Last month American Airlines took a teenager into a security room and interrogated him, eventually banning him from flying the airline for using Skiplagged.
His parents bought him a ticket from Gainesville, Florida to New York via Charlotte, when he only planned to travel to Charlotte. He didn’t plan to use his connecting flight, but the New York trip was cheaper.
Now American Airlines is suing Skiplagged. They claim that,
- Skiplagged is selling their tickets without authorization
- Skiplagged is using their trademarks without authorization
- And they’re a “bait and switch” because consumers can find cheaper fares at AA.com
United Airlines and Orbitz sued Skiplagged and lost. Southwest sued and settled. Trademark infringement was one of Southwest’s claims.
The argument that Skiplagged lures customers in but doesn’t save them money is rich. American Airlines no longer provides its cheapest fares to agencies that do not also sell its ancillaries like paid seats. American has stopped letting some sites sell its cheapest fares, and now claims they’re engaged in bait and switch by not selling their cheapest fares.
Meanwhile American cares about Skiplagged because they’re undermining American’s pricing and saving customers money.
Throwaway ticketing is a practice that’s gone on for decades. Airlines often charge more money for non-stops than they do for connecting itineraries. So people book a flight with a connection through the city they want to travel to, and just don’t take that second connecting flight. As a result, they can often save money, but there are risks.
It is not illegal to engage in throwaway ticketing. It violates airline rules. And people disagree with the ethics. You ‘agree’ to the airline’s contract, with terms you likely do not know about, when you buy the ticket. Is it unethical to violate an adhesion contract, with whatever airlines decide to throw in there? You’re buying seats on two flights, isn’t it up to you whether to use those seats or not? To the airlines, though, a trip between Gainesville and New York is different than a trip from Gainesville and Charlotte and comes with different pricing. Flying to Charlotte instead of New York, at a cheaper price, is stealing.
More important than the ethics for many are the risks. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, your airline may want to re-route you through a different hub than the city you actually wanted to fly to (and get off in). You can’t check bags, because those will go to your final ticketed destination rather than where you’re flying. And if you’re forced to gate check a bag when overhead bins are full, you’re in a bind. Plus, you can only book these one way because if you throw away anything other than the last flight in your itinerary the rest of the trip gets cancelled.
And of course since you can’t check bags on a ticket like this, you really shouldn’t check in at the airport and involve a live agent in the process. Check in online or using the mobile app. And if you don’t do that, at least use a kiosk.
If the Biden administration’s proposed airline fee disclosure rules come to fruition American won’t need to sue. They’ll just be able to shut down Skiplagged.
The Biden DOT would require any website displaying airline schedules to show specific fee information prominently. They treat airlines as owning that fee information, and allow airlines to choose which sites to work with and provide fee data to. By not distributing the fee information that websites would be required by law to display, airlines can shut down services like Skiplagged that they do not like.
By this logic, if you buy a non-refundable ticket from A – B- C and then need to change it and there are no seats on your revised travel dates, so you buy a ticket on United, then you have violated AA’s terms?
They are not being sued for “saving customers too much money” – they are basically being sued for encouraging customers to violate AA terms and conditions (which are similar to those of DL and UA). It is similar to a tortuous interference suit and frankly AA has both standing and a case. Skiplagged could be put out of business by this as frankly they should. People can complain about airfares or how not allowing skiplagging (or hidden city ticketing) isn’t “fair” but that doesn’t matter. You break AA’s rules (or those of the other 2 major airlines) and they are well within their rights to take whatever action they deem appropriate
AC,
Should AA sue itself? I can find the same information Skiplagged provides on AA’s own site. Sure it’s slightly more work but AA lets you filter by connections. Is that now illegal?
I used to think like AC, but I have now seen the “progressive” light. Following the rules is for chumps and racists. Maybe all the years of watching stuff being shoplifted by the cart load, and then being told I’m every kind of -ist for thinking it is bad has finally convinced me. AA can take their “rules (not even laws mind you) and shove it.
If “Skiplagged” isn’t authorized to sell tickets or use American Airlines’ trademarks they they should be held accountable. As far as the actual practice of “skiplagging”, each airline, railroad, bus company, etc. publishes their tariffs as submitted to the DOT. Whether the passenger agrees or disagrees with the practice is irrelevant. The tariffs are…the rules as filed with the government. “I’m not going to read all of those tariff rules! Too much crap!” Well, how many times have you read your credit card, online bank, lease agreement, etc? If the person buying the ticket doesn’t like the tariff…find another carrier. Simple as that.
jcil get off your political high horse and keep to the subject
so, sue the company which exploits your own stupidity. Skiplagged doesn’t make the fare costs or the rules… AA does. This is yet another stupid oversight of AA… I say, let SKIPLAGGED win.
Gary, one other precaution, which I’m sure you know, but is good to remind readers of, is that it’s better not to include your frequent flyer number if you do this with any frequency. Although in doing so you’re giving up any status benefits.
As I’m reading this, I can’t help but wonder why airlines charge more for a direct flight to Charlotte that a stopover flight to New York via Charlotte? This kind of pricing has never made sense to anyone. As long as this nonsense pricing exists, people will find ways to “skirt” it, with or without Skiplagged.
Here’s another tip for staying under the radar on this. The kid who got detained had presented his North Carolina driver’s license as his ID, which raised a red flag that he was likely traveling home to NC rather than continuing to NY. So instead, when asked to show ID to an airline agent, present something that doesn’t show your address. Passports, passport cards and Global Entry cards are all valid forms of Real ID that don’t carry an address.
I can see AA’s point and Skiplagged will have to answer in court-but to take a kid in a room and interrogate him when he’s clueless. What? Are we Russia now? This is America, obviously not to be confused with American Airlines.
The other ethical side about buying seats you will not use is that those seats may not be become available to people who actually want them, or may become more expensive as flights fill up. I fly in and out of a non-hub airport and I really wouldn’t like to see a lot of seats here going to skiplaggers. And yes, “We will check your carry on bag to your final destination at no charge to you,” is often enough a statement, not an offer.
I hope AA wins. They have every right to set their pricing and enforce their terms and conditions. How hard is it to understand that nonstop flights are more desirable than connecting flights and are therefore more expensive? It’s simple supply and demand. The same way that theater tickets closer to the front are more expensive. You don’t get a discount if you only plan on seeing the first half of the show. If you want the ticket, pay the price. And don’t complain when the airline enforces their own rules.
Airline PR drones are out in force today.the airlines set the prices. They play no end of games on trying to squeeze every dollar they can.
They sell these tickets. But the osssebgers who get off early are now to blame? Morally? Pathetic.
The airlines are tax-dollar sucking abominations.