Penn Undergraduate Law Journal
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Masthead
    • Faculty Advisory Board
    • Partner Journals
    • Sponsors
  • Submissions
  • Full Issues
  • The Roundtable
  • Events
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Applications
    • FAQs
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Masthead
    • Faculty Advisory Board
    • Partner Journals
    • Sponsors
  • Submissions
  • Full Issues
  • The Roundtable
  • Events
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Applications
    • FAQs

The Roundtable


Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.


INTERESTED IN wRITING FOR tHE rOUNDTABLE?

Can the “Hidden Cities” App Keep Hiding From The Big Airlines?

10/27/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Lindsey Li

Lindsey Li is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania and an associate editor of the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal.

With hundreds of students flying home for school breaks and the holidays over the next two months, the number of families looking for deals on airline ticket prices continues to grow, as do ticket prices Even discount airlines, such as Frontier, on which this author flew home from Philadelphia to Texas during our school’s Fall Break for only $101 round-trip, and Spirit have inflated prices almost four-fold for the upcoming weeks as students near highly-anticipated Thanksgiving and winter breaks.

Enter SkipLagged. The start-up, founded by Aktarer Zaman in 2013 after graduating with a major in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, aims to “book cheaper flights by taking advantage of ‘hidden city’ fares.” [1] In other words, it utilizes connections so that the flier will never actually take the second leg of the trip. [2] Now, as most frequent fliers know, it is often cheaper to fly, for example, from San Francisco to Houston to New York than it is to take a direct flight from San Francisco to New York. However, what SkipLagged does is present the former option to the flier whose final destination is Houston, provided it is cheaper than a direct flight from San Francisco to Houston.
This creates a rather large dent in airline profits in the long-term. As a result, though generating massive consumer support at the time of its market emergence, SkipLagged was soon faced by multiple lawsuits from commercial airlines that claimed that the startup “intentionally and maliciously interfere[d] with [their] contracts and business relations in the airline industry”. [3] Granted, United Airlines does state in their Contract of Carriage that they prohibit “hidden cities ticketing” and doing so may result in invalidation of tickets and “restrict[ed] future travel”. [4] Even if SkipLagged is judged to have not been doing anything illegal, after being faced with self-protective lawsuits by United and Orbitz, legal proceedings can get often expensive enough to destroy fledging start-ups like SkipLagged.

However, as we have learned with political campaigns and charity organizations/events alike, the general public’s attitudes-turned-donations can wield large influence over the results of debated issues. Supporters have donated more than $75,000 on [Zaman’s] GoFundMe site to pay his legal fees. Though Orbitz settled with SkipLagged early on after SkipLagged agreed to stop redirecting traffic to Orbitz, United remained invested in its quest to destroy the fare-saving website, insisting that SkipLagged “openly encourage[s] customers to engage in deceptive behavior.” [5]

In May 2015, U.S. District Judge John Blakey ruled that Illinois wasn’t the appropriate place for Chicago-based United to bring its lawsuit, given that neither Zaman nor SkipLagged has “‘relevant, meaningful contacts’ in the state.” However, he explicitly stated that he did not prevent the plaintiff from pursuing charges in a different jurisdiction or “proper forum.” [6] Zaman’s attorneys stated after the decision that “New York is the only logical destination,” citing the headquarters of SkipLagged, and boast of the $79,000 that has been raised in surplus for Zaman’s legal fees. United has not yet commented on whether it intends to refile in another district. [7]


[1] Vara, Vauhini. “How an Airline Loophole Could Hurt Passengers.” The New Yorker. January 5, 2015. Accessed October 6, 2015.
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/united-skiplagged-problem-hidden-city-ticketing
[2] Simmons, Pattrik. “Did you know Friday is the best day to book holiday fares?” Local 10 News. October 9, 2015. Accessed October 6, 2015. http://www.local10.com/news/did-you-know-friday-is-the-best-day-to-book-holiday-fares/35751058
[3] Lardinois, Frederic. “United and Orbitz Sue “Hidden Cities” Flight Search Engine SkipLagged.” Tech Crunch. December 30, 2014. Accessed October 13, 2015. http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/30/united-and-orbitz-sue-hidden-cities-flight-search-engine-skiplagged/
[4] “What’s All the SkipLagged Fuss About Anyway?” Huffington Post Travel. May 5, 2015. Accessed October 13, 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hoppercom/whats-all-the-skiplagged_b_7214450.html
[5] Gillespie, Patrick and Smith, Aaron. “Game is not over in United Airlines vs. 22-year-old.” CNN Money. February 13, 2015. Accessed October 13, 2015. http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/13/news/companies/united-airlines-orbitz-skiplagged/
[6] Bachman, Justin. “Judge Tosses United Airlines Lawsuit Over ‘Hidden City’ Tickets.” BloombergBusiness. May 1, 2015. Accessed October 14, 2015.

Photo Credit: Screenshot taken from Skiplagged.com
The opinions and views expressed through this publication are the opinions of the designated authors and do not reflect the opinions or views of the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal, our staff, or our clients.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Akshita Tiwary
    Alana Mattei
    Albert Manfredi
    Alexander Saeedy
    Alexandra Aaron
    Alice Giannini
    Alicia Kysar
    Ally Margolis
    Alya Abbassian
    Anika Prakash
    Anna Schwartz
    Ashley Kim
    Astha Pandey
    Benjamin Ng'aru
    Brónach Rafferty
    Bryce Klehm
    Cary Holley
    Christina Gunzenhauser
    Christine Mitchell
    Christopher Brown
    Clarissa Alvarez
    Cole Borlee
    Connor Gallagher
    Dan Spinelli
    Dan Zhang
    Davis Berlind
    Derek Willie
    Edgar Palomino
    Edna Simbi
    Emma Davies
    Esther Lee
    Evelyn Bond
    Filzah Belal
    Frank Geng
    Gabriel Maliha
    Georgia Ray
    Graham Reynolds
    Habib Olapade
    Hailie Goldsmith
    Harshit Rai
    Henry Lininger
    Hetal Doshi
    Iris Zhang
    Irtaza Ali
    Isabela Baghdady
    Ishita Chakrabarty
    Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
    Jonathan Lahdo
    Jonathan Stahl
    Joseph Squillaro
    Justin Yang
    Kaitlyn Rentala
    Katie Kaufman
    Kelly Liang
    Keshav Sharma
    Ketaki Gujar
    Lauren Pak
    Lavi Ben Dor
    Libby Rozbruch
    Lindsey Li
    Luis Bravo
    Lyndsey Reeve
    Madeline Decker
    Maja Cvjetanovic
    Maliha Farrooz
    Marco DiLeonardo
    Margaret Lu
    Matthew Caulfield
    Michael Keshmiri
    Mina Nur Basmaci
    Muskan Mumtaz
    Natalie Peelish
    Natasha Darlington
    Natasha Kang
    Nayeon Kim
    Nicholas Parsons
    Nicholas Williams
    Nicole Greenstein
    Nihal Sahu
    Omar Khoury
    Owen Voutsinas Klose
    Owen Voutsinas-Klose
    Pheby Liu
    Rachel Gu
    Rachel Pomerantz
    Rebecca Heilweil
    Regina Salmons
    Sam Nadler
    Sandeep Suresh
    Sanjay Dureseti
    Sarah Simon
    Saranya Das Sharma
    Saranya Sharma
    Sasha Bryski
    Saxon Bryant
    Sean Foley
    Sebastian Bates
    Shannon Alvino
    Shiven Sharma
    Siddarth Sethi
    Sneha Sharma
    Sophie Lovering
    Steven Jacobson
    Suaida Firoze
    Suprateek Neogi
    Takane Shoji
    Tanner Bowen
    Taryn MacKinney
    Thomas Cribbins
    Todd Costa
    Tyler Larkworthy
    Vatsal Patel
    Vikram Balasubramanian
    Wajeeha Ahmad
    Yeonhwa Lee

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

Picture
Picture
​