The Points Guy must face American Airlines suit over frequent flier app

The Points Guy LLC must face an American Airlines Group Inc. suit over an app allowing users to track frequent flyer miles from all carriers in one place, a federal judge in Texas ruled.

US District Judge Mark T. Pittman on Friday denied Points Guy’s motion to dismiss the case as improperly filed in federal court in Fort Worth, where American is headquartered. Pittman said the venue was appropriate because a “substantial part of the events giving rise to American’s claims occurred in this district.” 

American filed suit in January, claiming the app Points Guy launched in September 2021 violated the airline’s trademarks and customer privacy rules associated with its AAdvantage loyalty program. Points Guy had preemptively sued American in an attempt to establish that consumers can legally input and manage their own frequent flyer data on a third-party site. 

The airline is seeking a court order requiring Points Guy to remove all data captured and stored in the site associated with AAdvantage member accounts.

Red Ventures LLC, which acquired Points Guy in 2017, was also sued by American and had sought dismissal on the ground that it wasn’t involved in creating the app. But Pittman rejected that argument as well, saying the airline had sufficiently alleged that the company, which also owns online media brands like CNET and Bankrate, played a role in the app’s launch.

American said it didn’t have an immediate comment on Friday’s decision and Points Guy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is American Airlines v. Red Ventures and The Points Guy, 22-cv-00044, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth).