I already know the answer, but why are what I presume are gate agents employed by a private corporation allowed to detain a citizen who is not a physical threat to anyone over a contract dispute?

Refund his ticket and don't let him on the plane if you're that concerned, or otherwise handle it in civil court after the fact. Using physical force to detain him over a contract dispute should be illegal.

In the article it says airlines dont like this tactic because it cuts in to their profits. But that could only be true if their prices weren't actually based on the costs of a flight but were instead just designed to basically scam people. Why would a flight from FL to NC cost more than a flight from FL to NY that happens to stop in NC? Airlines are a fucking cartel.

So it's not illegal but they were still able to force his parents to buy him another ticket? To my untrained eye that feels like an easy lawsuit?

He was detained for that? That’s fucked. But what else is new.

Like most of these news stories, I've just learned about skiplagged.

The airline “detaining” the child necessarily implies the minor child was either kidnapped or falsely arrested, am I wrong in this regard? No laws are being violated, so the employees detaining the kid and, literally holding him for ransom, should be charged for felony kidnapping.

They're pissed people aren't buying their extortion tickets. Its bullshit direct flights cost more per ticket when they cost the airliner less.

Yeah fuck the airlines

What in the corporate penny pinching fuck.

TIL a cool new trick

bruh I hope they sue the airline for illegal detainment and extortion or something, what a pile of shit

Parents should have called the police and charged the airline with kidnapping/ human trafficking. Jim Caviezal would show up and the sound of freedom would release the teen.

Idk if there’s a better website to find these deals but I just googled around and found this one: https://skiplagged.com/

I’ve never thought about doing this before but will now keep it in mind the next time I travel.

So they got free money by getting paid for something they didn't even have to provide and that's a problem?

I'll remember this trick next time I need a fight

They detained this kid because he was leaving the airport? Wtf

Oh, it's skip-lagging, not ski-plagging. I was trying to figure out why it would be "ski" instead of "sky" and what "plagging" means... I should go to bed.