5 ms·

Travel firms sue creator of cheap airfare site

36 points by antman 12y ago

bengali3 12y ago
> Mr Zaman has launched a fundraising campaign to gather cash to fight the legal battle against United and Orbitz. So far he has raised $10,538 (£6,776) of the $15,000 needed. I'm guessing he'll need more than $15,000 ....
- iopq 12y ago
  That's exactly the type of thing I would contribute money to if I had any.
- igor47 12y ago
  Has anyone found where to donate to this guy's legal fund? Seems like he wants to fight and I'm really curious how this plays out in court.
  - dazc 12y ago
    http://www.gofundme.com/skiplagged http://www.gofundme.com/skiplagged
- infogulch 12y ago
  It's now at $19k and he just raised the goal to $25k.
taprun 12y ago
In other news, United and Orbitz are about to learn of the Streisand Effect[0]... [0]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
- saryant 12y ago
  United is already one of the most hated companies in the country, they don't need to care.
thisone 12y ago
considering, as the article says, this only works with one way tickets, and no luggage, how many people would be taking advantage of this that a lawsuit is necessary?
- noer 12y ago
  if you don't ordinarily check luggage (like most people seem to do nowadays), all you have to do is buy two one way tickets. the only downside is that you'll get selected for extra screening more often.
  - dsl 12y ago
    A friend of mine would always get the dreaded SSSS because he booked lots of last minute one way tickets for work. Signing up for TSA PreCheck almost completely eliminated that problem. If you are willing to give up a bunch of info and pay the government, you can skip the "random screening."
- bsenftner 12y ago
  How is this lawsuit worthy at all? I don't understand how his identifying this "price loophole" is anything other than "innovation". A lawsuit for "lost revenues" simply because a 3rd party found how to save people money seems ridiculous.
justgottasay2 12y ago
How dare this guy force Orbitz to lose approximately 38 minutes worth of revenue...
supercanuck 12y ago
I've just never understood this idea of forced price discrimination, the idea that consumers are restricted in buying a product freely available.
- saryant 12y ago
  Airfares aren't priced on a cost-plus basis, they're priced based on what the markets will bear. For instance, MKE-BOS has no non-stop options, so lots of airlines compete for one-stop business funneling passengers through their hubs. This drives down prices. Compare this to ORD-BOS, which only has a few non-stop options. Those non-stop carriers (United, American and JetBlue) can charge a premium compared to, say, Delta, which can only offer one-stop options. Passengers in captive hubs looking at monopoly routes (Houston, Detroit, Atlanta) have it even worse when looking for non-stop routes. So a traveler looking to buy ORD-BOS will see high prices on the non-stops. I frankly don't see the problem here—almost every product is priced based on what the market will bear rather than cost+margin.
wcbeard10 12y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8813138 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8813138
ikeboy 12y ago
Reddit ama done a month ago here https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2o831k/i_run_skiplagged_a_site_being_sued_by_united/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2o831k/i_run_skiplagg...
brandonmenc 12y ago
A better solution for the airlines is to stop selling tickets to passengers who have a habit of deplaning halfway through a trip.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

36 points by antman 12y ago

> Mr Zaman has launched a fundraising campaign to gather cash to fight the legal battle against United and Orbitz. So far he has raised $10,538 (£6,776) of the $15,000 needed. I'm guessing he'll need more than $15,000 ....

iopq 12y ago
That's exactly the type of thing I would contribute money to if I had any.
igor47 12y ago
Has anyone found where to donate to this guy's legal fund? Seems like he wants to fight and I'm really curious how this plays out in court.
- dazc 12y ago
  http://www.gofundme.com/skiplagged http://www.gofundme.com/skiplagged
infogulch 12y ago
It's now at $19k and he just raised the goal to $25k.

taprun 12y ago

In other news, United and Orbitz are about to learn of the Streisand Effect[0]... [0]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

saryant 12y ago
United is already one of the most hated companies in the country, they don't need to care.

thisone 12y ago

considering, as the article says, this only works with one way tickets, and no luggage, how many people would be taking advantage of this that a lawsuit is necessary?

noer 12y ago
if you don't ordinarily check luggage (like most people seem to do nowadays), all you have to do is buy two one way tickets. the only downside is that you'll get selected for extra screening more often.
- dsl 12y ago
  A friend of mine would always get the dreaded SSSS because he booked lots of last minute one way tickets for work. Signing up for TSA PreCheck almost completely eliminated that problem. If you are willing to give up a bunch of info and pay the government, you can skip the "random screening."
bsenftner 12y ago
How is this lawsuit worthy at all? I don't understand how his identifying this "price loophole" is anything other than "innovation". A lawsuit for "lost revenues" simply because a 3rd party found how to save people money seems ridiculous.

justgottasay2 12y ago

How dare this guy force Orbitz to lose approximately 38 minutes worth of revenue...

supercanuck 12y ago

I've just never understood this idea of forced price discrimination, the idea that consumers are restricted in buying a product freely available.

saryant 12y ago
Airfares aren't priced on a cost-plus basis, they're priced based on what the markets will bear. For instance, MKE-BOS has no non-stop options, so lots of airlines compete for one-stop business funneling passengers through their hubs. This drives down prices. Compare this to ORD-BOS, which only has a few non-stop options. Those non-stop carriers (United, American and JetBlue) can charge a premium compared to, say, Delta, which can only offer one-stop options. Passengers in captive hubs looking at monopoly routes (Houston, Detroit, Atlanta) have it even worse when looking for non-stop routes. So a traveler looking to buy ORD-BOS will see high prices on the non-stops. I frankly don't see the problem here—almost every product is priced based on what the market will bear rather than cost+margin.

wcbeard10 12y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8813138 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8813138

ikeboy 12y ago

Reddit ama done a month ago here https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2o831k/i_run_skiplagged_a_site_being_sued_by_united/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2o831k/i_run_skiplagg...

brandonmenc 12y ago

A better solution for the airlines is to stop selling tickets to passengers who have a habit of deplaning halfway through a trip.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]