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Comment by wongarsu | Hacker News Reader

> Skiplagging is not illegal, but airlines view it as a policy violation that is grounds for termination of a traveler’s entire itinerary since the airline can't sell the empty seat in the onward flight.

The poor airline, unable to sell an empty seat because ... checks notes ... the seat is already sold to someone, and that person decided not to show up. Truly the horror. Just think of all the revenue the airline lost because they couldn't charge more for a shorter flight and now have to fly the last leg with less weight

But it seems like the entire court case was mostly centered around the legality of the branding of the website. I guess overall the guy behind skiplagged will be happy to have gotten away with what amounts to 10% of revenue in exchange for a lot of publicity.

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Yup, and since they routinely oversell flights, I have zero sympathy for them. Negative sympathy even

And the big four more or less quit going hard on price.

Do you think ticket prices should be lower, or higher? What remedy do you prefer to achieve your goal?

I prefer not to have fraud.

Ideally, prices should be consistent with effective costs.

Practically, I would be content if prices of any single leg couldn't be negative. If leg A costs a and leg B costs b, the cost of A+B can be lower than a+b (you can offer bundles, discounts, etc.); just not less than either a or b.

If you play "tricks", the consumer has the right to use such tricks to their benefit.

Lower profits for airlines.

I think ticket prices should reflect a combination of the cost of goods sold with a reasonable profit margin, supply and demand, and competitive pressure from market forces, with regulations to prevent fraud and anti-competitive behavior.

Yeah I was thinking while reading this- aren’t they actually allowed to sell that empty seat already since they are allowed to oversell? What do they want to do here? Triple dip?

They would give the seat to any standby, so the airlines are void of sympathy

Will this verdict stop Skiplagged from continuing its business in the future, either legally or financially? Or is it more like a one-time penalty they have to pay

It's 4.7 million each for trademark infringement and "disgorgement from the travel site's revenues"

First one is a "So what, just remove the American Airlines trademarks". They can drop them and say all good, and presumably not get sued again.

Second one is about what Skiplag was doing itself; I.E. cutting into AA's profits. If they continue to do this, the next court case will be much more expensive. Most courts don't like it when you get sued for something and treat it like the cost of doing business, and AA is big enough that I'd count on them bringing suit again.

The trademark infringement recieved no damages, the damages were for copyright infringement. "Jurors declined to award any damages for trademark infringement"

Maybe the site should rebrand itself.

Tell people to get off if the meal on the next leg is ... checks notes... a safety hazard.

you can develop allergies at any point in life after all, so it would make sense.

If the airline doesn't want people doing this then stop doing ridiculous pricing.

The air travel industry is extremely competitive, and prices continue to fall after spiking due to the supply chain/ COVID chaos:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/travel-price-track...

Just four airlines control 80% of the airline industry — the most concentrated it’s ever been. And they’re using their power over consumers, and airports, to jack up prices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zWxdeq8F4 Airlines’ Secret Scheme to Keep Airfare Prices High

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