Gap at the stopover? The American Airlines travel hack process begins Monday in Fort Worth

Next week in federal court in Fort Worth, American Airlines plans to challenge a popular fare trick known as “skiplagging,” favored by some passengers but not airlines.

In August 2023, American filed suit against New York-based Skiplagged Inc., a leading online marketer of the practice, also known as “hidden city ticketing.” Under certain conditions, travelers can save money by booking a flight to a supposed destination with a stopover at the actual desired destination; Instead of boarding the connecting flight, they then exit the airport – a strategy that only works for passengers traveling without checked luggage.

American’s civil lawsuit, scheduled to go before a jury in U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman’s court beginning Monday, alleges that Skiplagged Inc.’s marketing of the practice violates the airline’s ticketing policies, putting buyers on flights over Booking Skiplagged at the risk of having your tickets invalid violates American’s trademarks and fraudulently promises customers lower fares than they end up paying because of hidden fees.

“It is a classic bait-and-switch tactic: luring consumers with the promise of secret fares and instead selling them a ticket at a higher price,” the airline’s complaint states.

American is seeking at least $94.4 million in damages. Dee J. Kelly Jr. of Fort Worth, the lead attorney in the American Airlines lawsuit, and William L. Kirkman of Fort Worth, lead attorney for Skiplagged, declined to comment on the case.

In court filings, Skiplagged generally denied the allegations made in American’s lawsuit. It accused the airline of “monopolistic and predatory pricing practices” and claimed that American’s use of trademarks on Skiplagged’s website was not “trademark infringement within the meaning of the nominative fair use doctrine” and only served to “promote AA’s flights to identify and distinguish such flights from those of other airlines.”

Skiplagged has already been sued under similar circumstances. United Airlines and online travel agency Orbitz accused Aktarer Zaman, who founded Skiplagged around 2014 when he was in his early 20s, of promoting “forbidden forms of travel.” Zaman started a GoFundMe to help pay his legal fees. He settled with Orbitz and the United lawsuit was dismissed.

The Texas Lawbook is an online news publication focused on business law in Texas. For more information on this and other legal news, please visit texaslawbook.net.

AT A GLANCE

What is ski lagging? This is a travel booking method in which a passenger buys a ticket with a stopover but deliberately skips the final leg to save money.

This is how it works: When booking a flight, a traveler selects a flight to a destination with a stopover in the actual destination city. They then left the airport with their hand luggage at the intermediate stop and skipped the last leg of the journey.

Possible savings: Skiplagging can provide a tempting alternative to direct flights to the same destination and may entice travelers to try to save on airfare in certain situations.

Possible risks: Airlines consider skilagging a violation of their terms of service and may penalize travelers by terminating frequent flyer accounts or refusing service. This could even result in travelers being banned from flying with the airline.

The Texas Lawbook is an online news publication focused on business law in Texas. For more information on this and other legal news, please visit texaslawbook.net.