Dec 31, 2014, 12:15 am
Last edit by: J.Edward
Related New Articles for United/Orbitz vs. Skiplagged.com
(Mod Note: While some FTers have chosen to contribute to skiplagged's legal defense we request a direct link to do so not be placed in the wiki.)
(Mod Note: While some FTers have chosen to contribute to skiplagged's legal defense we request a direct link to do so not be placed in the wiki.)
UA sues "hidden city" search site Skiplagged.com
Nov 18, 2014, 7:17 pm
#1
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UA sues "hidden city" search site Skiplagged.com
Bloomberg: United, Orbitz Sue Travel Site Over ‘Hidden City’ Tickets
Public safety concerns?! 
United Airlines Inc. (UAL) and Orbitz Worldwide LLC sued to prevent the travel website Skiplagged.com from helping consumers buy what the companies call improper “hidden city” plane tickets that undercut their sales.
Skiplagged helps travelers find cheap airfares by enabling them to book multistop flights and deplane before the flights reach their as-booked final destination. Sometimes a fare that travels through a hub city to another location can be cheaper than a ticket to the hub city alone.
“In its simplest form, a passenger purchases a ticket from city A to city B to city C but does not travel beyond city B,” according to the companies’ complaint. “‘Hidden City’ ticketing is strictly prohibited by most commercial airlines because of logistical and public-safety concerns.”
Skiplagged helps travelers find cheap airfares by enabling them to book multistop flights and deplane before the flights reach their as-booked final destination. Sometimes a fare that travels through a hub city to another location can be cheaper than a ticket to the hub city alone.
“In its simplest form, a passenger purchases a ticket from city A to city B to city C but does not travel beyond city B,” according to the companies’ complaint. “‘Hidden City’ ticketing is strictly prohibited by most commercial airlines because of logistical and public-safety concerns.”
Nov 18, 2014, 7:26 pm
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Nov 18, 2014, 8:18 pm
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Would have to do 2-one way tickets, as UA's aggressive IT systems would cancel the return if you tried hidden city ticketing on the outbound of an itin.
What are the grounds for the lawsuit, though? "Public safety" is not a tort.
What are the grounds for the lawsuit, though? "Public safety" is not a tort.
Nov 18, 2014, 8:21 pm
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UA sues hidden city search site
Can UA strike back at those that do it? Take away the miles?
Nov 18, 2014, 8:25 pm
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Yes they can....probably wouldn't happen for a single infringement or two...one could always say that something happened mid-trip that caused them not to take the last leg...but if there was a pattern, I would assume that UA could close their accounts.
Nov 18, 2014, 8:35 pm
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Lot of in this article. Would love for this case to trial.
From the article: "American Airlines Group Inc., in a letter to travel agents on its website, suggested it will have to raise fares if it keeps losing money from the practice." Read: Are you listening UA/DL/WN? Nice signaling to the so-called competition.
in this article. Would love for this case to trial.From the article: "American Airlines Group Inc., in a letter to travel agents on its website, suggested it will have to raise fares if it keeps losing money from the practice." Read: Are you listening UA/DL/WN? Nice signaling to the so-called competition.
Last edited by XLR26; Nov 18, 2014 at 8:46 pm
Nov 18, 2014, 8:52 pm
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“In its simplest form, a passenger purchases a ticket from city A to city B to city C but does not travel beyond city B,” according to the companies’ complaint. “‘Hidden City’ ticketing is strictly prohibited by most commercial airlines because of logistical and public-safety concerns.”
Its strictly prohibited because airlines want to rip off people going from A to B, but consider A-B-C to be "gravy". I don't blame people for doing it, but its not 'risk free'. As for the airlines, hidden city, throw-away RT's, and min-stay/saturday night requirements are all about making sure "business travelers" don't take advantage of "leisure" fares.
Nov 18, 2014, 9:39 pm
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lol, safety concerns? logistical concerns? what about misconnects?
Its strictly prohibited because airlines want to rip off people going from A to B, but consider A-B-C to be "gravy". I don't blame people for doing it, but its not 'risk free'. As for the airlines, hidden city, throw-away RT's, and min-stay/saturday night requirements are all about making sure "business travelers" don't take advantage of "leisure" fares.
Its strictly prohibited because airlines want to rip off people going from A to B, but consider A-B-C to be "gravy". I don't blame people for doing it, but its not 'risk free'. As for the airlines, hidden city, throw-away RT's, and min-stay/saturday night requirements are all about making sure "business travelers" don't take advantage of "leisure" fares.
The classic example that I see lots of at my airport is XXX-ORD-MKE. AA and UA fly the ORD-MKE leg from ORD for logistics, but the price leader, the LCC, doesn't. It would be impossible to fly XXX-ORD-MKE on most of the LCC's and drop the ORD-MKE leg, as their hub is not ORD, while AA/UA get the ticket fraud due to their route structure.
It isn't just on "business fares", it's on all of the fares that the LCC publishes, be them "business" or "leisure".
Nov 18, 2014, 10:42 pm
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Just curious, how does the airline know you left the plane? On a continuing flight, are they actually counting seats? That would seem the simplest way of knowing something was amiss (and then going further to see who's missing).
Nov 18, 2014, 10:58 pm
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UA sues hidden city search site
I presume you have bp scanned in the connecting city. Plus there's often a plane change, causing need for the bp.
Nov 18, 2014, 10:59 pm
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It's pretty obvious, isn't it?
And how often have you ever been on a flight where they allowed people to stay on the plane at a stopover? If you don't put your BP through the gate reader to board the second segment, the rest of your itinerary goes poof.
And how often have you ever been on a flight where they allowed people to stay on the plane at a stopover? If you don't put your BP through the gate reader to board the second segment, the rest of your itinerary goes poof.
Nov 18, 2014, 10:59 pm
#13
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On WN, they count seats.
Anyway, this isn't about continuing flights. Hidden city has nothing especially to do with continuing flights.
Nov 18, 2014, 11:05 pm
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Should have said a flight that continues, not a continuing flight. But you're right, I don't remember the last time I was on a flight that continued on to another airport with everyone still on it. Well, actually that's not quite right. Flying LAX-SBA-SJC a few years ago, they did in fact allow me to remain on the plane. Which now seems a bit odd; how did I get mileage credited for that last segment?
Nov 18, 2014, 11:31 pm
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Suing this site is laughable in the first place - claiming a public safety concern is gibberish nonsense some overpaid corporate lawyer pulled out of their rear end.
It's on the airlines to detect this behavior and carry out a contractually supported action against the infringer - in the case of a MP member, they could lose their account, however if the person is not a MP member there is little the airline can do except block that person from traveling if they do it too many times.
Only an idiot judge, or one who is "owned" by corporate interests would allow this suit out of the starting gate if it gets to trial.
It's on the airlines to detect this behavior and carry out a contractually supported action against the infringer - in the case of a MP member, they could lose their account, however if the person is not a MP member there is little the airline can do except block that person from traveling if they do it too many times.
Only an idiot judge, or one who is "owned" by corporate interests would allow this suit out of the starting gate if it gets to trial.
