Skiplagging - Anyone Ever Do it?

[taiwan_girl]

QUOTE
here’s how it works: Say if someone wants to fly from Boston to Houston, but the airfare is too high. So they buy a ticket from Boston to Las Vegas with a layover in Houston, because it is cheaper than the direct Boston-to-Houston fare. The passenger disembarks at Houston, leaving an unused portion of the ticket. So they never actually finish the entire journey they booked – but they’ve saved money doing so.
UNQUOTE

https://www.insider.com/american-airlines-skiplagging-hidden-city-ticket-canceled-connecting-flight-2023-7

I have never done it. Too much of a rule follower.

For example, flights from USA --> Thailand usually stop in Tokyo. The flight from US --> Thailand is e.g. USD$1500, and a flight from US --> Tokyo may be USD$2500.

So, you would save a lot of money by making a US --> Thailand ticket and when the plane stops in Tokyo, get off and do not do the last section.

But, in addition to what happen to the kid in the article, I have heard airlines that cancelled a persons frequent flier program access. I have too much status and files to risk that. LOL

[Mik]

Nope. Used to do back-to-back tickets where if you were working in LA you'd buy a ticket CVG - LAX leaving Monday and coming back the next week on Thursday. Then you'd buy a ticket LAX-CVG on the nearest Thursday, coming back CVG to LAX the following Monday. Both tickets had a Saturday stay so they were really cheap.

[Jon]

I did it once in the 90s and they canceled my return after I "missed" the connection. I was able to talk them into reinstating it, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

[Mik]

Most of my flying is done ne someone else's dime, so I have no interest in the cost, and am not willing to possibly inconvenience myself to save their money.

[LuFins Dad]

Not done it, but I don’t have as much of a problem with it as I do with the ghost rooms. Fact is that flights are so overbooked that you aren’t really costing someone else a seat on the plane and it isn’t hurting any service workers.

[Axtremus]

American Airline sues skiplagging site:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/08/21/american-airlines-skiplagged-lawsuit/

[Copper]

There used to be a limit on how far you could fly from Reagan National, Dallas was beyond the limit.

So American had a flight that stopped at Dulles for just a few minutes, a few passengers got off, none got on. I would be booked to get off at Dulles, but if there was a happy hour downtown, I would stay on for the trip to DCA. The flight from IAD to DCA was only a few minutes, the price was the same.

It was legal either way, American didn't care.