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Flight Discounter Skiplagged Asks Federal Court to Tell Southwest Airlines to Back Off

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Skiplagged has drawn the wrath of Southwest Airlines for displaying the airline's flight information. Pictured is Southwest 50th Birthday baggage claim activation in Dallas, Texas on June 18, 2021.  Southwest Airlines / Brianna Juda

Skift Take

Notorious litigator Southwest Airlines is targeting a sometimes-legally agile Skiplagged. Instead of offering Southwest fare information for hidden-city flights, Skiplagged may find that those Southwest fares have gone missing.

Skiplagged, which helps travelers find "hidden city" flight itineraries and has generated airline wrath over the years, filed a complaint seeking to have a court declare it is not subject to Southwest Airlines' terms and conditions. Using hidden city tickets, flyers can book a flight from New York to Los Angeles via Chicago, deplane in Chicago, and save money because one-stop flights can often be cheaper than direct flights. Although doing so is legal, the airlines hate these schemes because they lose revenue and fly with empty seats. In the complaint for a declaratory judgment [embedded below], filed Friday in the Southern District of New York, Skiplagged said Southwest sent it "threatening communicati

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