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Skiplagging -- didn't know there was a word for this

b2bailey

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(Tried to copy article to here but failed.)

This story is about a young man who was detained at airport because he had a ticket from Florida to JFK with a stop in Charlotte -- but fully intended to deplane in Charlotte (his home) and not complete the flight to JFK.

I did this once -- because the price of first leg flight was significantly more expensive than ticket to second destination.

In subject case, young man was detained and parents were required to purchase new ticket to intended destination.

Wondering how many others have done this type of booking -- now referred to as skiplagging.
 
“Purchasing a ticket without intending to fly all flights to gain lower fares (hidden city ticketing) is a violation of American Airlines terms and conditions and is outlined in our Conditions of Carriage online."

The person got caught and they made them buy a new ticket. Don't really see an issue here. If you don't like their rules, don't fly their airline.

Kurt
 
they can also cancel your FF account and you loose your status and points. That is a hard no for me, so I tend NOT to do it.
 
The father keeps talking about his "teenage" son but nowhere does it mention he is a minor. I suspect the son is 18 years old, and an adult. However, the father's agenda is to get people on his side even though they are the ones that broke the rules and got caught.
 
I posted on TUG about this once because a flight to Maui with a stop at the Big Island was cheaper to fly directly to the Big Island. Someone said that it was against the rules to not continue on with the flight to Maui. Not sure if this was specifically what the deal was, but it was soemthing like that.
 
skiplagged.com is a website that specializes in these fares. I had used the website in the past to search for airfare (not using the above specified feature) but stopped using them for a different reason. The website transfers you to another 3rd party website to book your airfare. If there is a problem good luck getting it straightened out. I had such a problem and fought with the third party website and skiplagged. It eventually got straightened out but it involved contacting my CC company and filing multiple complaints on the third party and on skiplagged. It was very stressful. All of this happened in 2018, I haven't used them since. It's possible they have changed how they re-direct customers.
 
Hmm, I actually kind of surprised the airline put that much effort into investigating this at the airport. But i agree its against the rules. The airlines will often cancel your return flight, if you happen to have booked a round trip and then skip a leg of travel.
 
It's called "hidden city ticketing" in the travel industry. Skiplagged is a website that encourages these types of bookings, and if anyone actually calls it "skip lagging" that's a branding/marketing success for their website. ;)

In the article, the father refers to his son as "a minor".
 
The use of this type of ticket has several potential issues for the traveler.
The biggest issue is your luggage ending up in the city of the final destination
Another is weather requiring a reroute to get you the end city and not going to the city you intended to go to
This is not counting the problems with airlines and the rules spelled out in the ticket
Not any type of mess I want to be involved with
 
The use of this type of ticket has several potential issues for the traveler.
The biggest issue is your luggage ending up in the city of the final destination
Another is weather requiring a reroute to get you the end city and not going to the city you intended to go to
This is not counting the problems with airlines and the rules spelled out in the ticket
Not any type of mess I want to be involved with
If it's the last leg of your trip, and you ticket an overnight connection or airport change (e.g. LGA-JFK) connection, you're fairly safe... as long as you don't make it a regular practice and get your frequent flyer account closed.

As far as detaining a minor until his family purchases a new ticket, and the fact that an attorney is already involved, I suspect AA will be quietly settling this in the family's favor.
 
The father keeps talking about his "teenage" son but nowhere does it mention he is a minor. I suspect the son is 18 years old, and an adult. However, the father's agenda is to get people on his side even though they are the ones that broke the rules and got caught.
In an article I saw it said he was 16.
 
Why would the gate agent have requested the kid's ID? I've never had to show an ID to board a domestic flight before.
 
Why would the gate agent have requested the kid's ID? I've never had to show an ID to board a domestic flight before.
It didn't say the gate agent was the one who asked for his id. You do have to show it when you check baggage, and when you go through TSA.
 
It didn't say the gate agent was the one who asked for his id. You do have to show it when you check baggage, and when you go through TSA.

"Hunter says that once at the airport in Florida with his North Carolina driver’s license, the gate agent was skeptical of his son’s final destination."
I read that as the agent asking for the ID. I'm not sure how else the gate agent would have known he had a NC DL.

If you skiplag, you cannot check baggage or your bags will not get to your destination. The TSA doesn't care if you skiplag either.
 
A little bit of a different problem that I had in the past. About 2 decades ago, my flight was supposed to connect in SFO to SMF. My ride decided to pick me up in SFO instead so I never got onto the plane to SMF. Imagine my surprise that my confirmed return flight had cancelled me out of their flight list when I reached the check-in counter, which would have left from SMF, connected to SFO before flying out internationally. The agent said since I never got on the SFO to SMF flight, they assumed that my plans had changed. Fortunately, they were able to get my 2 flights back.
 
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How does the airline lose money if people do this? Or how are they harmed?
 
How does the airline lose money if people do this? Or how are they harmed?
Well, they lose money for the only reason people do it -- the flight costs less than booking to the desired location. Flights aren't priced based on how much it costs the airlines to fly there; they are priced based on demand for that destination. So sometimes a flight that connects through a city is priced less than just flying to that city directly.

Kurt
 
How does the airline lose money if people do this? Or how are they harmed?
Airline fares are based on startpoint and endpoint, regardless of layover city or nonstop. A lot of times those fares are set in a way to compete with other airlines for the same start and end points, but those other airlines may have layovers in different cities. Well, let's say AA charges a $100 fare to fly from Gainesville to New York City, regardless of connection point. And let's say they charge $150 to fly from Gainesville to Charlotte. But when you are shopping around, you see that the $100 fare to New York City has a connection in Charlotte, so you buy with the intention of getting off in Charlotte. You just skimmed the airline out of the extra $50 they would have charged you to just fly to Charlotte. In addition, they now have a seat from Charlotte to New York City going empty that they possibly could have sold to someone else. Plus it adds to the workload of the gate agents of that flight waiting and calling for this missing passenger that they know got on the connecting flight and arrived in Charlotte just fine.
 
I didn't realize this could be an issue. When the airline does it to a passenger it's often called a delay and they don't seem to care how long of a delay.

Bill
 
I didn't realize this could be an issue. When the airline does it to a passenger it's often called a delay and they don't seem to care how long of a delay.

Bill
I was just going to say that. Or they get you in too late to make your connection.
 
The kid was flying alone it said. I am guessing when the agent said " What's your final destination?", he said Charlotte. Probably because he was not aware his parents were lying for all the previous flights they scammed.

While it is against their rules, it is not illegal. For people who have no frequent flyer miles or care about their relationship with a particular airline, traveling with out checked bags, etc, it can work. Just has some downsides when things goes wrong and either you are stuck or end up in a completely different city than you intended to be.
 
The workload for the flight staff is the only real problem I see. Otherwise, set fair prices for each destination. Sell the second leg to someone who needs it. Planes are so full these days, someone would purchase that ticket. If a layover is long enough that people get off the plane, I understand why someone would want to skiplag. If it is only a quick turnaround, then no. The passenger doing this should tell the airline at the time. Interesting that the practice is against the rules, but not illegal.
 
They really can’t sell the leg. They have to assume the person is supposed to be on that flight until the last minute. If the door is about to close they can give it to a standby if there are any. They set prices based on the market. The reason that flying to charlotte may be more expensive than NY is there is a lot of competition and flights to New York. And not all of those flights go through charlotte.

Hubs are efficient as 400 people a day do not fly from their home in Charlotte to Singapore, or 3000 people who live in Charlotte fly to JFK airport everyday.

So to try and circumvent the hub system means everyone else pays for the lost revenue of the proper flight you “stole”
 
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