It's the great big travel secret of the airline industry, and United Airlines and online travel agency Orbitz want it stopped.
It's called "Hidden City Ticketing," a practice that airlines ban but, in reality, don't have much power to enforce since it isn't illegal. Now United and Orbitz are suing the website Skiplagged.com, which lists and sells these fares, saying it "maliciously" interferes with (and undercuts) their sales.
Here's how it works. Let's say a passenger wants to travel from New York to Charlotte and it costs $500 roundtrip, for argument's sake. But then the passenger finds a fare for $375 from New York to Miami, but with a layover in Charlotte. Passenger books the cheaper fare, gets off the plane in Charlotte and doesn't continue on to Miami.
Boom. An extra buck-and-a-quarter in their pocket for the trip.
But an extra buck-and-a-quarter the airlines aren't getting in their pocket, hence it's a practice the industry frowns on.
Again, it's not illegal, but airlines don't like to lose money and have wording written into their ticket contracts as such that prohibit the practice. Rarely do they go after passengers unless they are chronic abusers of hidden city ticketing, however.
United and Orbitz filed suit in United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division on Monday. Named as defendant is Aktarer Zaman, owner of Skiplagged.com.
The suit claims that "Defendant Zaman, operator of Skiplagged, has used his website to intentionally and maliciously interfere with Plaintiffs' contracts and business relations in the airline industry, and in doing so, has falsely associated Skiplagged with Orbitz and United. By promoting prohibited forms of travel on Skiplagged, Zaman has induced breach of Orbitz Worldwide's travel agency contracts with commercial airlines and of United's customer contractual relationships."
The suit later says that, "'hidden city' ticketing is strictly prohibited by most commercial airlines because of logistical and public safety concerns."
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