Late luggage lawsuits OK, court says
Airlines that charge baggage fees can be sued for refunds for failing to deliver a passenger’s bags when the plane lands, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Individual damages would be modest — in this case, a $15 recovery sought by a US Airways passenger whose bag was delivered a day late — but would be multiplied in class actions on behalf of other customers.
In an indication of the potential financial consequences to the industry, the Air Transport Association of America joined US Airways, which merged with American Airlines in 2013, in arguing for dismissal of the suit, under a 1978 federal law that largely deregulated airlines. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the law does not shield airlines from lawsuits for failing to keep their promises to passengers.
Most airlines charge fees for checked luggage. According to one recent survey, American Airlines, United, Delta, Frontier and Hawaiian Airlines charge most customers $25 for the first bag. JetBlue carries the first bag for free but charges $50 for the second bag, and Southwest Airlines offers free rides for two bags and a $75 fee for the third.
The lawsuit was filed in San Jose by Hayley Hickcox-Huffman, a resi-
dent of Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County) who said she paid $15 to check her bag on a US Airways flight in May 2009 from Colorado Springs to San Luis Obispo but did not find the bag on the luggage carousel when she arrived. The airline delivered it to her the next day.
US Airways’ “Terms of Transportation,” provided to passengers, include a statement that it was “committed to ... provide on-time baggage delivery” and that if a bag was not delivered on arrival, the airline would make “every effort” to return it within 24 hours.
Hickcox-Huffman sought to file a class action on behalf of all US Airways customers whose baggage was delivered late. But a federal magistrate said the suit was barred by the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act, which prohibited states from enforcing laws “related to a price, route or service of an air carrier.” The 1978 law also prohibited airline customers from filing suits that relied on the forbidden state laws.
In Wednesday’s ruling, however, the appeals court said Hickcox-Huffman was relying on the promise the airline voluntarily made to its passengers, and not on any state regulations of transportation services.
By committing itself to “on-time baggage delivery,” US Airways offered Hickcox-Huffman “a contract to deliver the bag when she landed,” Judge Andrew Kleinfeld said in a 3-0 decision reinstating the lawsuit. Based on the facts alleged, he said, “US Airways did not do what it promised to do and yet has kept her money.”
Justin Karczag, the passenger’s lawyer, said the ruling provides some degree of protection for airline passengers.
“The airline here wanted to provide nearblanket immunity for breach-of-contract claims,” he said.
Lawyers for the airline and the Air Transport Association could not be reached for comment.