“What the airline is saying is: If you ever have a dispute with us, the only way you can pursue this is in private,” said Deborah Hensler, Ph.D., a professor of law at Stanford Law School. “These types of agreements are usually an effort to prevent people from having an effective way of challenging a company on what might arguably be a legal violation.”

“I would presume that if they’re at the forefront of doing this, and it turns out to work for them, then other airlines will do this, too,” Dr. Hensler said.