By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The Seoul High Court ruled that a credit card company, which changed its calculation rule on an airline mileage program in favor of itself, must reinstate the previous mileage allotment to its card users, upholding the decision of a lower court.
The court ruled Tuesday that former LG Card _ now Shinhan Card _ must provide the plaintiff Chang Jin-young with an extra 41,530 points of airline mileage, saying ``the card company's unilateral change on mileage rules is in violation of contracts with clients.''
Chang, who served dual roles for this case as a lawyer for himself and sole plaintiff, said he subscribed to LG Travel Card in 2004 as it promised to give 2 airline mileage points per 1,000 won spent with the card in association with Asiana Airlines, the nation's second largest airline service provider. But the card company changed its provision on Mar. 1, 2005, without prior notice, to 2 airline miles per 1,500 won.
The card issuer has claimed there was no legal problem, presenting its subscription conditions which say ``Every additional service, including airline mileage programs, are subject to change without advance notification.''
The lawyer filed the lawsuit against the company with the Seoul Central District Court in January 2006, alleging that the company failed to fully notify the card's contract conditions to its clients.
In its first ruling on Dec. 7, 2006, a district court ruled in favor of the plaintiff but the company appealed the case.
This ruling is likely to usher in a series of similar lawsuits.
Preparing for class action in March, Chang said as of now, a total of 470 subscribers to the controversial credit card have agreed to legal action. He also plans to lodge a compensation lawsuit against other card companies running airline mileage programs in collaboration with Korean Air and Asiana Airlines under similar contract provision.