United Airlines sues 22-year-old who found way to get cheaper plane tickets

kdvr ^ | December 30, 2014

[PrairieLady2]

forgive my ignorance, but is there something wrong with that? It’s something I’ve considered doing in the past.

[Bon mots]

He should launch an antitrust lawsuit.

Airlines practice various forms of price discrimination and have for years.

[grania]

I give up. Why is it illegal?

[dfwgator]

Technically if you do it and get caught, the airlines have the right to deny you the return flight.

[Robe]

BS... This has been done for decades...

[Calvin Locke]

This was a practice in the 1980s. I'm surprised that the airlines still have the hole...

About 10 years ago, a Canadian comedian had a piece on flying from say Montreal to Vancouver. It was cheaper to take a bus to the nears US airport, fly to the nearest US airport to Vancouver, and take a bus from there, and still have plenty left over to buy beer.

[coloradan]

Yes, there is something terribly wrong with it: Peasants are punished if we violate so much as the spirit of the laws or rules. Elites are only punished for violating the letter of the laws or rules, if that. (Jon Corzine.) Clearly, if you book a ticket to Lake Tahoe, you’re supposed to go to Lake Tahoe, and anything else is fraud. When we do it.

[katana]

Stupid airline move. First, very bad publicity. Second, they will probably be laughed out of court after paying some lawyers between six to seven figure $’s for the effort. The kid apparently just found and exploited a loophole the airline itself left open. They should fire the bozos who missed that loophole and hire this kid before another airline has a chance to. He is evidently smarter and knows their systems better than they do.

[cornfedcowboy]

Yes although the trick is to take one-way flights. The airlines can pick up on this pretty quickly though. I am part of a few frequent flier programs. They will give you the boot and take away your miles if you violate the fare rules.

[cripplecreek]

Hell, I’d sell the second leg of the flight.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

That’s why you buy a one-way ticket.

Cute idea, and sort of obvious. Maybe the airlines could require a deposit and not refund it to passengers disembarking early.

[Vigilanteman]

True, which is why the recommend it only for one-way flights. Back when I used to travel between Japan and the United States regularly, it was common to buy a ticket to Hong Kong with a layover in Japan. As long as you could make it even an overnight layover, you only had to check your luggage to Narita.

[SubMareener]

Several years ago I needed to meet Mrs Submareener in Dallas. One way from Tucson to DFW was more expensive than a round trip so I booked a RT and skipped the return.

[bigbob]

I did it back in the 70s and was far from the first

[Vision]

Airlines charge more for New York to San Francisco than New York to San Francisco to Lake Tahoe?

[NEMDF]

Many years ago, we had a regional VP who would fly out of Dallas, OFTEN used this trick to save loads on airfare, having his travel agent figure out the routes he needed.

[SamAdams76]

If the airline is getting their full fare up front, what do they care if somebody jumps off early?

[Gay State Conservative]

Assuming that when making these reservations one isn't agreeing to take the *full* trip when they click “I agree to the terms” then I cannot,for the life of me,see where anything’s been done wrong.And if you *are* agreeing to take the full trip I wonder about the enforceability of such a stipulation.If you pay “x” for the Grand Slam Special at Denny's and you turn down the desert that's part of the meal they don't turn around and charge you *more*!

[UB355]

Yes it has