Example Skiplagged listings for flights that don’t end in Chicago, but go through Chicago. As part of its settlement with Orbitz, Skiplagged will no longer direct people to purchase their hidden city fares through the travel-booking site.
Back in November, United Airlines and Orbitz sued Skiplagged.com, a site offering so-called “hidden city” fares that can save you money by booking a ticket on a flight you never intend to take to its final destination. Now Skiplagged’s owner and Orbitz say they have reached a deal to keep their dispute out of court.
A quick primer for those unfamiliar with hidden city fares. Say you want to fly non-stop from New York to Cleveland but the ticket is too expensive. However, you might find a cheaper ticket to another destination that has a layover in Cleveland. So you book that flight and just don’t continue past Cleveland.
It’s not illegal, but it is in violation of most airlines’ policies to knowingly do this.
The legal issue with Skiplagged isn’t merely that the site was telling consumers how to get these hidden city fares, but that the site would direct users to the airlines’ websites or to ticket-buying services.
In the case of Orbitz, its contract with the airlines states that it will not sell hidden city fares, but by directing users to Orbitz with the express intention of purchasing such a ticket, Orbitz contended that Skiplagged was causing the travel-booking site to violate its contracts.
“To the average internet user of Skiplagged, the transition from the Skiplagged site to Orbitz’s website is seamless and strongly suggests an affiliation or identity between Skiplagged and Orbitz that does not exist,” read the original complaint [PDF]. “By creating a website that operates in much the same manner as an online travel agency, and by linking that site to Orbitz’s site, [the defendant] is attempting to confuse and mislead the public into believing that his website, and the ‘hidden city’ ticketing it employs, is done with the approval (if not the outright authorization and sponsorship) of Orbitz and the airlines.”
Last night, Orbitz confirmed that it had reached a deal with Skiplagged owner whereby the site will no longer use the Orbitz brand, logos, trademarks, and images, and will cease directing users to Orbitz-operated websites.
United Airlines is not included in the settlement and tells Bloomberg that it plans to continue legal action against the site and its owner.
Among other claims, United alleges that Skiplagged was in violation of the Lanham Act’s prohibition against false affiliation, saying in the complaint that the site owner’s “willful acts of associating the Skiplagged website with United has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, confusion and cause mistake and deceive consumers.”
As of now, Skiplagged still shows numerous hidden city fares, but many links to book these tickets now result in a message reading, “Sorry for the inconvenience, but Skiplagged can’t help you book this specific itinerary right now,” with a suggestion to donate to the site’s legal fund.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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