Last week, the Ninth Circuit dismissed a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action against Sabre Inc. (Sabre) because the court determined that the lead plaintiff, Shaya Baird, had consented to receiving text messages by providing her phone number when she booked a flight with Hawaiian Airlines. Baird’s complaint alleged that Sabre sent her an unsolicited text message regarding flight notification services. Baird did not respond to that text message and she did not receive any further text messages. Baird argued that she had no choice but to provide her phone number when she booked the flight, and she was not given any opportunity to opt-out of receiving text messages.

The court said in its decision, “Baird knowingly released her phone number to Hawaiian Airlines while making a flight reservation. She did not provide any ‘instructions to the contrary’ indicating that she did not ‘wish to be reached’ at that number.” Moral of the story: if you provide your phone number to your airline, expect a text message or two.