Next week in federal court in Fort Worth, American Airlines plans to challenge a popular (with some passengers but certainly not with airlines) fare hack known as “skiplagging.”
In August of 2023, American filed suit against New York-based Skiplagged Inc., a leading online promoter of the practice, also known as “hidden city ticketing.” Under some conditions, travelers can save money by booking a flight to an ostensible destination with a layover in their true desired destination; then, instead of boarding the connecting flight, they exit the airport (a strategy that only works for passengers traveling without checked luggage).
American’s civil lawsuit, to be tried before a jury beginning Monday in the court of U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, contends that Skiplagged Inc.’s marketing of the practice violates the airline’s ticketing policies, puts buyers who book flights through Skiplagged at risk of having their tickets invalidated, infringes on American’s trademarks and, because of hidden fees, fraudulently promises customers lower fares than they end up paying.
“It is the classic bait and switch: draw consumers in with the promise of secret fares, and instead sell the consumer a ticket at a higher price,” the airline’s complaint said.
American Airlines is seeking at least $94.4 million in damages.
Kelly Hart’s Dee J. Kelly Jr., the lead attorney in the suit for American Airlines, 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 raised in American Airlines’s suit. It accused American of “monopolistic and predatory pricing practices” and claimed the use of American’s trademarks on Skiplagged’s site was not “trademark infringement under the doctrine of nominative fair use” and was simply intended “to identify AA’s flights and to differentiate such flights from those of other carriers.”
A mediation/settlement conference was scheduled for Thursday morning. There was no immediate indication on Judge Pittman’s electronic docket of whether that conference bore fruit.
According to court records, American Airlines is represented by, in addition to Kelly, J. Austin Franklin, Julia Grace Wisenberg and Lars L. Berg of Kelly Hart & Hallman in Fort Worth; R. Paul Yetter and Tyler P. Young of Yetter Coleman in Houston; and Bina B. Palnitkar, Cameron Nelson, and Nathan James Muyskens of Greenberg Traurig in, respectively, Dallas, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
In addition to Kirkman, Skiplagged is represented by Preston Sawyer of Fort Worth; Aaron Z. Tobin, Abigail R.S. Campbell, and Kendal B. Reed of Condon Tobin Sladek Thornton Nerenberg in Dallas; and Darin M. Klemchuk of Dallas.
Skiplagged has been sued before under similar circumstances. United Airlines and the online travel agency Orbitz accused Aktarer Zaman, who started Skiplagged around 2014 when he was in his early 20s, of touting “prohibited forms of travel.” Zaman started a GoFundMe to pay his legal costs. He settled with Orbitz, and the United lawsuit was dismissed.
The case number is 4:23-cv-00860.