Everyone wants a deal, and skiplagging is a travel hack that promises to slash how much you pay for airfare.
“It is not for the faint of heart, but it is a way to save a significant amount,” says Sheldon Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who specializes in AI and data science and has worked in the field of aviation security.
Skiplagging involves buying a ticket but traveling only part way through the itinerary. There’s nothing illegal about doing it but the practice is explicitly prohibited by many airlines’ conditions or contract of carriage.
Skiplagging Basics
Skipplagging is also known as hidden-city ticketing and point-beyond ticketing.
“It’s when you book a ticket, (and) you don’t go all the way to the final destination,” explains Jen Ruiz, a travel writer and author of the book “12 Trips in 12 Months.”
For instance, let’s say you want to fly from Detroit to Washington D.C. Based on currently available fares, you could book a direct flight for around $204. Or, you could book a flight from Detroit to New York City with a layover in Washington D.C. for $148. Then, when your flight arrives in Washington, you depart with your carry-on bag and skip the final leg to New York City.
The system works only with one-way tickets because if you miss one leg of your flight, airlines will automatically cancel the rest of your itinerary. You also can’t check a bag since there would be no way to retrieve it at the layover.
If an airline catches you skiplagging, however, your bag may be the least of your worries.
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Skiplagging Penalties
Most airlines include clauses within their contracts of carriage that explicitly prohibit hidden-city ticketing.
“Airlines don’t like this at all,” Ruiz says. “It’s messing with their profits.”
If an airline catches you flying on skiplagged tickets, there may be consequences. Untied Airlines, for instance, lists eight remedies it says it can take, including:
— Permanently banning or refusing to board a passenger
— Billing a passenger for the difference between the fare paid and the lowest fare applicable to the passenger’s actual itinerary
— Deleting miles, points or credits from a person’s frequent flyer account
— Taking legal action
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“It’s something airlines don’t really like, but they have created it,” Jacobson says. He says the airlines’ yield management systems have created opportunities for lower prices in hidden-ticket itineraries.
While airlines may say that people hopping off an itinerary midway to the final destination creates a security issue, Jacobson says that’s not correct since skiplagging passengers aren’t checking bags.
He also doesn’t buy the argument that skiplagging is unfair to airlines because they could have sold that empty seat to someone else. He notes that the original passenger already paid for that seat so the airline isn’t losing money by someone failing to fly to the end of a purchased itinerary.
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Ultimately, Jacobson believes it comes down to airlines wanting people to spend more on a direct flight. “They don’t like people exploiting their systems,” he says.
Is Skiplagging Worth It?
The website Skiplagged is probably the best-known place to find hidden-city tickets, although it isn’t your only option. Jacobson says you can find these flights directly on airline websites if you want to take the time to search various itineraries.
The bigger question for travelers is whether skiplagging is worth the risk.
Neither Jacobson nor Ruiz have used the practice, but each cites a different reason. Jacobson says he wouldn’t be opposed to using hidden-city ticketing, but he’s never found a discount big enough to entice him to give up the convenience of being able to check a bag or risk the possibility of a flight being rerouted.
Ruiz, meanwhile, feels skiplagging would create needless anxiety, especially considering how many flights gate-check bags nowadays. If that happens, you could find yourself getting off at your destination with no way to take your bag with you.
Combined with the possible penalties, skiplagging doesn’t appeal to her.
“It’s so stressful already to travel,” Ruiz says. “The last thing you need is to think, am I going to be banned from this airline?”
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What Is Skiplagging and Should You Do It? originally appeared on usnews.com
