News and notes from around the interweb:
- ANA Mileage Club members save 15% at Bloomingdale’s
- 2500 bonus miles for joining Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- 25% off Virgin Atlantic economy redemptions
- This actually exists.
- You can Starwood’s Take a Spin Game each day through February 7.
- American settled a 9/11 negligence suite over 9/11 with Cantor Fitzgerald for $135 million. Perhaps a reader familiar with bankruptcy law can explain why American’s liability wasn’t discharged in their chapter 11 proceedings? (I’m no suggesting it should have been, I am not at all an expert in this, but I’m curious.)
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Good question re: American’s liability. I’m curious too. (Also not suggesting it should have been discharged.) American’s bankruptcy was a restructuring, not a liquidation, so maybe because there wasn’t a settlement at the time (there wasn’t a defined debt owed) it wasn’t included in the debts to be restructured? Ask @PalmerLaw would know the answer.
There’s no question it was a horrible tragedy, but it seems a bit crazy to me that a judge would rule that American was liable for the attack. It strikes me as a bit of a slap in the face to the crew on the plane, as this is basically saying that a couple of flight attendants and a couple of pilots were responsible for the attack because they weren’t able to overpower five hijackers. Why would they be responsible, and not a lax airport security system that allowed the hijackers into the system in the first place, or an aviation-wide standard of cockpit doors that weren’t adequately reinforced, etc?
IIRC puniTive damages cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. This is a settlement and not a judgment, but there may be ways to craft a settlement to be treated as a non dischargeable punitive award. Others likely know more than I do. Of course, AA could have elected not to treat this liability as one subject todos Harvey the first instance. Only liabilities identified in a petition may be discharged.
To discharge, not todos Harvey. Damn iPad.
Great use of taxpayer dollars, these trading cards are.
Was AA ultimately liable because the airlines pre-TSA were responsible for airport security? Is that the basis?
In 2012 Judge Lane allowed the Cantor Fitzgerald lawsuit to proceed against AA, with damages limited to the amount of AA’s insurance coverage. Injured parties can still pursue insurance companies when a company files BK. Cantor Fitzgerald filed a limited objection to the merger (to be sure it could still proceed with its lawsuit).
@Julianne – thanks!
One way to London is not a bad deal: 13,125 miles and $131.50 in taxes and fees.
Maybe AA didn’t ask for it to be discharge as a matter of policy