Via NewsBeFunny
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Via CNN
Some of the big names in air travel are getting a little scared of 22-year old kid from New York.
Aktarer Zaman launched a new travel site called Skiplagged.com in 2013, which offers cheaper tickets using a simple strategy that is often overlooked.
His site takes advantage of "hidden city" ticketing, in which you buy a one-way ticket somewhere else with a layover in your destination city.
The prices can occasionally be much cheaper than if you only looked for direct flights, but you can't check any bags or they will end up in the wrong city.
Before Skiplagged, you would have to guess and check various destinations to see which flights had layovers in the city you intended to travel.
Experts are saying the trick isn't necessarily illegal, but it could definitely hurt the airline business.
Orbitz and United Airlines are both suing Zaman for "unfair competition" and want $75,000 in lost revenue.
"This has to do with market competition," Zaman said in a recent AMA on Reddit. "I.e. Airlines want to offer City A to City C, but can only do that with multiple flights. Consumers are less inclined towards multiple flights unless it offers them savings."
The founder has set up a crowdfunding site to collect money for the legal fees, and he's almost reached his goal of $15k.
His message on the site reads:
Skiplagged's sole purpose has always been to help you become savvy travelers. We have been doing that by exposing pricing inefficiencies for air travel, among other things. Unfortunately, we have been doing too good of a job so United Airlines and Orbitz recently teamed up with a lawsuit to get in the way. Everything Skiplagged has done and continues to do is legal, but the only way to effectively prove this is with lawyers. Please show your support for Skiplagged by donating towards this campaign to help fund our legal team.
The site was having trouble loading on Tuesday due to an overload of traffic, according to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Via Ars Technica
The Consumerist reports that a man known as Conal complained to Comcast after he was billed for services he didn't actually have. After Conal's complaint, the company promised him extra television channels as a make-good but instead sent him a variety of equipment he didn't need.
Conal complained to Comcast again after he was billed $1,820 for the surplus hardware. This is where things get interesting. Conal, who says he works for a large American accountancy firm, compiled a spreadsheet showing every erroneous charge he had received from Comcast, which he sent to the company.
Comcast then apparently refused to reverse the error, so in February 2014, Conal decided to try something else. Being an accountant, Conal contacted Comcast's comptroller, the office that looks after the company accounts. He said he repeatedly called them about his bill, telling them that Comcast should be investigated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
The Consumerist says that after this, Comcast got in touch with Conal's employer.
At some point shortly after that call, someone from Comcast contacted a partner at the firm to discuss Conal. This led to an ethics investigation and Conal's subsequent dismissal from his job; a job where he says he'd only received positive feedback and reviews for his work.
Terrible customer service from Comcast has itself become a meme and was recently highlighted by making a man wait on hold until the office closed and by a customer service rep refusing to cancel a man's service.
Read the full story at Ars Technica.
Via KTVU
It happens so fast but the reporter, Alex Savage, managed to jump out of the way in the nick of time. He posted a follow up video on Facebook assuring everyone he was okay and crediting his photographer, Chip Vaughan, with shouting the alert that saved his life.
Close Call!! Almost got hit by a car live on-air, heart still pounding.
Posted by Alex Savidge KTVU on Tuesday, March 8, 2016
