthew, you are my hero! I love this and can not wait to see just how you go about winning. Well done!
Thanks René!
Plenty of people will talk the talk, but very few will walk the walk and take the risk that you have. I do believe that your original tickets should not have been cancelled and I hope that you get the result that you wish for.
Good luck!
OK, what is going on in the comments section?!?
People are so rude, accuse of click bait and call the author childish? Is that the modern way now how we treat other people online?
No matter what the moviation is to write a blog / article / … as long as it doesnt discriminate other people, promote hate crime etc. all is good.
Cmon people, be nice.
Now back to the case:
Not sure how U.S. / Canadian law works since I’m from Europe but over here EU 261/2004 would held Swiss accountable and not Aeroplan since the contract is always with the operating carrier.
The only exception is with wet leases, for example AirBerlin flying for Eurowings, when you have a delay EU261 case or your bag is lost, not AB has to pay for compensation but EW, so wet leases are excempt for EU 261 / montreal convention. There was also another case where EW said they are not responsible since Sun Express was the operating carrier but a judge didn’t share EW’s position on this.
So by European law (and one can sue based on EU261/2004 even if residency is outside of the EU) Swiss would be accoutable for any expenses for a cancelled ticket, the only exception is they cancel the tickets 14days prior to departure (they don’t even need a reason for this, they are allowed to cancel any ticket as long as its 14days before departure)
I agree with an earlier comment that Aeroplan will probably reach out quietly to offer compensation contingent on an NDA. They are probably very sensitive to bad press given their impending split from Air Canada, their poor stock performance and bad financial results in their last reporting period.
Good job. We need someone with resources to fight this out in court and get a courts opinion to set a precedent.
Which means I hope you dont get reimbursed and you do take it to court. The worst would be if aeroplan sheepishly gives in to your blackmail and reimburses. Then we won’t be sure if everyone will get the same and the courts will have no opportunity.
AEROPLAN IF YOU ARE READING THIS, DON’T REIMBURSE HIM. WE WANT TO SEE YOU BOTH IN THE COURTS.
I don’t understand all the negative comments on this issue, do you realize he is working for your rights?
Maybe they work for Aeroplan? Or Aimia? Or SWISS?
@Mrlasssen I think Matt may be a little naive to the ways of the world. I am not saying he could not win in court but spending that money is doubling down.
I have some experience fighting with various point programs against huge companies when things have been done to me that were wrong or improper. I never give up and come up with all sorts of angles and such to get heard. I start in a similar manner as you contacting the company. I have been creative and I have been able to settle many issues and problems that involved huge point balances etc. I did not against the TOS in these cases, although some of the companies would claim that as a defense. In this situation I think you will have a huge battle on your hands and you might be out the money you paid for those First class tickets. My tought is you will have to file a small claims suit against them where you may indeed prevail, but I would not have bought those tickets prior to winning a judgement against them. A 14 month old on a flight like that?
I’m rooting for you! I’m sure many people wish they can stand up to big companies but don’t because they lack the resource(s) to. How many times do *we* get dinged with penalties when we make mistakes? If this never ticketed and got cancelled right away and both companies issued apologies, it would be taken as such (US ticket purchases have a 24-hr cancellation window so same courtesy can be extended to airlines, I suppose). However, this just took too long. Plus, how are people supposed to know that perhaps policies changed about award bookings? It’s not like airlines spoonfeed us information about changes. It’s not unreasonable that some people (yes, even bloggers) thought it was just available, period, because the redemption rate itself wasn’t like 50% off what it was supposed to be. Plus, people need to stop jeering about Matthew spending whatever he wants to on flights or whatever he’s doing to prove his point – if you serious have an issue with it, go somewhere else!
One more thing. I agree that there have to be some sort of consumer protections for these point programs. The reason is that 30 years ago they were a small thing. Now these programs have exploded and popularity and the values of the points earned can be considerable. It seems to me from the battles I have had, these companies in general have ;aws that seem to favor them with plenty of vague language. Even a company like AMEX, the customer agreement sort of states something like the points themselves are owned by AMEX and they can literally take them away for any reason whatsoever. This applies to all the credit card companies etc.
You took your 14-month-old brat along?
Ok, now THAT’s a total dick move. I would favor banning him from Swiss for that alone.
Parents can be such selfish a-holes.
Rooting for you, Matthew! And looking forward to your blogging about this. I believe that what you are doing is actually beneficial for all of us who have been in a similar situation. If we all keep quiet, they will keep taking advantage of us. I am so surprised that many posters here cannot see it. Anyway – good luck to you and thank you!
Very interested to see how this plays out.
Time to grow up Matthew. Is this the example you want to set for your child. that when you feel wronged, you kick and scream until someone listens to you and says you’re right. You are a complete sucker for buying those tickets. no chance you get any of your money back and i hope swiss denies you boarding when you get to the gate. your sense of entitlement is beyond belief, and if you don’t get your way you’ll sue, great example you’re setting.
I’m allowing your comment to document how narcissistic YOU and others are for failing to appreciate the reason I am doing this. I am confident that when all is said is done, I will not be the sucker. But, thanks for your input.
Whether you agree or disagree with this approach- it certainly is entertaining!