On Tuesday, two travelers filed a law-suit against United Airlines in a California court, asking $5 million in damages. The reason? They felt discriminated against for not being able to participate in United\u2019s \u201cYoung Flyer\u201d discount campaign.A class-act lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against United Airlines for age discrimination. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have heard of many strange and farfetched lawsuits in our days. However, the two\u00a0United Airlines\u00a0customers that are now asking for $5 million in damages for not being eligible for the carrier\u2019s \u201cYoung Flyer\u201d promotional discount might take the disproportionality cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stay informed:<\/strong>\u00a0Sign up for our\u00a0daily aviation news digest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u00a0class-action suit\u00a0claims the two travelers were discriminated against because of their age, which is illegal according to Californian law. The suit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The passengers are both residents of California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n United\u2019s \u201cYoung Flyer\u201d campaign ran from September 10th, 2019, to June 30th, 2020. It allowed travelers between the ages of 18 and 22 to book flights before December 31st this year within the US, Canada, and Mexico with a discount of 10%. The promotion was to make travel more accessible for young people still in college or at the start of their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The conditions stipulated that the booking had to be made via the airline\u2019s app and that the customer had to be a MileagePlus member. Conditions that the lawsuit says both travelers fulfilled. The only thing not applicable was their age, as they were 23 and 67 at the time.United\u2019s \u201cYoung Flyer\u201d campaign for the US, Canada, and Mexico ran from September 2019 to June this year. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apparently, the two plaintiffs felt so discriminated against for missing out on their 10% discount by one and 45 years, respectively, that they decided to take United to court over it. The suit asks for $5 million in damages and an injunction against United not to engage in any further \u201cage discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokesperson for United Airlines told the\u00a0Chigaco Tribune\u00a0that,<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is a shame that a few individuals take issue with an offer that is intended to make travel more accessible to more people. We believe this lawsuit is completely baseless and will defend ourselves vigorously.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n While there may technically be a case under California\u2019s anti-discrimination laws, the sheer disproportionality of the damages the plaintiffs\u2019 lawyer is requesting on their behalf should be enough to label this as the opportunistic stunt it seems to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple Flying has reached out to United for a comment but was yet to receive a reply at publication.A spokesperson for United says the airline will defend itself vigorously. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not the first, and most likely will not be the last, of odd law-suits brought against an airline.\u00a0Business Traveller\u00a0mentions, among others, a nervous flier who was appalled when a carrier played \u201cKilling Me Softly\u201d with The Fugees as she was boarding the plane. The woman, who claimed psychological suffering, lost her case in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apparently, some of the most common claims stem from insect bites, including bed bugs from sleeper-style premium cabins, and injuries suffered\u00a0due to turbulence. In the US, the airline is actually liable for the latter, with about $170,000 payable without any particular proof that the carrier itself was somehow at fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now and then, the lawsuit comes from somewhere more unexpected. As\u00a0NBC News\u00a0tells it, an undisclosed airline\u2019s CEO filed a lawsuit against his own airline from which he had received millions and full health insurance for life. The reason being that he had not been granted \u201cfull compensation\u201d in the form of his free life-time first class flights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you make of the class action against United? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Tuesday, two travelers filed a law-suit against United Airlines in a California court, asking $5 million in damages. The reason? They felt discriminated against for not being able to participate in United’s “Young Flyer” discount campaign.A class-act lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against United Airlines for age discrimination. Photo: Getty Images We have heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","hide_page_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}$5 million for a lost 10%<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
United says the lawsuit is baseless<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Other select suits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n