Lady Sues United Airlines For $5 Million Because WiFi Didn't Work While Flying Over Ocean

Cary M David of West Orange, NJ filed a $5 million class action suit in federal court against United Airlines because, according to her, the airline failed to properly inform passengers that live television and Internet service aren't available on all flights. True story.

A West Orange woman paid United Airlines $7.99 earlier this year to watch in-flight DirectTV on a four-hour flight from Puerto Rico to Newark. However, the system worked for only about 10 minutes toward the end of the Feb. 21 flight, while approaching Newark, according to a $5 million class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Newark by Cary M. David of West Orange. The lawsuit claims the Chicago-based carrier has defrauded customers by allegedly not disclosing that its DirectTV and WiFi services, which passengers can acquire at their seats by swiping a credit card, do not operate over water or outside the continental United States. United denies the allegations. In a legal memorandum filed on Friday along with a request that the judge dismiss the case, the airline said on-board passengers are indeed informed of the services' limits by notices that are displayed on seat-back monitors before they confirm their purchases. According to the document, the notices say "Live DirectTV programming is not available while the aircraft is outside of the continental United States" and that "Wi-Fi service is available over the continental U.S." United also said in the memorandum that the lawsuit has no merit because the woman's claims are pre-empted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which prohibits states from enacting or enforcing a law, regulation or other provision that relates to an air carrier's service. [...] District Judge Susan D. Wigenton is scheduled to consider United's motion to dismiss on June 1. According to court documents, her ruling will be decided "on the papers," with no appearances by lawyers required at that time.

source: The Record

When Cary (whose actual damages are $7.99) and her lawyers get thrown out of court, the judge should order them to pay United $5 million for filing this ridiculous lawsuit. Just sayin'.