Gustafson v. American Airlines, Inc., 658 F. Supp. 2d 276 (D. Mass. 2009)

Outline

Facts

American Airlines is an international and domestic airline carrier that serves Logan International Airport (“Logan”) in Boston, Massachusetts. (Docket Entry # 3, ¶ 2; Docket Entry # 7, Ex. 1, ¶ 2). In 2004, plaintiff, a 64 year old retired elementary school teacher, belonged to a sailing club. A number of club members decided to take a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and one of the members, Richard Borjian (“Borjian”), offered to obtain airline tickets for various members of the sailing club including plaintiff. Plaintiff asked Borjian to procure her  ticket[s] and expected to give him a $20 “tip” for his efforts. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3).

Borjian, who was also going on the trip, proceeded to book four flights for round trip travel between Boston and Puerto Vallarta via Net Traveler, a ticket agency. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 1, ¶ 2; Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4). Plaintiff did not know the travel agency or internet service Borjian used to purchase the tickets. Her plan, however, was to travel from Boston to Puerto Vallarta, stay in Mexico for a period of time and then return from Puerto Vallarta to Boston. Likewise, her understanding with Borjian was for him to book a trip from Boston to Mexico and then from Mexico back to Boston. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3).

The PNR is captioned “Code Share PNR” thereby evidencing a code sharing arrangement between the two carriers, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4; Docket Entry # 15, Ex. 1, ¶ 6). The October 4, 2004 booking of the flights took place at the same time. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4;  Docket Entry # 15, Ex. 1; Docket Entry # 19, Ex. 4). As set forth in the PNR, the booking consisted of: (1) a ticket on American Airlines flight 25 due to depart from Logan at 8:00 a.m.  on January 16, 2005, and arrive in Los Angeles at 11:24 a.m.; (2) a ticket on Alaska Airlines flight 236 due to depart from Los Angeles at 1:30 p.m. on January 16, 2005, and arrive in Puerto Vallarta at 6:26 p.m.; (3) a ticket on Alaska Airlines flight 239 due to depart from Puerto Vallarta at 5:08 p.m. on January 22, 2005, and arrive in Los Angeles at 6:16 p.m.; and (4) a ticket on American Airlines flight 1920 due to depart Los Angeles at 9:50 p.m. on January 22, 2005, and arrive in Boston at 6:13 a.m. the next day. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4). Construing the record and drawing reasonable inferences in plaintiff’s favor, as required, the ticket numbers for the American and Alaska Airlines flights are not the same.

After Borjian completed the booking, he emailed plaintiff an itinerary. The itinerary does not identify an American Airlines flight. Rather, it designates four Alaska Airlines flights albeit with the above noted layovers and connections in Los Angeles. Plaintiff received the itinerary which included the $481.74 purchase price and planned to reimburse Borjian the purchase price when she arrived in Puerto Vallarta. Objectively, the itinerary showed the connecting flights in Los Angeles and confirmed that the trip was “from Boston to Mexico and back.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3). Plaintiff also understood that the trip had separate legs but was all part of “one travel from Boston to Mexico and back.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3). As set out in the PNR and at the time of booking, Borjian, acting on  plaintiff’s behalf, booked a “round-trip ticket from Boston to Puerto Vallarta and back to Boston.” (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 2). As further indicated in the PNR and communicated to American Airlines at the time of booking, the “flight” was “in four segments” consisting of one segment or leg from Boston to Los Angeles, a second segment from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta and the two return segments. (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. 4).

With the itinerary and her passport in hand, plaintiff arrived at Logan on January 16, 2005. Plaintiff checked her bag at curbside, showed her passport and received boarding passes for the Boston to Los Angeles flight and for the Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta flight. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3). American Airlines scanned plaintiff’s single checked bag with a destination of Puerto Vallarta as opposed to Los Angeles. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4; Docket Entry # 15, Ex. 1, ¶ 7).

After having her bag scanned in Boston, plaintiff boarded American Airlines flight 25 direct from Logan to Los Angeles. Los Angeles was the final stop for flight 25 and all of the passengers were disembarking from the aircraft at the time plaintiff fell. (Docket Entry # 6, Ex. 1, ¶ 4; Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 1, ¶ 5). Plaintiff’s only purpose for being in Los Angeles was to connect with the Alaska Airlines flight to Puerto Vallarta. She had no other business in Los Angeles.  (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3).

While walking down the aisle in the process of deplaning from American Airlines flight 25, plaintiff tripped and fell. (Docket Entry # 6, Ex. 1 3; Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 1, ¶ 6; Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 5; Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3). She received treatment for injuries to her  face and head at a first aid station in the airport. The incident report, which does not reference travel to Mexico, reflects the injury as taking place at American Airlines gate 42A. Plaintiff was treated and released at approximately 12:15 p.m. (Docket Entry # 6, Ex. 3).

A few hours later, plaintiff continued her journey and, using a different ticket from the one used for American Airlines flight 25, boarded Alaska Airlines flight 236 direct from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta. (Docket Entry # 6, Ex. 3; Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 1, ¶ 9; Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 2; Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3). Alaska Airlines flight 236 departed from a different terminal than American Airlines flight 25. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3). Plaintiff therefore traveled from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta on a different airplane operated by a different carrier. (Docket Entry # 6, Ex. 1).

Consistent with the caption of the PNR, the two flights formed part of a code sharing arrangement between American  Airlines and Alaska Airlines. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4; Docket Entry # 15, Ex. 1; Docket Entry # 19, Ex. 4). American Airline’s Rule 30(b)(6) deponent defined a code share as “an agreement between airlines to share routes so that each airline can have a presence where [it] may not necessarily have a base.” (Docket Entry # 19, Ex. 4).

A snowstorm interrupted the return trip. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, a blizzard delayed plaintiff’s flight to Boston resulting in a two night layover in Los Angeles. Plaintiff returned to Boston on January 24, 2005.

Issue(s)

Whether the transportation in issue was international carriage to which the Montreal Convention applies or purely domestic carriage.

Discussion

The plain language of article 1(2) defines “international carriage” as carriage which, “according to the agreement between the parties, the place of departure and the place of destination” are situated “within the territory of a single State Party,” such as the United States, “if there is an agreed stopping place within the territory of another State,” such as Mexico. Montreal Convention, Art. 1(2). Carriage within “a single State Party,” such as the United States, “without such an agreed stopping place . . . is not international carriage.” Convention, Art. 1(2). Thus, if under the “agreement between the parties” the place of destination is Logan (or Puerto Vallarta which would implicate the language in article 1(2), to wit, “territories of two States Parties”), then the Convention applies. Convention, Art. 1(2). If, however, under the “agreement between the parties” the place of destination is Los Angeles, then the Convention does not apply. Convention, Art. 1(2).

Objective indicators of the parties’ agreement include the PNR, the length of the layover, the itinerary, the electronic tickets, the boarding passes and the baggage tag for the return flights. These indicators establish the trip as international carriage. Notably, the tickets for the outbound flights from Boston to Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta and the corresponding return flights were booked at the same time through the same ticketing agency. Cf. Kruger v. United Air Lines, Inc., 2007 WL 3232443, *4 (N.D.Cal. Nov. 1, 2007) (trip did not constitute “international carriage” in part because the plaintiff “purchased Los Angeles to Brisbane flights from Quantas via its website and then separately purchased the Los Angeles to Seattle flights from United via United’s website”).

Plaintiff used her passport during the check-in process thereby evidencing international travel. Baggage checked at the departure city of Boston for the outbound portion did not end in Los Angeles but continued to Puerto Vallarta. The baggage tag for the return flights referenced both flight 239 and flight 1920. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 5).

The hours between the outbound arrival in Los Angeles and the departure to Puerto Vallarta were few in number thereby indicating a layover connection. “`Common sense dictates that when a traveler plans such a short layover between the parts of a journey, the traveler regards the layover as merely an intermediate stopping place and not his or her destination.'”In re Air Crash Disaster of Aviateca Flight 901 Near San Salvador, El Salvador on August 9, 1995, 29 F.Supp.2d 1333, 1342 (S.D.Fla. 1997) (“Aviateca”);accord Robertson v. American Airlines, Inc., 401 F.3d 499, 502-503 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (quoting Aviateca in parenthetical and finding that brief three hour layover supports finding that parties regarded trip as undivided international transportation). Similarly, the PNR reflects that the time spent in Los Angeles to change carriers and planes on the return was slightly more than three hours. (Docket Entry # 14, Ex. 4). Plaintiff had no business in Los Angeles. (Docket Entry # 17, Ex. 3).

Accordingly, under “the agreement between the parties,” Boston was the place of departure; Puerto Vallarta was an agreed stopping place in the territory of another state; and Boston was the place of destination. The carriage was therefore “international carriage” within the meaning of the Montreal Convention and the Convention therefore applies.

With regard to successive carriage and whether codesharing may fall within the concept:

Article 36 sets out the liability of a successive carrier. Best v. BWIA West Indies Airways Ltd., 581 F.Supp.2d at 363. In contrast, articles 39 to 41 extend liability to contracting carriers, in addition to actual carriers, when the contracting carrier is in a code sharing arrangement with the actual carrier. Montreal Convention, Art. 39; Best v. BWIA West Indies Airways Ltd., 581 F.Supp.2d at 363-364 (chapter five, including articles 39 to 41, “extended liability to . . . `contracting’ carriers for harms incurred during carriage by `actual’ carriers, but excepted from that definition successive carriers” and noting that “relationships typically covered by Article 39 include `code share operations'”). Because the present scenario involves a code sharing arrangement between Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, the two airlines are not “successive carriers” subject to articles 1(3) and 36. Rather, the definition in article 1(2) applies.

At page 288, the Court dealt with the time bar. The Court rejected the argument that because notice of the Convention’s provisions had not been given, the time bar in Article 35 did not apply:

Plaintiff next argues that American Airlines waived its right to raise the statute of limitations defense because it did not, as required by article three, provide plaintiff with notice that the Convention applied.

[…]

The failure to comply with the documentation and informational requirements of article three, however, does not provide a means to avoid the reach and application of the Convention. Article 3(5) unambiguously states that:

5. Non-compliance with the provisions of the foregoing paragraphs shall not affect the existence or the validity of the contract of carriage, which shall, nonetheless, be subject to the rules of this Convention including those relating to limitation of liability.

Montreal Convention, Art. 3(5). “[T]he effect of Article 3(5) is to ensure that passengers and carriers remain bound by the Montreal Convention despite a carrier’s technical failure to provide a passenger with proper documentation.” Molefe v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, 602 F.Supp.2d at 489 (albeit interpreting effect of non-compliance with article 3(1) as opposed to article 3(4)). The reasoning and result in Molefe apply to the failure on the part of American Airlines to give plaintiff the “written notice” required under article 3(4). As stated in article 3(5), “the rules of the [Montreal] Convention” apply to the parties’ “contract of carriage” notwithstanding the non-compliance with the written notice requirement of article 3(4).

[…]

The Montreal Convention has a two year statute of limitations. Montreal Convention, Art. 35. The two year period begins to run “from the date of arrival at the destination . . . or from the date on which the carriage stopped.” Montreal Convention, Art. 35. Plaintiff’s suit is therefore time barred.