Lawsuit Alleges United Aviate Academy Broke Educational Promises

A recent class action lawsuit against United Aviate Academy claims that the program talked a big game about its flight school education that was, in reality, painfully underfunded and short-staffed. It looks to represent all students that attended the academy within the last three years.

United Aviate Academy (UAA), which debuted in 2020, is advertised as an accelerated flight training program that aims to support the carrier’s hiring goals. It includes ground school, simulator training, and flight training to give pilots a direct pipeline to United Airlines. On paper, these are all good qualities for flight schools to have.

Several UUA students, however, say otherwise. Two dozen of the program’s former students have filed a 39-page lawsuit against the academy, claiming that it misrepresented its offerings in a big way.

The case alleges that United drew in students with its big-name charm, taking tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for an overcrowded, under-resourced flight training program. It states that UAA couldn’t keep a sufficient number of flight instructors staffed, which led to students frequently getting assigned new instructors and going long periods without proper lessons.

This issue was further aggravated by a lack of aircraft, with one student noting that he went weeks without training since there were only around 20 planes for 500 students. Over two years, he stated, he was only able to accumulate 300 flight hours.

To make matters worse, the academy ignored its 325-person capacity and went from “338 students to 382 in March of 2024,” the suit explained. This, along with its seemingly unstable financial situation, earned UAA a stern warning from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) in May 2024. It was later put on probation and voluntarily withdrew its accreditation early this year.

Ironically, at around the same time as the ACCSC recognized issues with the program, UAA reportedly began to boot students because they weren’t completing courses on time. They did not address the fact that many were physically incapable of getting flight time due to the academy’s shortfalls.

The class action seeks to represent those who attended UAA between December 2021 and January 2025.

FMI: www.aviateacademy.com