American Airlines, Inc. v. Wolens, 513 U.S. 219, 7 (1995)

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Cite as: 513 U. S. 219 (1995)

Opinion of the Court

vantage members had already earned. Plaintiffs featured American's imposition of capacity controls (limits on seats available to passengers obtaining tickets with AAdvantage credits) and blackout dates (restrictions on dates credits could be used). Conceding that American had reserved the right to change AAdvantage terms and conditions, plaintiffs challenged only the retroactive application of modifications, i. e., cutbacks on the utility of credits previously accumulated. These cutbacks, plaintiffs maintained, violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (Consumer Fraud Act or Act), 815 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 505 (1992) (formerly codified at Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 1211/2, ¶ 261 et

seq. (1991)), and constituted a breach of contract. Plaintiffs currently seek only monetary relief.3

In March 1992, several weeks before our decision in Morales, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected plaintiffs' prayer for an injunction. Such a decree, the Illinois court reasoned, would involve regulation of an airline's current rendition of services, a matter preempted by the ADA. That court, however, allowed the breach-of-contract and Consumer Fraud Act monetary relief claims to survive. The ADA's preemption clause, the Illinois court said, ruled out "only those State laws and regulations that specifically relate to and have more than a tangential connection with an airline's rates, routes or services." American Airlines, Inc. v. Wo-lens, 147 Ill. 2d 367, 373, 589 N. E. 2d 533, 536 (1992). After our decision in Morales, American petitioned for certiorari. The airline charged that the Illinois court, in a decision out of sync with Morales, had narrowly construed the ADA's broadly preemptive § 1305(a)(1). We granted the petition,

3 Plaintiffs no longer pursue requests they originally made for injunctive relief, or for punitive damages for alleged breach of contract. See Brief for Respondents 2, n. 2 (plaintiffs do not here contest holding of Illinois courts that injunctive relief is preempted); id., at 6, n. 9 (plaintiffs "concede that punitive damages traditionally have not been recoverable for a simple breach of contract").

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