HPPR News

Ticketing website Skiplagged ordered to pay American Airlines $9.4 million

KERA | By Penelope Rivera

Published October 17, 2024 at 12:12 PM CDT

Michael Ainsworth

The American Airlines logo is stands atop the American Airlines Center, Dec. 19, 2017, in Dallas. The pilots' union at American Airlines says there has been “a significant spike” in safety issues at the airline, including fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes returning from major maintenance work. A spokesman said Monday, April 15, 2024, that union officials have raised their concerns with senior managers and were encouraged by the company's response.

A website promoting low-cost flight tickets through “hidden city” ticketing must pay American Airlines more than $9 million, a federal jury ruled Tuesday.

The jury ruled Skiplagged Inc. would pay the airline $4.7 million in actual damages for copyright infringement and another $4.7 million in “ill-gotten” revenues from the website, according to court documents and reporting from the Texas Lawbook.

“American is pleased the jury recognized that Skiplagged infringed its valuable trademarks and awarded $9.4 million in damages for copyright infringement," the airline said in an email to KERA. "This was an important next step in protecting American's intellectual property and valuable brand.”

KERA News reached out to Skiplagged for comment and will update this story with any response.

American sued the New York-based company in August 2023 and sought $94.4 million in damages, according to the Lawbook. That total was reduced by the Jury Tuesday.

The airline also sued for trademark infringement, but the jury declined to award damages on that claim.

Hidden city ticketing, or skiplagging, allows a traveler to save money by booking a flight with a layover in the intended destination. The traveler then leaves the layover airport of their destination and skips the rest of the flight or connecting flights.

Airlines like American say the website functions as unfair competition, using copyrighted material like airline branding on their website.

American also claimed many of the fares displayed on Skiplagged’s website are higher than what a traveler would pay if they booked a ticket on American’s website.

This isn’t the first time an airline has sued Skiplagged, which has been around since 2013.

Southwest Airlines filed a suit against Skiplagged’s creator, Aktarer Zaman, in 2021. That case was settled out of court and dismissed [PD2] .

In 2014, United Airlines and Orbitz also sued Zaman. The case was later dismissed because the case was filed in Chicago and Zaman did not live or do business in that city.

Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.