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Airlines
Today's edition of Skift's daily podcast looks closer at JetBlue’s plans for Spirit Air, Skiplagged’s latest lawsuit, and Qantas’s new strategy.
Rashaad Jorden | 8 months ago
Online Travel
How long will it be before American Airlines' flight content gets removed from Skiplagged? Hint: Southwest sued and its flights are gone.
Dennis Schaal | 8 months ago
As the saying goes, you can run but you can't hide. Skiplagged may be marketing Southwest flights for now and helping flyers book them, but this practice doesn't have a bright future.
Dennis Schaal | 2 years ago
Airlines have complained about the hidden costs of online travel agency web-scraping for years, but Southwest takes that sensitivity to a much higher strategic level. Kiwi apparently is adept at out-maneuvering Southwest's page-scraping roadblocks so the courts will have to sort it all out.
Dennis Schaal, Skift | 3 years ago
The smart money has Southwest prevailing in this lawsuit against Skiplagged, given the airlines's 17-year history of beating back such alleged interlopers. On the other hand, when it came to an Orbitz lawsuit, Skiplagged knew how to bob and weave.
Did Airbnb, Booking Holdings, Tripadvisor, Oyo, and Marriott, among others, squirm a bit upon learning of Chinese regulators' latest antitrust crackdowns, this time against ridesharing giant Didi and food-delivery and hotel booker Meituan? If not, they should.
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.
Amazon bowed out of the hotel business a couple of times, is dabbling with flight bookings in India, and seems to have found a sweet spot in cheap, virtual experiences. With all of those tour operator partners now in the fold, post-pandemic, in-person tours and activities is likely on the to-do list.
Travel hackers have long known about the risks and rewards of throwaway ticketing. But one enterprising entrepreneur is trying to bring the method to the masses. Airlines are not happy.
Brian Sumers, Skift | 5 years ago
Skiplagged doesn't have much of a future as a business beyond being an informational website. It is doubtful that Skiplagged would get authorization to link to a travel agency to enable Skiplagged users to book hidden-city itineraries because travel agencies would get into big trouble with airlines for facilitating such bookings.
Dennis Schaal, Skift | 9 years ago
