I run Skiplagged, a site being sued by United Airlines and Orbitz for exposing pricing inefficiencies that save consumers lots of money on airfare. Ask me almost anything!

Let me get this right. Say you want to go from City A to City B. You would book a flight plan that goes from City A, to City B, to City C.

Then you just get off at City B, and say screw City C.

If so, why is the trip A-B-C cheaper than the trip A-B? That makes no sense to me.

That's correct. This has to do with market competition. I.e. Airlines want to offer City A to City C, but can only do that with multiple flights. Consumers are less inclined towards multiple flights unless it offers them savings.

If I may ask why are they suing you? Is it something illegal you are doing?

Sorry for the english, it is not my first language.

Consumers can actually save lots of money. That's generally frowned upon by for-profit corporations. What Skiplagged does is definitely not illegal, which is why this is not a criminal case.

So it is just "a screw you, pay more" thing with flights or what.

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Skiplagged has never communicated with Orbitz's servers directly or by anything such as proxies. For the convenience of users, Skiplagged sometimes used to redirect users to Orbitz in a way that's no different than redirecting for a Google search (e.g. https://www.google.com/search?q=apple). This was without any sort of affiliate tags so Skiplagged has never made any money with Orbitz.

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I signed up to their affiliate program through Rakuten LinkShare back in the early days about a year ago. Their program involved spamming my users with links such as "Save x% by booking soon" or something like that. Never utilized that account during the time frame it was active beyond just manually exploring what it offered: http://i.imgur.com/4k554oU.png. For whatever reason, they think the conditions of that affiliate program apply to simple html redirects made as described above.

How am I saving money. On your site from my city to mexico is around $900. And on the site your website redirected me to I can get it for around $700.

ymmv

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$25.62 for a regular trip from Seattle to Orlando. This was actually just a huge pricing mistake by Delta that affected many routes earlier this year, that they honored. Skiplagged picked this up automatically faster than any other website and actually made it to the WSJ.

Hi! I've been looking at Skiplagged for a long long time and recommended the site to friends looking to travel for casual needs (and wanted low costs for a short stay). Although plans fell through and I never booked a flight, I have a lot of respect for the idea!

In terms of danger to Skiplagged, what can this lawsuit do to the site and the program if it is successful (for United Airlines and Orbitz). On that note, how optimistic are you?

Love the site, and thank you for the AMA !

Hey, thank you for spreading the word; really appreciate it.

This lawsuit can force Skiplagged to remove results only we show, getting in the way of consumers saving money. Challenging it legally can have an effect financially. What Skiplagged has been doing isn't illegal and has lots of public support so I'm somewhat optimistic, but than again, I'm up against corporations with billions in assets.

Hey man, just wanted to say thanks for your service. I saved a good amount of money in thanksgiving travel. I wouldn't have been able to make it to the wedding I attended if I paid face value, but I had remembered looking at your site previously, and used it to my advantage. Face value its just you trying to save consumers money, but deeper than that its allowing people to more easily have the opportunity to attend important life events without worrying (as much) about the financial burden of airlines travel.

So, thank you. What is the best way to support you in this? How much of a donation would make a difference?

Last note, I told the maid of honor how I got such cheap tickets to travel cross country, and she thought it was brilliant. Pretty sure you made me look much more intelligent and clever with this little trick, and moral of the story I owe you a beer for being an indirect wingman.

Edit: To those who are still confused, it went something like this

:-)

I think spreading the word is the best way to support Skiplagged, though we're also trying to raise money to pay lawyers for this lawsuit..

I had never heard of the site before sounds like an awesome idea. How did you initially figure out the airlines were doing this?

Thanks! It was simply an accidental discovery while searching for flights from NYC to SEA. I noticed the cheapest had a layover in SFO, but the cheapest for NYC to SFO was significantly more expensive.

I see you are raising money for legal bills. Why should consumers donate to pay expenses for a for-profit company? Would you offer equity in the company as a reward? Have you considered finding a good law firm that will take your case cheap or on a success fee?

Skiplagged's sole purpose is to help consumers save money by providing unique features at no cost. If we're unable to defend, we would be unable to continue offering this service.

Yup, considered a number of legal options including that. Thanks

What is the next thing on your schedule after this AMA?

Figuring out whether I can challenge it legally (i.e. pay lawyers)..

Can you integrate the ability to fly into multiple locations? I want to visit 14 cities in Europe and I want to easily be able to determine the cheapest flight in and out of there.

Definitely, but probably too busy dealing with this lawsuit at the moment.

Are you able to provide your android app outside US?

Yes. Which country are you in?

Does it work well with international flights? Just thought I'd let you know its blocked in China! I get get on the website, but can't search anything. When I get home, I'll try it with my proxy and update. Edit: doesn't work on my proxy either :(

International works, but it's in beta. The site is currently having trouble live searching due to reddit traffic. Definitely try again later.

Layovers are a result of a hub-based airline routing system, so wouldn't your system only work if my final destination is a hub city? Meaning that if I want to go from Boston to Albuquerque, I will most likely have a layover in, for example, Dallas or Chicago. How would I get to Albuquerque, or any other non-hub city, from Boston using your system?

Skiplagged aims to show you all options from A to B. This means it's not focused on trips where B is a layover. If normal trips from A to B are better, those are shown.

Hey man, I'm a long time supporter and user of Skiplagged! I've saved many a dollar, especially for my last minute flying habits. I've turned so many people onto this site and was heartbroken to hear about this lawsuit. Fuck the greed man. You're doing a wonderful thing.

Here's my question : Where do I donate?

Wow, thank you so much. There's a link at the top of the homepage.

How can they sue you for being able offer cheaper flights?

Like whats the actual problem? Other than them losing money.

Them losing money is not clear.

1. Consumers are paying for seats they don't take which allows the airlines to collect more standby fees
2. How likely is it that a consumer would pay for something if it turns out to be significantly more expensive?

Hey man. I just wanna let you know that your website is awesome! My wife and I are on the fence about flying to my cousin's wedding (MSP to JAX) due to the cost (upwards of 1500). Wait till I tell her that we could fly there for less than 1000!

As far as questions go..

1. With your android app, would it be possible to offer users the ability to save/store certain "itineraries"?

And 2. Have you looked into having a larger " heavy hitter" of the internet help you out in some way.? I know Google has a lesser known service that tracks flights, but your user interface is so much cleaner and user friendly. They might have an interest in having your back.. Just a thought.

Keep up the great work though! I'd love to help you out in any way that I can!

With your android app, would it be possible to offer users the ability to save/store certain "itineraries"?

Yes! On the website, you can currently save searches. Saving specific itineraries is a work in progress.

I would be quite literally honored to help you raise awareness about what this really is, and to help "fight the good fight". Do you, or anyone on your behalf, have anything organized to support you in this case which could expose as blatantly as anything before who really runs the show in America if you're unjustly found guilty? Is anything like that being organized currently?

Wow, thank you for your support. There is nothing like this organized at the moment.

Do you think you could add a portion to your website that allows the customer to enter a departing city, then see where the cheapest flights would take them that correlates with a given date? That would help out the spontaneous travelers I think.

That actually already exists! Simply fill out the source airport/dates and clear the destination airport/click the input. Skiplagged is currently over capacity so things might look a bit weird right now.

I tried to check out your site on my phone and was prompted to install the Android app. I declined. Then I was prompted to install the iOS app, and I declined. The mobile web experience was not very polished.

So my question, did you choose to not make a Windows Phone app, or did you not even think about it? Why/why not?

Sorry about that. I need to get myself a Windows Phone so I can work out the website bugs and create a native app.