So you want to fly from A to B but discover it’s cheaper to buy a fare for A to B to C? What do you do?
Hidden-city ticketing or ‘skiplagging’, where travellers book a journey from A to C but leave the plane at a layover at B, isn’t new. But at least one airline has had enough of the practice. American Airlines is suing travel website, Skiplagged Inc, which as the name indicates, specialises in the sale of hidden-city tickets.
In a Texas federal court, American accused the website of deceiving the public, asserting that the site tricks consumers into thinking they can exploit “some kind of secret ‘loophole’”.
According to Associated Press, AA says Skiplagged has never been authorised to resell the airline’s tickets and has threatened to cancel every fare the website has sold.
“Skiplagged’s conduct is deceptive and abusive,” American Airlines said in the lawsuit.
“Skiplagged deceives the public into believing that, even though it has no authority to form and issue a contract on American’s behalf, somehow it can still issue a completely valid ticket. It cannot. Every ‘ticket’ issued by Skiplagged is at risk of being invalidated.”
What the website says
While American Airlines and other carriers claim skiplagging violates their policies, the practice is considered legal, AP reports. And Skiplagged Inc makes no secret of its business model.
“Skiplagged makes it easy for you to find the best rates on airfare and hotels. We even show you flights the airlines don’t want you to see,” Skiplagged says on its website.
“Our goal is to empower consumers to use their buying power however they please.”
The website defines hidden-city flights as “itineraries with multiple legs where the traveler exits prior to the final destination”.
“As an example, a traveler who wants to go to San Francisco from New York would book a flight that is ticketed for NYC > San Fran > Seattle and end their travel once they arrive in San Fran and skip the leg to Seattle. This results in savings of up to 80% using Skiplagged.”
Airline competition sometimes results in shorter flights being pricier than longer flights, which makes skiplagging possible.
Precedents
American Airlines isn’t the first carrier to sue Skiplagged Inc.
United Airlines and online travel agency Orbitz also took legal action against New York-based Skiplagged in 2014 for touting “prohibited forms of travel”. The site’s founder, Aktarer Zaman, settled with Orbitz, but the court dismissed the United lawsuit.
A recent study found that the average international return economy airfare has increased by more than 50 per cent since prior to the pandemic, while domestic airfares have risen by 10 per cent over 2019 prices.
