Hundreds of fake names appear as no-shows after purchasing cheap tickets on competitor airline’s new route

Airline Cimber Sterling has been accused by its domestic competitor Norwegian Air of buying all its special offer tickets on a new route under fake names to prevent ‘real’ customers from taking advantage of offers.

Norwegian Air recently advertised special 1 kroner fares on its new route between Copenhagen and Karup in North Jutland – a route that is already operated by Cimber Sterling.

According to information seen by Børsen financial daily, apparently the competition didn’t sit well with Cimber Sterling and at least 650 of the cheapest fares were purchased by staff under names such as Donald Duck, the Austin Powers’ character Alotta Fagina and Norwegian Air’s own CEO, Bjørn Kjos.

The first Norwegian Air knew of the bookings was when only 30 passengers turned up to the first sold-out flight on Monday. More departures were hit by no shows as the fake name passengers never appeared.

Norwegian Air’s information chief Anne-Sissel Skånvik said that they were shocked when they found out who had purchased the tickets.

‘We were shocked to find the names that were listed as the owners of the credit cards were people in Cimber’s management. No matter who’s behind the scam – we don’t know who – it still affects those Danish passengers who had wanted to avail of Norwegian’s 1 kroner offer,’ she said.

Skånvik said they wanted to put a stop to the stunt immediately and would extend the special offer deal so other passengers could benefit.

Cimber Sterling’s chief executive Jakob Krogsgaard denied any knowledge of the ticket purchases.

‘It’s not something we’re behind and if we had done it we would have turned up [for the flights] in Cimber Sterling t-shirts,’ Krogsgaard said, referring to a similar stunt carried out by low-cost airline EasyJet against competitor airline Go a few years ago.

According to the chief executive, if Norwegian Air had just sold tickets for the route at a cost price of about 200 kroner then maybe the incident might never have happened.

One Cimber Sterling employee who admitted to buying the special offer tickets was the director of legal affairs, Alex Dyrgaard.

‘I can confirm that I bought the tickets, but I won’t say how many I bought, only that I bought them in a private capacity,’ Dyrgaard told Børsen.

According to Norwegian Air’s information, Dyrgaard purchased 54 tickets. The airline has also alleged that its competitor’s media sales manager and employee representatives that sit on the board also bought some.

Ole Kirschert Christensen, a senior consultant and director with Travelbroker, said he was extremely surprised by the allegations.

‘Comeptition is tough in the airline industry, but this treatment completely oversteps all ethical rules within the branch,’ he said.

Christensen added, however, that it was possible that senior management at Cimber Sterling were unaware of the purchases that may have been carried out by employees as a misunderstood act of loyalty.