Mainline Airways LLC was a company offering US$89.00 tickets - half the going rate - for airline service between Honolulu and Los Angeles, until it was shut down in June 2003 following official accusation that it was fictitious. The founder and self-identified chief executive officer, Luke Thompson, a college freshman, was allegedly running the company out of his dorm room at Babson College.
Temporary injunctions were placed in June 2003 against Thompson and his company, alleging Mainline was just a web site, the now defunct MainLineAirways.com [1]. Although the site said flights were scheduled to start July 3, 2003, authorities said the company had no planes, no crews, and no permits to fly. In June 2003, Circuit Court Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo in Hawaii ordered the company to stop selling tickets, and a few days later Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly froze Mainline's bank accounts.
Thompson claimed his company was a tour provider, not an actual airline. "[Government authorities] said we're an airline, which is completely wrong," he said. "It's something they assumed." He maintained his intentions to the tickets. "We had every intention of doing this operation. We had 15 airlines we had contacted or were in serious negotiations with, regarding the actual providing of the [air] service," he said, without giving any specifics.
Thompson acknowledged he's the only person behind the company, other than a consultant and an investor, whom he did not identnify. He was ordered to refund all ticket sales.
The lawsuit filed in Hawaii demands a permanent injunction against Mainline, full restitution for people who purchased tickets, and civil penalties for "engaging in unfair or deceptive trade practices."
