On the last day of June, American Airlines agents at Gainesville Regional Airport in Florida canceled a teenager’s flight to North Carolina after realizing he had used a booking tactic called “skiplagging.” hidden in the city,” which is banned by airlines but used by some. travelers on the net flight bargains.
The teenager’s father, Hunter Parsons, said it was his 17-year-old’s first time flying unaccompanied and that both the booking time and price were attractive – for $150, his son flew from Gainesville to Charlotte, and not continue on the second flight to New York, a cost savings of about $300 if the family had just purchased a direct flight to Charlotte. But the son of Mr. Parsons didn’t even make it past the check-in counter in Gainesville, where airline agents questioned why the teenager would fly to New York when his layover was in his hometown, Charlotte. He was forced to pay for a direct flight.
Skiplagging is buying a ticket for a connecting flight, with a layover in the city that is the traveler’s actual destination. The Flyers went down after the first leg and just failed to get going in the second. Often the fare is cheaper than if they actually bought a direct flight to their desired destination. At least two websites are now helping unearth these deals for consumers.
Although it is not illegal, the practice is strictly prohibited by airlines in their contracts of carriage. And carriers have shown an erratic but heavy hand in doling out penalties for catches, eliminating skiplogger’s frequent flyer miless at a time and suing one passenger over another. Mr Parsons said American had banned his son from traveling with the carrier for three years.
Experts say travelers have flown this way for decades and detecting misuse of connections is tricky, making enforcement a challenge for airlines. Here’s what to know about this open aviation secret.
How does this work?
Airline ticket costs are determined by many factors, such as energy prices, passenger demand for certain routes and competition from other airlines. They are not just a reflection of the distance traveled. For travelers, this means that it may sometimes be more affordable to book a flight with a layover on a more competitive route and get off there, rather than booking a non-stop flight to the desired location.
For example, a traveler in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., wants to fly to San Francisco. A recent search flew from Fort Lauderdale to Portland, Ore., with a stop in San Francisco, for about $124. A nonstop flight from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco costs about $220.
Skipped and Kiwi make it easy to find and book these types of deals.
But it requires remaining undefined. You cannot check a bag or link a frequent flier account to collect mileage. And travelers who exhibit patterns — repeatedly flying the same routes and missing the last leg of a flight — are more likely to be caught.
Why is it becoming popular?
Short answer: the cost of the fare, which has increased in recent years.
Mary Cropper, a travel specialist at Boston-based Audley Travel, called the airfare pricing a “perfect storm.” Fare hikes, in addition to fees for everything from drinks to printing boarding passes, have made skipping more attractive to passengers. While he doesn’t advise his clients to book this way, he says he understands the motivation.
“Why wouldn’t someone want to save 50 percent on a plane ticket, something that’s so expensive these days?” Ms. asked Cropper.
Aktarer Zaman, the founder and chief executive of Skiplagged, emphasized that his website “empowers people to make their own decisions” by unearthing alternatives to current airline pricing practices , which he described as “price gouging.”
What are the risks?
By purchasing a ticket, travelers agree to a contract of carriage with the airline, which is a set of rules that passengers agree to abide by. It covers everything from how a carrier will deal with oversold flights to requirements regarding passenger dress and behavior. These terms and conditions also often outright prohibit hidden-city ticketing and lay out a raft of consequences if travelers flout the rules.
United Airlines rights reserved to permanently ban travelers who did not complete their trip. They also say they can revoke status and wipe out accumulated mileage. Alaska Airlines mention that it can take legal action against passengers who violate their rules.
said the American into it fine print that it is entitled to certain actions, such as canceling any unused portion of the ticket, refusing to let the passenger fly and charging the customer for what would have been the cost of the intended route.
Curtis Blessing, a spokesman for American, called this type of travel an “all-around bad outcome” that could cause issues with checked bags and also keep other customers away, who might have urgent travel needs, from booking seats.
Airlines often take aim at online providers, having in recent years filed several lawsuits against Skiplagged and Kiwi. Earlier this summer, American sued Kiwi in federal court in Texas, alleging the “rogue online travel agent” repeatedly engaged in “abusive ticketing practices,” including booking hidden fares in the city for its customers, according to court documents.
So far, litigation has been unsuccessful in blocking this travel hack. A lawsuit filed in 2014 by United against Skiplagged was dismissed, while in 2021, Southwest Airlines sued Skiplagged over the carrier’s use of data. Skiplagged argued that they were not actually distributing the Southwest tickets; they showed flights but directed users to other websites for booking. Both sides eventually agreed to drop the lawsuit, Mr. Zaman said.
In 2018, Lufthansa sued a passenger who booked a round-trip flight from Oslo to Seattle but then stayed in Frankfurt, the flight’s layover city. The airline later the suit was dropped.
However, there are many anecdotes online of passengers who say they have been risk a lifetime ban and in the loss of all their frequent flyer mileage.
Is this an ethical way to travel? How big of an issue is this still for airlines?
“The question is whether you think it has an impact on the provider and whether you care,” said Robert Mann, an aviation analyst and former American executive. Airlines say taking advantage of hidden fares in the city results in empty seats that may have been booked by others.
In its lawsuit against Kiwi, American also said passenger no-shows can delay flights by triggering searches for the traveler and any luggage involved, and wasting fuel. which is calculated by the number of passengers.
Others say these fares are a loophole of an airline’s own making, and a reflection of theirs pricing priority. By law, airlines can set whatever prices and routes they want.
“It could be argued that charging higher prices for shorter distances is unfair and particularly penalizes frequent flyers to hub cities,” where high demand typically means more expensive airfare, said Paul Hudson, the founder of a passenger rights advocacy group called Rights to Flyers.
What can you do if you get penalized for skipping?
Very little. Bart Banino, an attorney at Condon & Forsyth, a firm specializing in aviation law, emphasized that passengers are obligated to abide by the airline’s terms and conditions — that contract of carriage — whether that means traveling to route they bought, or payment. fare difference when they are caught breaking the rules.
