Aktarer Zaman is 22 years old, still a baby really. Yet he's set the travel industry ablaze with his website, skiplagged.com, and infuriated the airlines by going public with what has long been something of a well-known secret, as oxymoronic as that sounds.
We're talking, of course, about "hidden city ticketing" and the reason why United Airlines and the online travel agency Orbitz are suing Zaman.
But what sounds like one of those classic stories of the little guy vs. the big corporation - or David vs. Goliath - might not be. Because what this really comes down to is a matter of personal ethics.
Here's the background. Hidden city ticketing has been around almost since the Wright Brothers. How it works is almost astonishingly simple, albeit with a couple of caveats. Let's say you want to fly from New York to Dallas and the cost of a one-way ticket on American Airlines between the two cities is $350. But you realize there's an available ticket out there for less, say for $250, that goes from New York to Phoenix, but with a layover in Dallas.
Boom. You book that flight and simply get off in Dallas, That's $100 saved, although your sun, moon and stars have to align - i.e., you can't have any checked baggage since it would go through to Phoenix; in virtually all cases your hidden city destination needs to be an airline's hub, somewhere it flies through regularly; and it has to be a one-way ticket since any part of a flight itinerary that isn't used results in the rest of the entire reservation being cancelled.
If all those working parts turn out to be advantageous to you, great. You just saved money.
For now.
The problem with hidden city ticketing, and Zaman's publicity of it and monetizing of it on skiplagged.com, is that it not only costs the airlines money but it breaks the contract you agree to every time you buy a ticket. (Read it sometime. Fascinating stuff).
United Airlines is suing Zaman for obvious reasons. Orbitz is suing because skiplagged.com was linking to Orbitz, and the online travel agent didn't want to lose its bookings with United.
All that said, while United is taking a beating on this - Zaman has raised $50,000 on gofundme.com for his defense - there is a method to the madness and a reason why United or any airline is against hidden city ticketing. Because in the long run, it just might end up costing you, and all consumers, anyway.
You have to keep in mind that airlines are a different breed. For instance, they all have computer models that tell them how many seats on a flight are typically booked, how many are used, how many are no-shows, and so on. Using the hidden city ticketing to jump off the plane at a layover not only fouls that system up, but it prevents the airline from making money by selling a seat you should have been in on the second leg of the journey. That can also result in a bumping up of the fares later on down the road.
It's a vicious circle, yes, and I know it sounds like a case of defending the indefensible when it comes to airlines and their profits.
But in the end, what it really comes down to is a question of ethics and personal choice. It might not be illegal - nobody's going to be at the gate in Dallas waiting to arrest you if you get off the plane - but that doesn't make it right, either.
Personally? I think the kid has chutzpah for coming up with skiplagged.com. His decision to publicize what had been travel's dirty little secret is admirable. But that same decision is also flawed if he thought he could take on the airlines and win.
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