Dudes! Haven't You Heard of the Streisand Effect?!?!?!*

A 22-year old geek figured out a way to find some cheap airfares, and he set up a website, Skiplagged, which applies the algorithm.

What's more, his site is free to the public.

Well, Orbitz and United Airlines decided that they had to go medieval on his ass, and roll out the lawyers, and so his site is now getting mainstream coverage, fom places like Fortune Magazine:

United Airlines and Orbitz have teamed up to file suit against a 22-year-old entrepreneur whose airline ticketing startup, Skiplagged, operates according to a thrifty booking ploy known as ‘hidden city’ ticketing.

This means that passengers purchase tickets for indirect flights with the intention to disembark at their layover destinations. Say you want to fly from New York to Chicago, for instance: it could be cheaper to take an indirect flight to Los Angeles and then get off at the Chicago layover.

While hidden city ticketing only works when travelers purchase one-way tickets without any checked baggage, notes CNN, this often represents the cheapest option.

 Yeah, CNN covered it too.

I was unaware of this technique, but I have now bookmarked the site, and I imagine that some of you will too.

Orbitz, United Airlines Sue 22-Year...


^*Wherein an attempt to suppress information has the unintended effect of publicizing that information. (Link)