Southwest Files Suit Against Flight Search Site Skiplagged

Southwest Airlines has filed a lawsuit in Texas against online travel agency Skiplagged.com, saying the flight-search site does not have permission to display its airfares.

It is the second such lawsuit filed by Southwest, which is also suing Kiwi.com, according to Business Insider.

The airline said both Skiplagged and Kiwi.com broke the terms of Southwest’s website by displaying its ticket prices. Southwest said it only allows online travel agents to sell tickets for its flights with the airline’s permission.

In its newest lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court, the airline alleged that the two travel sites appeared to be working together. It said Skiplagged’s flight data came from Kiwi.com.

“Neither Skiplagged nor Kiwi is authorized to display Southwest fares or sell Southwest flights,” the airline’s lawyers wrote in the complaint.

Southwest didn’t respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Skiplagged declined to comment.

A Kiwi.com spokesperson told Insider: “We cannot comment on the latest lawsuit itself, but what is appearing here is a sense of panic from Southwest. Trying to hold back freedom of choice brought about through tech innovation with aggressive legal action is a sad situation from an airline that was a disruptor themselves.”

Southwest had previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to Skiplagged regarding the problem. Skiplagged sent a reply saying “Given these facts, I assume it is not necessary to go into detail on the many mistaken assumptions and assertions in your letter. I trust this resolves the matter.”

Clearly, it did not.

Skiplagged earlier this month filed a pre-emptive lawsuit in New York, its home state, asking a judge to rule on whether it had broken Southwest’s terms.

By filing its new lawsuit in Texas, Southwest moved to keep its legal fight against the flight-search engines in its home state. Southwest sued Kiwi.com in Texas earlier this year.