Opinion ID: 2508908
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Superior Court Properly Entered Judgment in Favor of Alaska Airlines on Hallam's Claim Relating to His Attempt To Use a PFD Ticket in Seattle.

Text: Hallam claims that Alaska Airlines breached another contract with him in March 1999 when it refused to honor a ticket from Seattle to San Francisco that he purchased with a Permanent Fund Dividend voucher. The airline acknowledges that it prevented Hallam from boarding the flight, but defends its action by claiming that the ticket had been purchased with a 1998 voucher and was good only for travel through December 15, 1998. The superior court found that the ticket had expired, and that there was therefore no breach of contract. Hallam makes much of the fact that an Alaska Airlines employee said in an affidavit that he attempted to board the flight on March 9 while strong evidence argues that it happened on March 8. The exact date of the incident is immaterial. If the ticket's expiration date was December 15, 1998, there was no breach. The superior court's finding that the ticket had expired is well supported by the evidence. Hallam points to a notation on the PDI for the disputed ticket, which states that it is good for travel through December 15, 1999. The airline explains this through the testimony of employee Jeanne Hightower, who described how that notation would have been generated. She explained that it was placed in the ticket's record because he made a change to the ticket in 1999, and the res[ervation] agent has no idea what tickets he was actually using. Once he got to the airport, the ticket agent would have tried to confirm that it was a current ticket, and found that it had expired. Faced with the conflicting testimony, the trial court disbelieved Hallam's assertion that he thought the ticket was still good in March 1999. The court held that he failed to prove that it was more likely than not that he purchased a valid ticket for the travel on the date in question. In a bench trial, the judge is the trier of fact, determining the credibility of witnesses and deciding how to weigh the evidence presented. [17] Hallam gives us no reason to overturn the trial court's weighing of the evidence. We therefore affirm the superior court's judgment for Alaska Airlines on this claim.