Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

1 of 17 BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF AVIATION ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEEDINGS

WASHINGTON, D.C.

---------------------------------------------------- -- ) ) Benjamin Edelman, ) third

- party complainant ) )
v. ) Docket DOT

- OST

- 201 5

-

____ ) British Airways Plc ) )

------------------------------------------------------ )

COMPLAINT OF BENJAMIN E DELMAN Comments with respect to this document should be addressed to: Benjamin E delman 169 Walnut St. Brookline, MA 02445 E

- mail: ben@benedelman.org

Dated: January 13 , 2015Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

2 of 17 BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF AVIATION ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEEDINGS

WASHINGTON, D.C.

---------------------------------------------------- -- ) ) Benjamin Edelman, ) third

- party complainant ) )
v. ) Docket DOT

- OST

- 2015

-

____ ) British Airways Plc ) )

------------------------------------------------------ )

COMPLAINT OF BENJAMIN EDELMAN
1. This complaint arises out of the British Airways web site advertising low
taxes and carrier

- imposed fees on certain award flights in an initial fare quote , only to substitute higher charges on a further screen just seconds later

. 2. Effective January 26, 2012, the Department’s “Enhancing A irline Passenger Protections” require that the first price quote presented must be the full price, including all taxes, fees, and carrier surcharges. See 14 CFR 399.84 (“The Department considers any advertising solicitation by a direct air carrier ... to be an unfair and deceptive practice in violation of 49 USC 41712, unless the price stated is the entire price to be paid by the customer”), 76 Fed. Reg. 23110, 23143 (rejecting various arguments why the proposed rule should not be implemented).
3. Notwithstandi ng this clear rule, the British Airways USA

- English web site, https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_us , widely presents initialBenjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

3 of 17 price quotes below the entire amount Brit ish Airways require s for travel on the specified routes. It appears that affected itineraries include most or all intercontinental award
travel on flights operated by US Airways.

I. British Airways’ False Initial Statements of Applicable Charges 4. For example, on January 9, 2015, I used BA’s site to quote one

- way award
travel PHL

- MUC on March 23, 2015. After I selected US 716, PHL

- MUC nonstop, BA’s
site quoted a “Total Price” “Incl. all taxes fees an d carrier charges” of “25000 Av i o s + $ 23” ( Attach ment 1 ) . I pressed “Continue” and received a screen that then requested “Taxes, fees and carrier charges* per person” of $285.80 ( Attachment 2 )

. I clicked the “i” icon to see details about the taxes, fees and carrier charges ; t he resulting screen
detaile d a “carrier imposed charge” of $258.00 as well as three “government, authority and airport charges” totaling $27.80. Notably, even that $27.80 exceeded the $23 indicated in the first fare quote, Attachment 1. I proceeded further and British Airways
aske d for a credit card to collect $28 5.80

. 5. On January 9, 2015, I used BA’s site to quote one

- way travel PHL

- TLV on March 22, 2015 . The first fare quote was 30000 Avios + $ 23 (Attachment 4). The second fare quote was $ 330.80 (Attachment 5 ) , a price increase of $307.80

. 6. On January 9, 2015 , I used BA’s site to quote one

- way travel PHL

- TLV on April 5, 2015. The first fare quote was 38750 Avios + $338 (for travel PHL

- LHR

TLV with first segment operated by US Airways and the second segment as in BA World
Traveler Plus) (Attachment 6). The second fare quote was 38750 Avios plus $ 575

. 11 (Attachment 7 ) , a price increase of $237.11

.Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

4 of 17 7. On January 9, 2015 , I used BA’s site to quote round

- trip travel PHL

- TLV

PHL on April 5, 2015 and April 17, 2015. The first fare quote w as 68750 Avios + $399 (for travel PHL

- LHR

- TLV with first segment operated by US Airways and the second segment as in BA World Traveler Plus; return TLV

- PHL nonstop operated by US) (Attachment 8). The second fare quote instead sought $ 939.67 for “taxes, fees and carrier charges” (Attachment 9) , a price increase of $540.67

. 1
8. On January 13, 2015, I used BA’s site to quote one

- way travel PHL

- CDG on January 23, 2015. The first fare quote was 20000 Avios and $23 (Attachment 10). The second fare quote instead sought $285.80 of “taxes, fees and carrier charges” (Attachment 11), a price increase of $262.80.

II. The Scope and Size and of BA’s False Statements about Applicable Charges 9. Thus, I have demonstrated that British A irways’ false statements about applicable ch arges extend to both one

- way and round

- trip journeys, for travel both originating in the US and originating overseas, for travel between the US and Europe as
well as between US and the Middle East , for travel solely on US Airways as well as for
travel that combines travel on multiple carriers of which US Airways is one . In other testing, I confirmed that similar false statements occur for both single

- passenger and
multi

- passenger journeys. All of these false statements are made on BA’s USA

- English
web sit e, marketed to US customers.
10. The misstatements at issue are large relative to charges otherwise applicable for these journeys. For example, the total dollar payment sought for the PHL

-

1 Attachment 9 also notes a “Price per person” of $185.00. Consistent with the display at the top of Attachment 9, “How many Avios do you want to use for your flight?”, this charge was imposed because my Avios account lacked sufficient points to cover the full 68750 quantity required for this journey. It seems a passenger with sufficient Avios would not be charged this additional fee. This fee is not part of my complaint, and I do not contend that it is improper.Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

5 of 17 MUC journey, $285.80 (Attachment 2), is more than twelve times the $23 indicated in the first fare quote (Attachment 1). The dollar payment sought for PHL

- TLV, $330.80 (Attachment 5), is more than 14 times the $23 indicated in the first fare quote (Attachment 4). The dollar payment sought for PHL

- TLV

- PHL, $939.67 (Attachmen t 9), is more than double the $399 indicated in the first quote (Attachment 8), and the increase is more than $540 , nearly half the cost of ordinary coach travel for this trip

. (US Airways offered simple nonstop round

- trip coach travel PHL

- TLV

- PHL at $1,1 75 for these dates.)
11. In some instances, t he screenshots described herein are only partially self

authenticating . For example, Attachment 2 do es not show the specific itinerary at issue
and thus do es not immediately confirm that it correspond s with the iti nerary requested in Attachment 1. I therefore prepared motion video screen

- capture files preserving my observations. These are electronic files which I can provide to the Department or British Airways upon request. I will also make them available on my web site , linked from http://www.benedelman.org/airfare

- advertising/

.

III. Literal Falsity and Damages 12. British Airways’ initial statement of “Total Price” is literally false. On
information and be lief, British Airways was never willing to sell the listed tickets at the listed prices.
13. It is unfair and deceptive to claim that a journey may be booked at a “Total Price” when in fact the carrier does not allow booking of that journey at that price.
14. In t he context of award bookings, passengers are particularly likely to rely on British Airways’ initial quotes. A passenger might see the initial fare quote, as in Attachment 1, and initiate a conversion of points or miles from another program intoBenjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

6 of 17 British Airways Avios, 2 or a transfer of Avios from another member, 3 in order to obtain enough Avios to complete the redemption. After performing such a transfer, the passenger would then re

- request the award booking, proceed to the second fare quote and be surprised to learn of the much higher charges as disclosed in Attachment 2 and similar. Moreover, conversions from another program to Avios usually are (or are presented as) irreversible, such that the passenger cannot merely return the miles or points to the program from which they originate . While a transfer from one member’s Avios account to another could be undone with a further transfer, this would incur a significant additional fee (for the second transfer). Thus, such a passenger incurs harm di rectly as a result of British Airways’ false initial fare quote, and the correct subsequent fare quote
does not cure that harm. Indeed, I first learned of BA’s false statements in this area due

to an affected customer in exactly this circumstance.
15. On info rmation and belief, there are other circumstances, perhaps difficult for BA or the Department to anticipate, in which BA’s false statements could further distort consumers’ decisions or cause additional damages.

IV. Anticipated Defenses 16. British Airways may see k shelter in the statement, in the initial fare quote (Attachment 1 and similar) that “You will see exact cost after you click ‘Continue’.” Indeed, in my testing, even beyond the routes affected by the large discrepancies detailed here, BA’s initial quote s (Attachment 1 and similar) often vary from BA’s subsequent

2 British Airways prominently advertises c on version of points from other program s into Avios as a benefit of the Avios program . These programs include Club Carlson Gold Points, Hilton HHonors Points, Hyatt Gold Passport points, HIS Rewards Club Points, Shangri

- La Golden Circle Award Points, Marriott Rewards Points, Jin Jiang International J

- Club Points, Le Club Accorhotels points, Starpoints (from http://www.britishairways.com/en

- us/executiv e
- club/collecting

- avios/hotels/convert

- your
- points ) and Heathrow Rewards (from http://www.britishairways.com/en

- us/executive

- club/collecting

- avios/shopping )

. 3 See rules at http://www.britishairways.com/travel/share

- avios/public/en_us

.Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

7 of 17 quotes (Attachment 2 and similar) by $5 to $10. I do not know the reason for that variation. But applicable regulation appears to disallow such variation. See 14 CFR
399.84 : “The Department co nsiders any advertising solicitation by a direct air carrier ... to be an unfair and deceptive practice in violation of 49 USC 41712, unless the price
stated is the entire price to be paid by the customer.” This requirement makes no allowance for any change , large or small, from the first fare quote. Nor does this requirement allow a carrier to escape the obligations of the requirement through a statement that correct information will be provided some subsequent point.
17. British Airways may argue that the initial fare quotes were unrealistically low. But these are award redemptions, in which passengers understand that their primary form of payment for travel is frequent flier points earned through prior travel. Indeed,
h istorically such redemptions were completely free of a monetary co

- payment. Moreover, US Airways and American Airlines offer the same flights for award redemption with total cash payment comparable to the initial British Airways quotes. A customer seeing the fare quotes in Attachment 1, and similar, has zero reason to expect that those fare quotes are anything other than accurate.

18. I ask that the Department of Transportation: (1) Exercise its authority under 49 USC 41712 to open an investigation of
Britis h Airways for having engaged in, and continuing to engage in,
the unfair and deceptive practices described above;Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

8 of 17 (2) Pursuant to such investigation, o rder British Airways to refund to ticket purchasers all monies charged to ticket purchasers above and bey ond the amounts specified on the first fare quote ; (3) Impose appropriate civil penalties on British Airways.

Pursuant to Title 18 United States Code Section 1001, I certify that I have not in any manner knowingly and willfully falsified, concealed or failed to disclose any material fact or made any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or knowingly used any documents which contain such statements in connection with the preparat ion, filing or prosecution of the pleading. I understand that an individual who is found to have violated the provisions of 18 U.S.C. section 1001 shall be fined or imprisoned not more than five years, or both

. Respectfully submitted , /s/ Benjamin Edel manBenjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

9 of 17 Attachment 1

Attachment 2Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

10 of 17 Attachment 3Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

11 of 17 Attachment 4

Attachment 5Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

12 of 17 Attachment 6

Attachment 7Benjamin Edelman Complaint

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13 of 17 Attachment 8Benjamin Edelman Complaint

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14 of 17 Attachment 9Benjamin Edelman Complaint

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15 of 17 Attachment 10Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

16 of 17 Attachment 11Benjamin Edelman Complaint

– British Airways

17 of 17 Certificate of Service

I h ereby certify that I have, this 13 th day of January, 2015 caused a c opy of the foregoing Complaint to be served by electronic mail on the following persons:
James Blaney jim.blaney@ba.com Blane Workie blane.workie@dot.gov Kimberly Graber kimberly.graber@dot.gov

/s/

_____________________ Benjamin Edelm an