It’s always a bummer when your vacation doesn’t go as planned. Still, a spoiled trip isn’t often cause for legal action. But for Christopher Bisaillon, a guest at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah over the holidays—where operations were disrupted as a result of the ski patrol union strike—the distance was just too great between the vacation he’d planned and the experience he had.

　　According to Bisaillon’s class action lawsuit filed by the Jackson, Wyoming-based Spence Law Firm against Park City’s parent company, Vail Resorts, Inc.: “Plaintiff spent in excess of $15,000 for his family of five to have Vail Resort’s publicized ‘ski experience of a lifetime’ over the holidays. It turned out to be a colossal disaster with the family only being able to ski less than ten runs over the duration of their week-long, Christmas family vacation.”

　　The suit doesn’t just apply to Bisaillon. It also includes everyone who bought lift tickets between December 27, 2024, and January 7, 2025, and asks for damages of an undetermined amount that would likely exceed $5 million. The suit alleges that Vail Resorts failed to adequately notify guests of the strike’s impact, and says the company also failed to deliver on the advertised value of the lift tickets Bisaillon and others purchased.

　　Ski vacations come with a notoriously steep price tag, and Park City is no exception. Over the holidays, a single-day adult lift ticket cost $289, according to the court filing. Including travel, lodging, equipment rentals, dining, and lift tickets, the lawsuit estimates that a family can spend between $10,000 and $20,000 for a week-long trip.

　　Bisaillon, who is based in Illinois, arrived with his family at Park City Mountain Resort on December 28, 2024, one day after the ski patrol union walked out of their locker room to form a picket line. The family planned to ski for the week, but were confounded by hours-long lift lines and little open terrain. The lawsuit alleges just 16 percent of the mountain was accessible.

　　An NBC News segment that aired on January 6 said that only 25 of the resort’s 41 lifts were operating. In the same segment, which is also quoted in the lawsuit, another skier named Peter Nystrom tells NBC, “You kind of had to laugh about it. Like, we’re here in one of the best mountains in the country, waiting three hours in line.”

　　The strike was the latest development in a years-long negotiation between the patroller’s union and corporate leadership, with the patrollers asking for higher wages and better working conditions. On December 14, 2024, the patrollers’ union voted to authorize a strike, and on December 16 informed the National Labor Relations Board that they felt Vail Resorts was negotiating in bad faith.

　　Vail Resorts said the same of the union’s conduct, with Park City’s vice president Dierdre Walsh telling the Salt Lake Tribune on December 16 that they were “deeply disappointed” union leaders “refus[ed] to negotiate in good faith or discuss mediation.”

　　The suit claims that Vail Resorts could reasonably have been expected to know a strike was imminent and warn guests of that possibility in advance on December 16. Instead, many guests—like Bisaillon—arrived at the resort without knowledge of the impending strike.

　　The patroller negotiations, and the possible walkout, were covered in local and national media outlets at the time. However, the suit says that Bisaillon and other guests werent alerted by Vail Resorts. It also alleges that the Park City resort’s website, where guests can buy lift tickets in advance of their visit, didn’t post an update referencing the strike’s impact on visitor experience until January 4, a week after the strike began.

　　Vail Resorts declined to comment to Outside about the lawsuit for this article, and Spence Law Firm did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

　　“It’s business, it’s complicated. [] But at the end of the day, no visitor cares about that,”  New Yorker Greg Moonves told a Utah NPR affiliate station, KPCW, on December 30. He was visiting Park City with his family for a five-day ski trip. “We spent a lot of money to come here, as did everyone else, to have a good time skiing with our families. And at the end of the day, they’re not providing the product that they claim they’re providing.”

　　If a Utah judge determines that the suit fits the parameters for a class action lawsuit, it will continue through the state legal system. Vail Resorts will have the opportunity to settle with the plaintiffs outside of court, or the two parties can proceed to a trial.

　　Meanwhile, the strike ended on January 7, when the patrol union and Vail announced that they had reached a tentative agreement that addresses both partys interests. One official said that the benefits secured by the union, including increased base pay, might be extended to unionized patrollers at other Vail locations.

　　And on Thursday, January 16, Vail Resorts announced that they will offer everyone who skied and snowboarded at Park City during the ski patrol strike credit towards passes for the 2025/26 season, the exact amount of which would depend on how many days they had skied.

　　“We deeply value the trust and loyalty of our guests, and while Park City Mountain was open during the patrol strike, it was not the experience we wanted to provide, Vail Resorts COO Dierdra Walsh wrote in a statement. We are committed to rebuilding the trust and loyalty of our guests by delivering an exceptional experience at Park City Mountain this season and in the future.”