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Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

skiplagged.com

81–90 of 146 posts

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#81

You can't wish for better advertising that this… "our deals are so great that airlines are trying to sue us out of existence!".

Indeed. I had never heard of this site but now, thanks to the lawsuit, I will definitely check it out when I am booking my next flight.

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#84
post #71
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people have, at some point, chosen between available flights based on layover city. I know I have. So there's a distinct utility offered, separate from any missed connections. It's very hard for me to imagine a contract that includes "once you get on the plane, you must not miss your connecting flight". Heck, I wish I could get the airlines to say "once you're on the plane, we will make sure your connect…

> It's very hard for me to imagine a contract that includes "once you get on the plane, you must not miss your connecting flight". Except that it basically says "Thou shalt not buy a ticket with the express intent of missing the connection". http://www.united.com/web/format/pdf/Contract_of_Carriage.pd... (pg. 11)

Very interesting. Mark that as one point for my lack of imagination.

It might be tough to establish that the consumer entered into that contract knowledgeably, but there are a lot of more important terms in that same document -- so the airlines might have some powerful supporters with a vested interest in the validity of those contracts.

Still, tortious interference presumes an existing contract, from my expert legal reading of Wikipedia. If a customer enters the contract with a preexisting intention to breach, I am not sure you can accuse the site operator of interference before the fact.

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#85
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy a sandwich; I can eat all of it or some of it. I buy airplane seats; I can sit in both seats or just one. If they don't like which seats I chose to sit in or not, they shouldn't have sold the ticket to me in the first place.

They're not really "selling you tickets" on specific flights. They're selling you the service of hauling you from from your starting point to your destination - possibly on the route planned, or possibly on other routes. This includes such things as sending you on another airline, or on a train, or putting you up in a hotel room. I think the airlines would be willing to ignore a handful of people skipping out on a le…

> They're not really "selling you tickets" on specific flights.

They really are.

Coca-cola are marketing a refreshing tasty sparkling beverage, but what they're actually selling is carbonated water with sugar and acid. If I use it to clean my driveway, that's my prerogative, and Coca-cola don't get to retroactively charge me more because driveway cleaning chemicals are a more profitable market.

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#86
post #76
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I'm sure the airlines and your fellow travelers would also prefer for you to not waste a seat. I know I would be pissed if I needed to take a flight but it was fully booked, and then found out that a dozen people already planned to not show up. I see this trick as not very respectful to other people.

Is there anything stopping a standby passenger from being given a seat on the second leg?

Nope. Each leg can be oversold, hence their complain is only about the lost money. And control.

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#87
post #75

to put this in laymans terms: imagine you want to go from city A to city B normally you would search for tickets from A-B however, during your search, you would NOT see tickets that go from A-B-C. why is that relevant? sometimes tickets from A-B-C are cheaper than A-B. so you would buy a ticket (A-B-C) and simply leave the airport of city B (not boarding the B-C flight). the website in question made it easier to find…

To be fair, I'm sure the airlines and your fellow travelers would also prefer for you to not waste a seat. I know I would be pissed if I needed to take a flight but it was fully booked, and then found out that a dozen people already planned to not show up. I see this trick as not very respectful to other people.

Why? They paid their price for the ticket.

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#88
post #75

to put this in laymans terms: imagine you want to go from city A to city B normally you would search for tickets from A-B however, during your search, you would NOT see tickets that go from A-B-C. why is that relevant? sometimes tickets from A-B-C are cheaper than A-B. so you would buy a ticket (A-B-C) and simply leave the airport of city B (not boarding the B-C flight). the website in question made it easier to find…

To be fair, I'm sure the airlines and your fellow travelers would also prefer for you to not waste a seat. I know I would be pissed if I needed to take a flight but it was fully booked, and then found out that a dozen people already planned to not show up. I see this trick as not very respectful to other people.

I've heard and experienced many times that most flights are overbooked by default to compensate passengers that are not showing up. On the other hand this often results in changed seats or even rebookings to other classes (I got an upgrade to Business class "for free") or even other flights.

Re: Skiplagged sued by United and Orbitz

#89
post #87
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I'm sure the airlines and your fellow travelers would also prefer for you to not waste a seat. I know I would be pissed if I needed to take a flight but it was fully booked, and then found out that a dozen people already planned to not show up. I see this trick as not very respectful to other people.

Why? They paid their price for the ticket.

Please re-read my last sentence.
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