Ticketing Platform Peek Travel Overcharges Customers with Hidden Fees, Lawsuit Claims

Case Overview: A class action lawsuit accuses Peek Travel of misleading customers with hidden fees and violating New York's Arts and Cultural Affairs Law.

Consumers Affected: Consumers who purchased tickets through Peek Travel.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Peek Travel, Inc., a ticketing software provider, deceives customers by adding hidden fees at the final stages of ticket purchases, a new lawsuit alleges. 

The lawsuit, filed in New York, claims Peek’s platform—used by venues like the Museum of Ice Cream and ARTECHOUSE—violates state laws requiring full price transparency for event tickets. According to the complaint, customers selecting admission tickets on these websites initially see a fee-less price, only to be hit with undisclosed “Taxes & Fees” at checkout. These extra charges aren’t itemized, leaving buyers in the dark about what they’re actually paying for. 

To add pressure on consumers, the lawsuit claims Peek uses countdown timers, pushing customers to complete transactions quickly—before they realize the full cost.

Peek Travel Accused of Hiding Fees at Checkout

New York resident Kayla Montgomery filed the proposed class action lawsuit after she purchased four general admission tickets to the Museum of Ice Cream in January 2023. Montgomery says the ticketing website, operated by Peek, repeatedly displayed prices that appeared final—until the last checkout screen.

After clicking through multiple pages, entering her personal details, and agreeing to terms and conditions, she finally saw an extra $13.23 tacked onto her total as “Taxes & Fees.” Only by hovering over a small question mark icon did she discovered that $9.50 of this amount was a “service fee.”

Because Peek collects payments directly before distributing funds to venues, the lawsuit claims the company is profiting from these undisclosed fees. And since the fees are bundled together under vague labels, customers have no way of knowing how much of their money is going to Peek versus the venue itself.

Lawsuit Alleges Peek Violated New York's Arts and Cultural Affairs Law

New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Law § 25.07(4), updated in 2022, was designed to prevent this type of pricing scheme. The law mandates that ticket sellers disclose the total ticket cost—including all fees—before a customer selects a ticket for purchase. It also explicitly prohibits price increases during the checkout process.

According to state regulators, the law was introduced to eliminate the frustration of “junk fees” that artificially lower ticket prices upfront, only to inflate them later. Under the law, consumers should see the full, final ticket price from the start, with a clear breakdown of any additional charges. Despite this requirement, the lawsuit alleges Peek Travel continues to sidestep these rules by displaying misleading ticket prices until the last possible moment.

Other Ticketing Companies Face Similar Lawsuits

Peek isn’t the only ticketing platform under fire. Event Tickets Center, another online seller, is also facing a lawsuit in New York over similar allegations of fee deception. Like Peek, the company is accused of showing artificially low prices before slapping customers with hidden fees at checkout—often accompanied by a countdown timer to create urgency.

Major players like Ticketmaster, StubHub, and SeatGeek are also facing lawsuits over their fee structures. Customers and regulators argue these companies inflate prices through hidden surcharges, misleading pricing tactics, and monopolistic control over ticket sales.

In the Peek Travel hidden fees class action lawsuit, Montgomery wants to represent people from across the country who purchased tickets to places of entertainment located in New York State which used screens or sites that were “powered by Peek.com” after August 29, 2022. She is suing for alleged violation of the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law and is seeking statutory damages and attorneys’ costs and fees.

Case Details

• Lawsuit: Montgomery v. Peek Travel, Inc.
• Case Number: 1:25-cv-01015-AS
• Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• Philip L. Fraietta and Stefan Bogdanovich (Bursor & Fisher, P.A.)

Have you purchased tickets through Peek Travel? Share your experience in the comments below.