Loophole In Air Travel Websites-Smart Trick to get Rock Bottom Prices

Loophole In Air Travel Websites-Smart Trick to get Rock Bottom Prices (Air Travel Hack): “Hidden City”

Air Travel Hack :

Aktarer Zaman founded Skiplagged.com, which finds cheap flights by using “hidden city” ticketing, in which travelers ​purposely ​buy tickets with layovers​ for a lower fare, using the layover city a​s their ​intended destination, and never go on to the itinerary’s final destination​.

This site was started by Zaman last year.However United Airlines ​joined discount travel website Orbitz last moth ​to file a lawsuit in Chicago federal court against Zaman, calling his site “unfair competition” and accusing it of promoting “strictly prohibited” travel.

Among the companies’ complaints is ​that the final destination bypass leaves the airlines unable to accurately count passengers, which could lead to departure delays and affect fuel load calculations.

They are seeking $75,000 in lost revenue from the Zaman.

Zaman ​says there’s nothing illegal about Skiplagged.com, which he argues helps people expose an “inefficiency​” in airline pricing that has existed for decades. He also said he has not profited from the site.

“Hidden city ticketing” has been around for a while, it just hasn’t been very accessible to consumers”.

The ticketing loophole strategy works only for a one-way flight with no checked bags.

Who is Zaman ?

The Bangladesh-born Zaman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute when he was 20.

Michael Boyd, president of Boyd Group International, an aviation consulting firm in Colorado, said frequent fliers are aware of “hidden city” ticketing.

Air Travel Hack

“I don’t think it’s illegal what he’s doing,” said Boyd, adding that he was trained as an American Airlines ticket agent to help travelers find “hidden city” fares.

Zaman and United declined to comment. Orbitz said in a statement that it has to uphold airline fare rules.

“If Skiplagged is shut down, undoubtedly there will be other people to come along to scrape fares and make them available,” said Robert Mann, president of R.W. Mann & Co., an airline consulting firm in Port Washington, N.Y.