Skiplagging. It’s controversial. It’s a headache
for airlines. And it’s something that really divides the internet!
Recently, American Airlines filed a lawsuit against the travel website Skiplagged for
unauthorized sales of the airline's low-cost tickets. The lawsuit referred to the practice
of skiplagging as a quote "classic bait and switch" which is affecting the carrier's
revenue for seats on a flight. So, for todays video, let’s look at this particular case,
along with a few others, and discuss the controversial practice of skiplagging.
So Perhaps its natural that we start by explaining the practice of skpialgging.
This is a practice wherein a passenger, in order to save money, would book an itinerary with
the flyer's true and intended destination being one of the stopovers within a longer itinerary.
In the complex world of air travel pricing, some itineraries are priced lower than others,
despite being longer. This is due to an airline’s desire to be more competitive
than rivals on particular city pairs, where the competition would perhaps offer a direct service.
Let’s use the example offered by the website Skiplagged.com:
A flight from New York to Orlando might be $250,
but a similar flight from New York to Dallas with a layover in Orlando might be $130.
The pricing reflects customer demand as well as airline competition on these particular routes.
So how is skiplagging executed?
Well, to put things simply, it happens when the passenger leaves the airport
during the quote-unquote layover (their intended destination). This results in the
seat being empty for the onward leg of the traveler’s booked itinerary.
With the subsequent flights in an itinerary booked by the passenger,
a seat which otherwise could have been sold to another passenger remains empty. This is
the core reason why skiplagging is such a controversial customer practice that
is generally frowned upon by airlines, as in the end, it is revenue lost for the carriers.
American is the latest airline to take legal action against the
practice of skiplagging, but it’s not the first.
Indeed, there have been previous incidents with airlines such as Lufthansa and United - cases in
which the carriers have lost their lawsuits against skiplaggers. This
indicates that courts are on the passengers' side, seemingly making the practice legal.
So what about American Airlines’ case specifically?
Well, as reported by The Brunswick News, the airline is suing Skiplagged.com,
which is a travel website known for selling extremely low fares. The airline is claiming
that the website is deceiving customers into purchasing tickets that can be voided at any time.
This lawsuit comes on the heels of a recent incident wherein the airline banned a teenage
passenger from flying with American Airlines for three years for using such tickets.
The passenger in question was ticketed to fly from Gainesville, Florida,
to New York City with a layover in Charlotte.
From the airline's perspective, it is much more than lost revenue. That’s
because a no-show passenger for a flight can cause operational chaos for the airline.
The airline would have to wait till the very
last minute to know whether the passenger would show up or not.
Then upon deciding to offload the passenger, the airline would have to locate the passenger's
checked luggage within the aircraft cargo hold and offload it for safety reasons,
which could then result in the flight being delayed for departure.
American Airlines said in a statement to NBC News,
"If a customer knowingly or unknowingly purchases a ticket and doesn’t fly all of the segments in
their itinerary, it can lead to operational issues with checked bags and prevent other customers from
booking a seat when they may have an urgent need to travel. Intentionally creating an empty seat
that could have been used by another customer or team member is an all-around bad outcome."
With this statement in mind, it’s important to note that, for people intentionally skiplagging,
the search for checked baggage is unlikely to happen, as passengers not intending to travel
onwards should be careful enough NOT to check any bags. Indeed, it’s standard practice for airlines
to have a checked bag transferred through to the final destination listed on the itinerary.
But regardless, the lawsuit also claims that Skiplagged.com does not employ American Airlines
travel agents and thus has no authority to form contracts on behalf of the airline with
the passengers. Furthermore, the airline is suing the website for trademark and copyright
infringement for the unauthorized use of the airline's logo on the website.
The airline reportedly expressed its frustration that in such a situation,
the skiplagger is intentionally leaving a seat empty which could have been beneficial
for another passenger with an actual need for flying that particular sector.
The act of skiplagging is something that has been a point of contention between airlines and
passengers for years now, and there does not seem to be a unified approach regarding tackling this.
While airlines are definitely against skiplagging, they still have to follow the nation's laws.
While Lufthansa has previously tried to sue a passenger for skiplagging, it is interesting that
the carrier will allow passengers to skip segments of their itinerary without any ramifications if
the flights were booked from Italy. That’s because the country's law actually allows this! Similarly,
in 2018, the Spanish court set a precedent when it ruled that skiplagging flights are legal.
Going back even further, United Airlines also attempted to sue Skiplagged back in 2015,
accusing the site of quote "unfair competition
and deceptive behavior," but the case was ultimately thrown out.
While it isn't illegal, skiplagging will almost certainly get you in trouble with
your chosen airline (if you get caught). The practice is against most US carriers'
conditions of carriage and results in a loss of revenue for the carrier.
While it seems you could get away with it more frequently in previous years,
it seems far less viable today - this is in large part due to websites like Skiplagged
making the practice much more conspicuous, thus forcing airlines to take action.
The outcome of American's lawsuit will likely set an industry precedent for the practice.
The airline is accusing Skiplagged of quote "often charging consumers more than if they
had booked a ticket directly with American or through an authorized agent of American."
At the end of the day, if we were to see things from the passenger perspective,
the airline sets a price for a particular itinerary and the passenger pays that
price. Thus, many passengers will feel that it is well within their
rights to leave a seat empty if they want to. After all, they paid for it!
So what about you? What do you think of this practice? And Have you ever skiplagged
before? Let us know your opinions and experiences in the comments section!
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