Key facts
- American Airlines is suing Skiplagged Inc. over its "skiplagging" practice.
- Skiplagging involves booking a flight with a layover and disembarking early.
- Airlines claim skiplagging violates their policies, though it is generally not illegal.
- American Airlines threatened to invalidate all tickets sold by Skiplagged.
American Airlines has filed a lawsuit against travel website Skiplagged Inc. in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, accusing the site of deception and threatening to cancel tickets sold through its "skiplagging" practice. Skiplagging, also known as hidden-city ticketing, involves booking a flight with a layover and disembarking early, exploiting a quirk in airline pricing where longer flights can sometimes be cheaper than direct ones due to competition. While generally not illegal, airlines claim the practice violates their policies. American Airlines stated that Skiplagged deceives consumers into believing they can tap into a "secret loophole" and that tickets issued by Skiplagged are at risk of invalidation. Skiplagged, founded around 2014 by Aktarer Zaman, has faced previous lawsuits from United Airlines and Orbitz.