Aboeid v. Saudi Arabian Airlines Corp.

• Decision Date: 02 July 2013
• Docket Number: 10-CV-2518 (WFK) (VVP)
• Parties: ABDELGADIR ABOEID, MONA ABDELGADIR, and ABDELGADIR ABOEID ON BEHALF OF HIS SEVEN MINOR CHILDREN, Plaintiffs, v. SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

ABDELGADIR ABOEID, MONA ABDELGADIR,and ABDELGADIR ABOEID ON BEHALF OF HIS SEVEN MINOR CHILDREN, Plaintiffs,

v.SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES CORPORATION, Defendant.

10-CV-2518 (WFK) (VVP)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Dated: July 2, 2013

DECISION AND ORDER

WILLIAM F. KUNTZ, II, United States District Judge

Abdelgadir Aboeid ("Mr. Aboeid"), his wife Mona Abdelgadir ("Mrs. Abdelgadir"), and Mr. Aboeid on behalf of their seven minor children (collectively, "Plaintiffs") commenced this action against Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation ("Defendant" or "Saudi Airlines"). This action arises from a series of events beginning with Defendant's allegedly discriminatory treatment of the Aboeid family at John F. Kennedy International Airport ("JFK") and ending with the family missing their return flight back to the United States and being stranded in Saudi Arabia for more than a week. Plaintiffs seek recovery on four causes of action: (1) breach of contract; (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) violation of their civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 ("Section 1981"); and (4) violation of their civil rights under N.Y. Executive Law § 296 (the "New York Human Rights Law" or the "NYHRL"). Plaintiffs move for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on the issue of liability only. For the reasons stated below, the Court denies the motion for summary judgment in all respects.

I. Factual Background

The following facts are either undisputed by the parties, or, to the extent any facts are disputed or ambiguous, taken in the light most favorable to Defendant, the non-moving party.

A. The Departure Flight of the Plaintiffs

On February 20, 2008, Mr. Aboeid purchased nine roundtrip tickets aboard Saudi Airlines for him and his family to travel from JFK to Khartoum, Sudan, with layovers in Saudi Arabia on both the departure and return flights. Def.'s Rule 56.1 Statement ("Def.'s 56.1 St.") at ¶ 1.¹ The family's trip was scheduled to begin on June 7, 2008, with the departure layover in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the family was scheduled to return to JFK on July 24, 2008, with the return layover in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Id. Plaintiffs' tickets were labeled nonrefundable, nonreroutable, and nonendorseable. Id. at ¶ 5. Mr. Aboeid purchased the tickets from a travel agent based in North Carolina, where Plaintiffs reside. Defs.' Br., Ex. C ("Dep. Tr. of Abdelgadir Aboeid" or "Abdelgadir Dep. Tr.") at 5:3-14, 13:2-15. Saudi Airlines is a corporation existing under the laws of Saudi Arabia, with its principal place of business in Jeddah. Def.'s Answer at ¶ 6. Saudi Airlines does business in New York and maintains an office at JFK. Id.

Plaintiffs' outbound flight from JFK was scheduled to depart at 2:00 P.M. on June 7, 2008. Def.'s 56.1 St. at ¶ 19. Plaintiffs arrived at the check-in counter at approximately 12:00 P.M. that day. Id. According to Plaintiffs, the Saudi Airlines check-in counter was not yet open when they arrived. Id. However, Sevan Jacoby, the Saudi Airlines employee who oversaw the check-in counters on June 7, 2008, claimed at her deposition the check-in counters "automatically" open at 10:00 A.M. for a 2:00 P.M. flight and that those counters were indeedopen and manned at 10:00 A.M. on that day. Defs.' Br., Ex. B ("Jacoby Dep. Tr.") at 6:8-13, 8:15-18, 12:24-13:8, 20:15-21, 21:9-16.

Plaintiffs were among the first few people in line to check-in at the Saudi Airlines counters. Pis.' Rule 56.1 Statement ("Pis.' 56.1 St.") at ¶ 20. In total, the Aboeid family had eighteen pieces of luggage to check in for their flight. Def.'s 56.1 St. at ¶ 22. When Mr. Aboeid reached the Saudi Airlines check-in counter, he handed his family's passports and tickets to a female ticketing agent. Abdelgadir Dep. Tr. at 22:18-23:10. However, the agent did not run the passports through a computer or take the family's documentation to an office for closer review. Id. at 24:10-25:18; Def.'s 56.1 St. at ¶ 24; Pis.' Br. at 5. Instead, the woman handed the family's papers back to Mr. Aboeid and asked the family to leave the line and wait by a windowed area of the terminal. Abdelgadir Dep. Tr. at 24:10-25:18; Def.'s 56.1 St. at ¶ 24. As Plaintiffs waited off to the side, passengers who had been standing in line behind the Aboeid family checked in without incident. Pis.' 56.1 St. at ¶ 25. According to Plaintiffs, they were the only black people awaiting check-in for the outbound Saudi Airlines flight. Id. at ¶ 27. After some time, the Aboeid family was allowed to check in and board the plane shortly before the flight closed. Pis.' 56.1 St. at ¶ 26; Pis.' Br., Ex. 25 ("Susan Aboeid Dep. Tr.") at 175:19-25.

At her deposition, Sevan Jacoby expressed skepticism that the Aboeid family would be asked to exit the check-in line and wait to the side without explanation, as Saudi Airlines employees "make sure ... passengers understand why they're outside the line." Jacoby Dep. Tr. at 57:5-21. She stated one of the possible reasons why the airline's employees would ask a passenger to wait outside the line is the need to conduct further security screening, in which case a Saudi Airlines employee would take the passenger's passport to an office and check it against a no-fly list. Id. at 57:14-18. Ms. Jacoby also suggested the Aboeid family's large number ofbags may have caused some delay due to the need for manual weighing of the bags. Id. at 55:11-56:25. Specifically, Ms. Jacoby explained that if a group of passengers has a large number of bags, airline employees would use a "big major scale" to manually weigh each bag and then report that information to the check-in agent. Id. However, Ms. Jacoby did not personally observe the Aboeid family's wait or check-in on June 7, 2008, see generally Jacoby Dep. Tr., nor are there any facts suggesting Saudi Airlines employees withheld Plaintiffs' passports or took them to an office for screening.

When Plaintiffs were finally allowed to board the plane, Mrs. Abdelgadir and the seven Aboeid children were seated in the same row. Defs.' 56.1 St. at ¶ 30. Mr. Aboeid, however, was seated several rows behind his family. Id.; Abdelgadir Dep. Tr. at 29:1-13. Defendant's "Passengers Services Procedures Manual" provides that passengers should be seated in such a way so as to avoid separation of families and groups. Pis.' Br., Ex. 30. The Manual also explains that seat assignment is determined at the time of check-in—i.e., on a first-come, first-serve basis. Id.; see also Jacoby Dep. Tr. at 53:10-19.

B. Plaintiffs' Return Flight

At the end of their trip, Plaintiffs flew from Khartoum to Jeddah on July 21, 2008. Pis.' 56.1 St. at ¶ 2. Their return flight from Jeddah to JFK was scheduled to depart at 2:20 A.M. on July 24, 2008.² Def.'s Opp., Ex. 7-A-5 ("Aboeid Family PNRs"). According to Sami Bagader, an executive supervisor of passenger services for Defendant, a flight "closes" one hour before departure such that in the normal course of events, boarding for Plaintiffs' return flight from Jeddah would have ended at 1:20 A.M. Defs.' Br., Ex. A ("Bagader Dep. Tr.") at 11:8-15, 87:24-88:4. A passenger will not be allowed to check in or be issued a boarding pass if hearrives at the check-in counter after the flight has closed, even if the passenger has a confirmed reservation, ticket, passport, and other required documentation. Id. at 90:21-91:9. Moreover, such late-arriving passengers are not entitled to "denied boarding" compensation, which is a monetary sum not to exceed the value of the ticket. Id. at 91:10-19; Pis.' Br., Ex. 44 ("Passenger Services Procedures Manual") at 216-17.

Conversely, if a passenger comes to the check-in counter with the appropriate documentation before his flight closes, that passenger is entitled to either board the plane or receive denied boarding compensation. See Passenger Services Procedures Manual at 216 ("The passenger must report to the airport on time fixed by [Defendant] prior to the scheduled departure time."); Am. Compl., Ex. C ("Saudi Arabian Airlines Terms, Conditions, Passenger Advice, Notices and Liability Limitations") (passengers must "arrive at airport by time fixed by [Defendant] or, if no time is fixed, early enough to complete departure procedures"). Saudi Airlines policy prohibits standby or non-revenue passengers from boarding before ensuring passengers with confirmed reservations are first accommodated. Id. at 214-15. If a flight is oversold due to an excess number of confirmed reservations, confirmed passengers who arrive on time but are not able to board the plane will receive denied boarding compensation. See id. at 216-18; Bagader Dep. Tr. at 96:4-10. Under those circumstances, Defendant would also provide the passenger with hotel accommodations, meals, rescheduling on another flight at no added expense to the passenger, and means of communicating with friends or family. Bagader Dep. Tr. at 96:11-22.

Mr. Aboeid and his family arrived at the Jeddah airport at approximately 12:00 A.M. on July 24, 2008. Abdelgadir Dep. Tr. at 44:10-13, 45:22-25. The Aboeid family was directed by a Saudi Airlines employee to check in at the international flights counter on the third floor of theterminal. Id. at 47:16-23. The family walked to the third floor and stood in line for about one hour and fifteen minutes, only to have a customer service representative inform the family they were on the wrong line and that check-in for flights to New York was at a different "special flights" counter. Id. at 48:19-50:10. Plaintiffs were the only black people in line at the time, and Mr. Aboeid believes Saudi Airlines employees did not help the family earlier because they were of African descent. Id. at 50:13-51:9.

Plaintiffs left the line and walked to the special flights section of the terminal. Id. at 55:19-21. When Plaintiffs finally arrived at the correct check-in counter, it was approximately 1:20 A.M. Id. at 56:14-23. A black...