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Skiplagging, or Hidden City Ticketing as it’s otherwise known, can save you a ton of money; however, you’re probably breaking nearly every worldwide airline’s “terms of service” or “conditions of carriage.” Why? If you’re utilizing these kind of tickets, you’re not flying the entire itinerary. Instead, what you’re doing is taking advantage of how airlines may price tickets that transit your intended destination, often a hub, in order to service a smaller market. This is essentially what happened to the guy in the article, he booked a ticket from Gainesville, Florida to New York ( JFK ) with a layover in Charlotte. He never intended to fly to JFK, it was just pricing much cheaper than the if you booked Gainesville to Charlotte, so he was just going to hop off the plane in Charlotte and exit the airport. Sounds like a good plan, right?
This is not illegal, and the courts have ruled this way, but that doesn’t stop an airline from penalizing you. And that is exactly what happened to this dude, who got caught flying on a ticket purchased via Skiplagged, a website that specializes in finding these kind of fares. The airline detained him, sounds woefully severe really, and discovered his intentions and made him buy a ticket that ended in Charlotte. If they stopped him from boarding, that sounds reasonable, detaining him in a room….um, what?!
I read the whole article and it seems like this could have been avoided and should you ever end up in a similar situation, here are 5 things you can do to avoid suspicion and the ire of the airline when booking a Skipagged or Hidden City Ticket. Of course… I would never recommend these things, this is purely hypothetical.
Here’s the full article on yes…Daily Mail
One – Never ever book via SkipLagged.com
Skiplagged.com is a great resource for doing your due diligence, but it’s been sued many times in the past for doing what it is exactly intended to do…show you flight combos that transit your intended airport but ultimately connect to somewhere you don’t want to fly.
The dad says he has used Skiplagged.com for most of his bookings. Why would you book with a site that is basically a massive red flag to the airline that you aren’t going to fly the entire flight?!
‘We’ve used Skiplagged almost exclusively for the last five to eight years,’ said Hunter, saying that they were not worried about his flight.
Instead…use Skiplagged for research and then book another way…even directly with the airline is better than Skiplagged, far less suspicious.
Here is an example of a flight between LAX and Atlanta. Skiplagged shows it is cheaper to book to Miami and get off the plane in Atlanta vs booking LAX to ATL. You’d save $150.
From the airline or a consolidator.
Two: Never Check a Bag – don’t do Basic Economy
Your bag will go on to your final destination sooooooo, in the example above, your bags will be checked all the way to Miami. Carry on only
There is also a risk in booking the cheapest fare class ticket as well because you’ll be last to board and risk having to gate check your bag. That would be bad since it’ll likely be checked all the way to your final destination. Yikes.
Three: Never attach your frequent flier information
You’re literally breaking the conditions of carriage and violating airline policy. Don’t attach anymore information about yourself than necessary, and you don’t want your FF account linked in case you are busted and your miles are all frozen or canceled. Plus, FF accounts usually have saved credit card information which further identifies you.
Four: Never do this more than 2 or 3 times per year
As I mentioned above, it sounds like the family was using Skiplagged exclusively for years. Undoubtedly, they were doing this so regularly that they were flagged internally. If you do this a couple times a year, you really have nothing to worry about. People don’t make their connections all the time, change plans, etc. The more you do it, the more you’re tempting fate.
The son was flying but it sounds like the dad booked it…which brings me to #5
Five: Use different credit cards if possible
Airlines are known to track the spending patterns of credit cards used on airfare, club access, bags, wifi, etc. In fact, some people will go so far as to buy full fare first and business class tickets, cancel them the day of departure, in order to manipulate the upgrade process and increase the odds of clearing a cheaper flight you actually intend to fly.
If you are utilizing hidden city ticketing for pricing advantages, don’t use the same card or each transaction, and certainly don’t use one that is saved in your frequent flier account.
Overall
This isn’t a practice I would recommend to the lament, or casual traveler, but it can certainly have its advantages, but you need to be smart about employing the practice and be fully aware that you are technically violating airline policy.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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