Aktarer Zaman
Aktarer Zaman, 22, is the founder of Skiplagged, an airfare information website that enables consumers to find cheap fares, including the hidden-city fares that airlines prohibit. He spoke with senior editor Kate Rice about his goals for the site, which is the target of a lawsuit.
Q:Why did you start Skiplagged?
A: Back in 2013, I was searching for flights from New York to Seattle, and the cheapest was $170 with a layover in San Francisco. Then I searched New York to San Francisco, and the cheapest was $300. This sparked my curiosity. I did more research. I also discovered how two arbitrary one-ways can be less than a round trip. I also saw a lot of analysis where websites will track people's usage and charge them more and websites, for example, that will notice you are a Mac user and charge you more. This bothered me. I wanted to build something very pro-consumer without all the nonsense. So I built Skiplagged, and it's available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.
Q:Is it air only?
A: Right now, I'm focused on things relating to airfares and being able to see the fares and how the fares fluctuate on an hourly basis. One thing I noticed in my analysis is that fares fluctuate a lot within hours. They can drop 30% from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. and bump right back up -- random things like that. You can set up to get text messages or email alerts. There are a lot of other websites that are doing alerts, but they track it every day, which misses a lot of fluctuations. Hidden cities are just one of a lot of things [on Skiplagged]. I also show regular fares if those are better. Hidden cities caught a lot of attention from consumers. They're really upset that someone could be buying a ticket at the same time but be paying a lot less. I have seen 80% fare savings on hidden cities.
I want to make it clear that I am only sharing information, I'm not trying to sell tickets. I'm not interested in selling tickets. I am more interested in providing knowledge. My focus is on consumers. My mission for Skiplagged is to make it easier for people to experience the world. I personally love to travel and see travel as one of the most fulfilling things people can do. Helping people be more informed about airfares is just step one of my mission.
Q:What is step two?
A: It's a surprise.
Q:What do you think of the publicity generated by the lawsuit?
A: My goal was to inform consumers, and the toughest thing was educating customers. Now a ton of media is writing about this, and the media is helping me educate consumers.
Q:What kind of traffic had your website been getting, and how has that increased in the wake of all of this publicity?
A: It was getting tens of thousands and it went really viral one day and went over a million. And since then, it's been doing hundreds of thousands.
Q:Have you gotten any job offers?
A: I have a ton of emails relating to that.
Q:Is your mother proud of you?
A: She was really nervous, but then Gayle King [co-anchor of "CBS This Morning"] thanked me, and I could tell she felt relieved in seeing such a powerful figure thanking me in front of millions -- kind of an assurance that what I'm doing with Skiplagged might actually be good for society.