2023-09-01 22:48:00
In all, 55 cases are being processed in the Justice of Mato Grosso do Sul in individual and entity actions
123 Miles advertisement with celebrities at the airport. (Photo: Process reproduction)
At least 55 consumers from Mato Grosso do Sul and two associations filed a lawsuit against the travel company 123 Milhas, after it announced on August 18 this year that it had suspended the so-called “promo” packages, which offered cheaper airline tickets and flexible dates. On August 29th, 123 announced that it had filed for judicial recovery at the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais.
There are individual actions and consumer protection entities, and in one of them, the claim for compensation for moral damages reaches R$ 200 million. In another, the request is that this damage not be valued at less than R$ 1 million.
One of the actions filed is by ABCCON/MS (Brazilian Citizenship and Consumer Association of Mato Grosso do Sul) and seeks full compensation for damages caused by trip cancellations. One of the victims is from Campo Grande and bought for himself and his son, on April 23, 2023, two airline tickets on the “promo” line to Fortaleza (CE). The departure was scheduled for October 8th and the return for the 15th of the same month. The package was purchased for R$ 1,549.30. The company suspended the package, even though it had already been paid, and canceled the consumer’s trip.
Making use of the Consumer Defense Code, the association mentions that the company must offer not only “vouchers” to be exchanged for other products marketed by 123 Milhas itself, but “the law ensures the consumer the fulfillment of the contract, the exchange for another product or the termination of the contract with the restitution of the amounts and losses and damages, being, therefore, an illegal and abusive manifestation the limitation imposed by the defendants”.
The association asks for collective moral damages and that the company be forced to issue canceled tickets and accommodation; contractual termination, with immediate cancellation of the installments due, for those who purchased in installments and immediate return of the amounts paid, with corrections; and finally, that the company and its partners be condemned to pay compensation for individual and collective moral damages, “due to the practice of misleading advertising and the violation of legitimate trust, harmful to the entire consumer market”, in at least BRL 1 million, with interest, from August 18, 2023.
Another public civil action is filed by Adecon/MS (Association for Consumer Defense of Mato Grosso do Sul), with the same bias exalts that “the claim is about the largest online agency for the sale of airline tickets in Brazil and we are close to witnessing the greatest collective damage in the airline ticket segment in the history of this country”.
In this case, the entity wants payment of collective moral damages of R$ 200 million to be reverted to the Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights.
In it, the association alleges that the company carries out expensive advertising campaigns, with acclaimed celebrities, “such as singers of country music Zezé di Camargo, Sorocaba, in addition to the presenter Bruno de Luca, of the travel program “Vai pra onde?” television channel Multishow, among other celebrities”. This, to prove the company’s millionaire investments in advertising in recent years.
There are also individual actions, mostly with consumers from Campo Grande, but also from Dourados, Nova Andradina, Naviraí, Três Lagoas, Anaurilândia and Bataguassu. All of them after the announcement of suspension of packages by the company on August 18th.
Individual – The first action filed in court is by a lawyer from Campo Grande who filed a petition against 123 Milhas on August 19. He mentions that he bought from the company, in August 2022, air tickets for his family (04 people) to travel to Orlando (Florida – USA) for R$ 5,035.80, with departure scheduled for October 6, 2023 and return for the 20th of October 2023.
The lawyer mentions that he did all the vacation planning with the family and that the cancellation of the tickets “in addition to the financial inconvenience, causes an immeasurable emotional upheaval”. If he bought the tickets today, it wouldn’t cost less than R$ 18,597.00 and one of his requests is that 123 Milhas be ordered to pay that amount so that he can buy other airline tickets.
But, in addition, because the tickets were canceled 47 days before the trip, he asks for moral damages in the amount of R$ 10,000. In a preliminary decision, Judge Eliane de Freitas Lima Vicente, from the 10th Special Court of the Central Court, designated a hearing between the parties for September 25.
The company has already responded to the demand, claiming to have an open request for judicial recovery in the Justice of Minas Gerais and asking that the lawyer’s process be suspended. There is still no manifestation from the 10th Court or the author about the case.
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