Miles from Latam’s loyalty program cannot be used for commercial purposes, says Justiça – 05/15/2023 – Market

The Lee, Brock, Camargo Advogados (LBCA) office, which defends the interests of the airline Latam, informs that the Court has recognized that the company’s loyalty program, Latam Pass, cannot be used for commercial purposes.

In a lawsuit filed against Latam in 2019, a consumer claimed, based on the Consumer Protection Code, recognition of the abusiveness of the new contract clauses of the airline’s frequent flyer program, which prohibited the issuance of airline tickets exceeding 25 third parties within a period of 12 months, under penalty of blocking the accounts.

He claimed to have invested around BRL 32,500 in acquiring points together with Latam’s loyalty program, in which he intended to obtain benefits with the acquisition of airline tickets. However, with Latam’s modification of the loyalty contract and the ban on issuing tickets in bulk to third parties, he had his account suspended and could no longer use his points.

In its defense, Latam argued for its dismissal, demonstrating that there was no abusiveness in the contractual amendment, as it sought not to commercialize the points accumulated with the loyalty program, the personal character of the program for receiving benefits, as well as demonstrating that the author has been duly notified of the contractual amendment.

In the 1st degree, the Court dismissed the claim, understanding that the clauses were not abusive, since they did not limit the author’s right, but only made the program participants loyal and not third parties.

He also pointed out that the author’s commercial use of the platform for purchasing airline tickets does not characterizes a consumer under the terms of art. 2 of the Consumer Protection Code.

Dissatisfied, the appeal was handled by the plaintiff seeking the complete reform of the sentence, at which time the 7th Civil Chamber upheld the groundlessness of the sentence, dismissing the appeal:

“Initially, it should be noted that, regarding the present case, I understand that the consumerist legislation is inapplicable. (…) This is because the documentation attached to the file demonstrates that the plaintiff uses the defendants’ fidelity platform for commercial purposes, that is, aiming to obtain of profit. In fact, in the years 2018/2019, the applicant used the defendant platform to issue 85 airline tickets in favor of third parties outside the contractual relationship, demonstrating that its objective is commercial and not merely personal. Thus , the relationship under analysis should be seen from a civil point of view.