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Woman Sues United Airlines Because Flight Had No Wi-Fi
By
Jen Chung
Published May 6, 2015
Modified May 6, 2015
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 6, 2015
Modified May 6, 2015
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One day, you will be able to watch Amazon Prime on your (JetBlue) flight. Until then, airline passengers are just hoping for decent Wi-Fi to Tweet or Instagram important moments from their journeys. And when that Wi-Fi ain't working, it's time for a class action lawsuit!
NJ resident Cary M. David has filed a $5 million lawsuit against United Airlines that, according to Top Class Actions, "alleges passengers who purchased in-flight Wi-Fi and DirecTV services during an international flight were not informed by the airline that these two types of services were only available in continental U.S. flights."
David paid $7.99 for DirecTV service for her four-hour flight to Puerto Rico, but only got 10 minutes of use time because it only works over the continental U.S. From her lawsuit:
[DirecTV and Wi-FI] services can be purchased for a fee. DirecTV and WiFi service work only when a plane is flying over the continental United States. Despite this known limitation, United sells these services to passengers on the Flights and fails to disclose that the services will not work as advertised when the aircraft is outside the continental United States or is over water. It is not until they have crossed U.S. borders or are over water, with no service, that customers learn that their DirecTV and/or WiFi service will not work for all or part of the flight. Despite knowing that DirecTV and/or WiFi will not work on flights (or portions thereof) over water or outside the U.S. Borders, United both advertises the availability of the Services and accepts payment for same from customers on those flights.
The lawsuit notes that United's website details where Wi-Fi and DirecTV are available, but during David's flight (substantially all of which is over water) United "advertised to passengers via the TV screen to 'SWIPE NOW to receive over 100 channels of DirecTV.' Nowhere does United disclose that this advertisement is intentionally false, made to induce passengers to swipe their credit card in-flight, knowing that the Services passengers thought they were purchasing were unavailable."
As for why it's a $5 million class action lawsuit, well, United charges anywhere from $4.99 to $49 for Wi-Fi and DirecTV services, "Plaintiff reasonably estimates that there are thousands of Class members who purchased the services complained of herein, and at least hundreds, if not thousands, of members of the Sub-Class who purchased the same services."
United has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. And this is how the airline outfits planes with Wi-Fi:
Tagged
air travel
DirecTV
lawsuit
PLane Wifi
united airlines
wifi
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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