Frequent flier loses lawsuit

Airline customers complain about being mistreated on a daily basis, but Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg took his grievance all of the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unfortunately for Ginsberg, the court sided with Northwest Airlines on Wednesday.

In 2008, Northwest declared it had lost patience with the frequent flier — who was also a frequent complainer — and revoked his vaunted Platinum Elite membership.

Ginsberg was outraged. He charged the airline had broken its contract, and was jettisoning longtime customers as part of a cost-cutting move in anticipation of a merger with Delta Airlines.

But in a 9-0 ruling, the court held that the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 protects air carriers against such suits.

— Staff and wire reports