DALLAS — American Airlines is suing a travel website that sells airline tickets and takes advantage of airline pricing quirks to save people money.
American Airlines sued Skiplagged Inc. this week in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, alleging the site was deceptive. It threatened to cancel all tickets sold by New York-based Skiplagged.
In a practice known as skip ticketing, or hidden city ticketing, travelers book a flight that includes at least one stop, but they leave the plane during a stopover. In general, bag hopping isn’t illegal, but airlines claim it’s against their policies.
Last month, the United States kicked a 17 year old When he tried to use this tactic to fly from Gainesville, Fla., to Charlotte, N.C., his ticket listed New York City as a destination, so he was banned from the flight and banned from flying for three years. For teens, it’s cheaper than booking direct flights to Charlotte.
inside litigationAmerican Airlines accused Skiplagged of deceiving consumers into believing they could take advantage of “some sort of secret ‘loophole’,” but said many of Skiplagged’s fares were “higher than consumers would pay if they booked on American’s website or through physical channels.” s price”. US Authorized Agent. ”
“It’s classic bait and switch: lure consumers with the promise of secret fares, then sell them tickets at a higher price,” the lawsuit said.
American said the site was posing as an ordinary consumer to buy tickets and warned customers not to report the arrangement to the airline. It also said Skiplagged was never authorized to resell the airline’s tickets.
“Skiplagged’ conduct was deceptive and abusive,” the airline said in the lawsuit. “Skiplagged has deceived the public into believing that while it has no authority to enter into and issue contracts on American Airlines’ behalf, it can still issue fully valid tickets. It cannot. Every ‘ticket’ issued by Skiplagged risks being voided .”
Skiplagged did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Skiplagged has been sued before. United Airlines and online travel agency Orbitz have accused Aktarer Zaman of touting “prohibited forms of travel”. He was in his early 20s when he founded Skiplagged around 2014. Zaman started a GoFundMe to cover legal costs, eventually reaching a settlement with Orbitz and United’s lawsuit dismissed.
Svlook
