United Airlines, JPMorgan Chase Credit Card $125 Credit Promise Class Action

United Airlines has put out a credit card with issuer JPMorgan Chase. This class action sues United Airlines, Inc., United Airlines Holdings, Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., alleging that cardholders were told they would receive a $125 credit on certain charges on the card but did not.

The class for this action is all individuals who, between January 7, 2016 and January 7, 2022, made one or more charges on a JPMorgan Chase-issued credit card in the US, for products or services, where the charges for the products or services were required to be automatically credited pursuant to either the $125 annual United credit or any other JPMorgan Chase promises but were not.

The United credit card can be used for third-party purchases, as well as for special events arranged exclusively for United. The complaint alleges that these “United Card Events from Chase” include such things as “celebrity meet and greets[,] private culinary and cultural events, and behindthescenes [sic] previews to the worlds of sports and fashion…” (The quotations in the complaint are not attributed to any particular person or document.)

At issue, however, are allegations that United and Chase do not keep promises they made to induce consumers to sign up for the credit card.

The credit card has an annual fee of $250. However, the plaintiff in this case, Stephen Simoni, alleges he signed up “in reliance upon the Company’s promise, inter alia, that the first one hundred and twenty-five dollars ($125.00) of purchases made during the year of cardmembership on Company products and services, including onboard purchases of food and WiFi access on Company flights, would be ‘automatically’ ‘credit[ed]’” or deemed already paid for.

The complaint quotes a paragraph headed “$125 Annual United Credit” which says that “A statement credit will automatically be applied to your account when your card is used for United purchases, up to an annual maximum accumulation of $125.” It notes that “Qualified United purchases include … inflight food, beverages and Wi-Fi[.]”

On a November 10, 2021 flight, the complaint alleges, Simoni bought Wi-Fi access for $18.99. However, he did not receive a credit for this amount, the complaint alleges: “Company failed to reimburse the $18.99, which [Simoni] was then required to pay as part of his credit card monthly statement in order to avoid interest, late fees, penalties, and reporting of the purported unpaid ‘debt’ to credit rating agencies.”

The complaint alleges that this is not the first time United and JPMorgan Chase have failed to live up to their promise. It points to “a prior lawsuit filed against Company by the undersigned in a different jurisdiction involving the same subject” and alleges, “upon information and belief,” that it has likely had “complaints from multiple Company cardmembers concerning the same subject.”

The counts include fraud, deceptive acts and practices, and false advertising, among other things.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Credit Cards, Deceptive Advertising, Nonpayment of Benefits