The largest airline in Germany is suing a passenger who missed the final leg of his journey from Seattle to Oslo. Lufthansa says the unidentified male passenger was in violation of the airline's terms and conditions and is seeking $2,385 in compensation. The company claims that the man booked a cheaper flight with a layover in Frankfurt but had no intention of taking the flight that made up the second leg of that journey. Instead, the man flew on a different plane from Frankfurt to Berlin and saved nearly $2,500.
This practice, known as "skip lagging," takes advantage of what is known as "hidden city" ticketing, where it can be cheaper to fly between two cities with a layover in another city in the middle of the trip. Passengers will book flights that have a layover in their destination and leave the airport without taking the final leg of their scheduled journey. For example, a passenger looking to go from Seattle to Chicago could book a flight from Seattle to New York that has a layover in Chicago, a flight that may be cheaper than a direct one between the two cities.
The airline said that this practice can cause flight delays and drive up the costs for other passengers.
A German district court dismissed Lufthansa's lawsuit, but the airline said they are planning to appeal the decision.
A similar lawsuit in the United States was filed in 2014 against 22-year-old Aktarer Zaman, the founder of Skiplagged.com, a website which allows customers to easily find cheap flights with layovers. That lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in the Northern District Court of Illinois.
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