American said the website poses as an ordinary consumer to buy tickets, and warns its customers not to tip off the airline about the arrangement.
American accused Skiplagged of tricking consumers into believing they can tap “some kind of secret ‘loophole.’”American said Skiplagged, which is based in New York, has never been authorized to resell the airline’s tickets. “Skiplagged’s conduct is deceptive and abusive,” the airline said in the lawsuit. “Skiplagged deceives the public into believing that, even though it has no authority to form and issue a contract on American’s behalf, somehow it can still issue a completely valid ticket. It cannot. Every ‘ticket’ issued by Skiplagged is at risk of being invalidated.”American Airlines banned North Carolina teen Logan Parsons who used a skiplagging ticket.
Zaman, who started a GoFundMe to pay his legal costs, settled with Orbitz, and the United lawsuit was dismissed.