American Airlines is suing the travel website, skiplagged.coma service of price search that helps people book “skiplag tickets” or flights with the planned stopover city as destination. These tickets save people money by exploiting a quirk in airline pricing.
American sued Skiplagged Inc. in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas this week, accusing the website of deception. He threatened to cancel all tickets sold by Skiplagged. In a practice called skilagging, travelers book a flight that includes at least one stopover, but leave the plane during a stopover. Generally, skilagging is not illegal, but airlines claim it violates their policies.
American accuses the site of deceiving travelers by selling flights American Airlines without proper agency agreement, putting the tickets at immediate risk of invalidation. He also accused the site of violating the copyright on its use of American’s logos. “Many fares displayed on the Skiplagged website are higher than what the consumer would pay if they were simply booking a ticket on American’s website or through a genuine authorized agent”is it indicated. “It’s all about bait: enticing consumers with the promise of secret pricing and instead selling the consumer a ticket has a higher price. »
Last month, American kicked a 17-year-old off a robbery and banned him for three years when he tried to use the tactic to steal from GainesvilleFlorida, Charlottein North Carolina, on a ticket indicating new York as its destination. For the teenager, it was cheaper than booking a flight directly to Charlotte.
The airline is seeking an injunction to stop the site from using American logos or posting fare information about its flights, as well as damages. Although American Airlines has expressed contempt for Hidden Cities tickets, it’s not the only company to give it a shot with Skiplagged. In 2014, United Airlines and Orbitz sued the website just a year after it launched, accusing founder Aktarer Zaman of ” unfair competition “ and of “misleading behavior”. Then Southwest Airlines filed a lawsuit against Skiplagged in 2021 after showing the airline’s ticket prices. In the complaint, Southwest’s attorneys said the website was not authorized to “display Southwest fares or sell Southwest flights”.
