Rao v. Era Alaska Airlines

22 F.Supp.3d 529 (2014)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In Maryland, Ds utilize the online service Sabre, which allows bookings, reservations, itineraries, and ticketing by travel agencies and individual customers. Sabre is held by Sabre Holdings a travel technology company which includes Travelocity and Expedia and has an office in Bethesda, MD. In 2010, Ps reserved, booked, and paid for services offered by Ds using the internet travel site expedia.com 'Expedia' in Maryland. The flight P purchased was from Kodiak, Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska on D. Upon arrival in Anchorage, Ps noticed a case of jewelry and cash was missing. Ps sued D in Maryland for torts arising out of the loss of the property. Ds moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction on the grounds that Ps' claims arise out of a flight within Alaska operated by an airline that transacts business only within Alaska. Ps respond by arguing that jurisdiction in Maryland is proper because Ps purchased the tickets for their intra-Alaska flight over the internet, which is sufficient to give Maryland personal jurisdiction over Ds. Ds opposed the suit and a motion to amend because D never purposefully engaged in business in Maryland and merely allowed a travel website to advertise its flight information to make a purchase not through D but through the travel website.