Tanen

Plaintiff and appellant Mitch Tanen (Tanen) bought a $100 travel certificate from defendant and respondent Southwest Airlines Co. (Southwest) in February 2005. He attempted to redeem it 14 months later, after its stated expiration date. When Southwest refused to honor the travel certificate, Tanen sued, asserting that the expiration date violated Civil Code section 1749.5, which makes it unlawful to sell a gift certificate that contains an expiration date. Southwest demurred, contending that Tanen’s claims were preempted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (ADA). ( 49 U.S.C. § 41713 .) The trial court agreed and sustained the demurrer.

We affirm. For a claim to be preempted by the ADA, two things must be true: (1) the claim must relate to airline rates, routes or services; and (2) the claim must derive from the enactment or enforcement of state law. Here, both prongs of this test are met. First, Tanen’s claims relate to “services” because they concern Southwest’s sale of gift certificates that can be used to purchase airline travel. Second, his claims derive from state law because it is on a California statute, Civil Code section 1749.5, that Tanen bases his…