High court won't hear airline challenge of ticketing ruling By The Associated Press The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines of a ruling that passengers may pursue a class action claim against the carriers for prohibiting hidden-city ticketing. The lawsuit was classified as a class action by a federal judge in Detroit and an appeals court upheld that decision in November. The high court on Monday declined to hear the airlines' argument. "We continue to believe that the case is not appropriate for class action treatment. We also fully expect to be successful at trial defending our tariff restrictions prohibiting hidden city ticketing," Northwest said Tuesday. The lawsuit accuses Northwest, Delta and US Airways of prohibiting passengers from buying tickets from one city to another via a third city, then getting off at the midway point and throwing away the rest of the ticket. Some passengers have used hidden-city ticketing when the longer flight is cheaper than buying a ticket to the midway point, or so-called "hidden city." Northwest, based in Eagan, Minn., and Atlanta-based Delta had asked the high court to hear their argument that passengers should be allowed to sue only as individuals. US Airways didn't join in appealing the class action ruling. Plaintiff Nelson Chase, a lawyer who lives in South Carolina, said in November that the lawsuit was meant to force airlines to allow hidden-city ticketing, and to compensate passengers allegedly overcharged because of airline policies against the practice. Some airlines have penalized travel agents who book such tickets for clients and, if they determine a passenger has used the tactic, will cancel the ticket and require rebooking at a much higher cost. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************