Wills v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 29 December 1961
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1200-59.
• Parties: Charles E. WILLS, an individual, Plaintiff, v. TRANS WORLD AIRLINES, INC., a corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California

200 F. Supp. 360

Charles E. WILLS, an individual, Plaintiff, v. TRANS WORLD AIRLINES, INC., a corporation, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 1200-59.

United States District Court S. D. California, Central Division.

December 29, 1961.

Charles E. Wills, Los Angeles, Cal., plaintiff, pro se.

Wright, Wright, Goldwater & Mack, Loyd Wright, Loyd Wright, Jr., Edgar R. Carver, Jr., Crider, Tilson & Ruppe, Elber H. Tilson, Donald E. Ruppe, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant.

MATHES, District Judge.

Plaintiff brings this action under § 404(b) of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 49 U.S.C.A. § 484(b), as amended, id. § 1374(b) (1958), alleging that unjust discrimination and undue preference was visited upon him as a prospective passenger aboard one of defendant's aircraft. The relief claimed is for actual damages for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation, for a permanent injunction against defendant, and for exemplary or punitive damages as well.

The facts are largely undisputed and, as established by a preponderance of the evidence, are these: Plaintiff is engaged in the practice of law at Los Angeles, California. In pursuit of his profession, plaintiff determined to go by commercial air carrier to Louisville, Kentucky, in early October, 1959, for the purpose of attending the taking of certain depositions there. On October 2nd, plaintiff purchased a ticket from defendant in Los Angeles for passage aboard flights which included defendant's then newly-inaugurated jet service between St. Louis, Missouri, and Los Angeles.

At the time of the ticket purchase, defendant reserved for plaintiff space in the tourist section, except for flight 438, aboard the following flights:

(a) T.W.A. jet flight 78, going from Los Angeles to St. Louis on October 7th;

(b) T.W.A. flight 438 (first class), going from St. Louis to Louisville on October 7th;

(c) T.W.A. flight 227, returning from Louisville to St. Louis on October 11th; and

(d) T.W.A. jet flight 77, returning from St. Louis to Los Angeles on October 11th.

Because of delay in the scheduled departure of defendant's jet flight 78 from Los Angeles on October 7th, plaintiff was unable to make the connecting trip that day to Louisville aboard flight 438, but obtained passage on Eastern Airlines flight 450, which brought him to Louisville near midnight of that day.

On the morning of October 10th, plaintiff telephoned defendant's reservations office in Louisville and requested space on defendant's flight 331 that evening from Louisville to St. Louis. During the afternoon of the 10th, plaintiff again called defendant's Louisville reservations office, confirmed that he would use his reservation for flight 331 that evening, and asked that his prior reservation for flight 227 from Louisville to St. Louis be cancelled. About 5 p. m. on the 10th, plaintiff went to the Louisville airport and "checked in" for flight 331. At that time it was necessary for plaintiff to purchase from defendant a surcharge ticket from Louisville to St. Louis, since flight 331 was entirely a first-class flight and plaintiff's ticket covered only tourist passage. In so doing, plaintiff informed defendant's Louisville reservations office of his reservation on T.W.A. jet flight 77, scheduled to leave St. Louis for Los Angeles the following morning at 11:40.

By advising defendant's Louisville agent on October 10th of his intention to utilize the reservation on flight 77, plaintiff in effect "reconfirmed" well in advance of six hours before flight departure time in compliance with Passenger Rule 12 of the applicable tariff, which provided, inter alia, that "the carrier will cancel the reservation (including the complete remaining itinerary) of any passenger from any point named on his ticket or exchange order unless the passenger advises the carrier of his intention to use his reservation by communicating with a reservation or ticket office of the carrier at such point at least six hours before his scheduled flight departure time."

In the normal course of things, this reconfirmation would have been processed and the airline's agents at plaintiff's next point of departure notified; for defendant's ordinary course of business required that the office thus notified by the reconfirming passenger, here Louisville, forward a "passenger load message" to the next station on the passenger's continuing journey, here St. Louis, calling attention to the fact that the passenger held a continuing reservation on another flight. So plaintiff's act of informing defendant's Louisville agent of his reservation for jet flight 77 was all that was required of him to "reconfirm" passage to Los Angeles on October 11th.

Plaintiff reached St. Louis aboard T.W.A. flight 331 about 1:45 on the morning of October 11th, and again "reconfirmed" to defendant's agent at the St. Louis airport his intention to use his reservation for flight 77 later that morning. The agent then assured plaintiff that all was in order, and requested a telephone number by which plaintiff could be contacted, but plaintiff was uncertain where he would be staying for the night. Returning to the airport an hour before the scheduled departure of flight 77, plaintiff was advised by defendant's agent then on duty that the flight had been "oversold" and that in consequence plaintiff had been placed on "standby" status, inasmuch as defendant's agents in St. Louis had received no information from defendant's Louisville office concerning plaintiff's reconfirmation of his flight 77 reservation.

On October 10th, defendant's St. Louis office had received word from the airline's central control office in Kansas City, Missouri, that flight 77 had been "oversold" at least to the extent of five first-class passengers. Whenever space for a particular flight had been oversold, it was defendant's practice at that time to determine first which passengers would be least inconvenienced by removal and to solicit volunteers from this group to go on a different flight. If the original flight nonetheless remained oversold, persons would be removed who were "local" passengers, i. e., passengers boarding for the first time and without continuing reservations, including those whose prior reservations were in doubt due to no record of reconfirmation at the departure station of the airline.

Plaintiff was refused permission to board flight 77 on the claimed ground that since no information had been received, his reservation of October 2nd was properly cancelled because of plaintiff's failure to "reconfirm" as required by above-quoted Rule 12. After the departure of flight 77, plaintiff was met by defendant's St. Louis passenger relations representative who informed him that seats had been reserved aboard another airline's next flight to Los Angeles. Plaintiff thereupon made arrangements to board the suggested flight, and was able to reach Los Angeles four and one half hours after defendant's flight 77 had arrived there.

Plaintiff contends that he was unduly prejudiced and that unreasonable preference was given others, with respect to defendant's flight 77 on October 11, 1959, since he was one of two tourist passengers removed or forbidden passage in favor of first-class passengers who were accommodated by being placed in the tourist section of the aircraft. Defendant concedes that at least three passengers who held first-class tickets for flight 77 were transported in the tourist portion of the aircraft, and the records of the airline indicate that as many as seven first-class passengers were transported in the tourist section. The evidence establishes, moreover, that all of these passengers made reservations for the flight subsequent to October 2nd, the validation date of plaintiff's original reservation.

Section 404(b) of the Civil Aeronautics Act, as amended, provides that:

"No air carrier * * * shall make, give, or cause any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person * * in air transportation in any respect whatsoever or subject any particular person * * * to any unjust discrimination or any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever." 49 U.S.C.A. § 1374(b).

Few guide lines exist to aid in determining what is "undue or unreasonable preference" and "unjust discrimination" within the meaning of the Act. No explanation of these terms appears in the record of the pre-enactment Congressional debate, which dealt largely with the question of whether air regulation should be under the basic control of the Interstate Commerce Commission or, as proposed, under a separate authority. 83 Cong.Rec. 6401, 7064, 8843 (1938); see also H.R.Rep. No. 2360, 85th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1958).

The statute does, however, declare the policy of the Act, inter alia, to be:

"The promotion of adequate, economical, and efficient service by air carriers at reasonable charges, without unjust discriminations, undue preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices." 49 U.S.C.A. § 1302(c).

Analogous provisions are found in the Interstate Commerce Act, it being there declared unlawful for any common carrier by rail or pipe line to give or cause undue or unreasonable preference or advantage, "or to subject any particular person * * * to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever." 49 U.S.C.A. § 3(1); see also id. § 316(d). Such language has been held to be directed against "discrimination in all its forms." Dixie Carriers v. United States, 351 U.S. 56, 60, 76 S.Ct. 578, 581, 100 L.Ed. 934 (1956); United States v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 333 U.S. 169, 175, 68 S.Ct. 494, 92 L.Ed. 618 (1948). Although the statute is cast in general terms because of the complexities of the subject see United States v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 323 U.S. 612, 616, 65 S.Ct. 471, 89 L.Ed. 499 (1945), it is plainly intended to provide individual passengers with a Federal right to service without undue or unreasonable discrimination....