Supreme Court Rules "10-Year Validity Period for Airline Mileage" Is Justified... Airline Wins Case

The Supreme Court has ruled that the current airline terms and conditions, which set the mileage validity period at 10 years, are legitimate.

According to the legal community on the 29th, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Kim Sang-hwan) recently finalized the appellate ruling in which the consumer group Consumer Sovereignty Citizens' Assembly (Consumer Sovereignty) lost the lawsuit against Korean Air and Asiana Airlines demanding mileage payment.

The Supreme Court stated, "The airline terms set a validity period of 10 years, which corresponds to the civil statute of limitations rather than the commercial statute of limitations," and added, "It cannot be concluded that customers are placed in a significantly disadvantageous position." The Commercial Act stipulates a commercial statute of limitations of 5 years for commercial transactions, but since the validity period was set longer at 10 years, it is not disadvantageous to customers. Credit cards and membership points typically have validity periods of 5 years or less.

Furthermore, considering that airline mileage can be used in small amounts not only for bonus tickets but also for additional services, hotels, travel products, and that most foreign airlines with validity periods set short terms within 4 years, the 10-year validity period is difficult to view as an "unfairly disadvantageous clause to customers" or a "clause lacking fairness" under the Terms and Conditions Act.

Korean Air and Asiana Airlines introduced a 5-year validity period for mileage starting in 2008 and extended it to 10 years from 2010. For mileage accumulated before 2008, the validity period remained unlimited, while the validity period system was applied to mileage accumulated after 2008. In response, Consumer Sovereignty filed a lawsuit in 2019 against these airlines, claiming "infringement of property rights" for mileage that expired due to the validity period.