What if you could save $180 on airfare, but there was a 0.1% chance that the airline could flag your ticket and ban you from future flights?
That’s the promise — and risk — of skiplagging. It’s a travel hack that can slash how much you pay for airfare, but one that airlines firmly oppose.
“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 partway through the itinerary. While it’s not illegal, the practice is explicitly prohibited by many airlines’ conditions or contract of carriage.
Skiplagging Basics
Skiplagging is also known as hidden-city ticketing and point-beyond ticketing.
For instance, let’s say you want to fly from Nashville to San Francisco. You could book a direct flight for around $319 based on currently available fares. Or, you could book a flight from Nashville to Burbank, California, with a layover in San Francisco for $129. Then, when your flight arrives in San Francisco, you depart with your carry-on bag and skip the final leg to Burbank.
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 is no way to retrieve it during the layover.
If an airline catches you skiplagging, however, your bag may be the least of your worries.
[READ: Does Google Flights Really Save You Money?]
Skiplagging Penalties
Most airlines include clauses within their contracts of carriage that explicitly prohibit hidden-city ticketing.
“Airlines don’t like this at all,” says Jen Ruiz, a travel writer and author of the book “12 Trips in 12 Months.”. “It’s messing with their profits.”
If an airline catches you flying on skiplagged tickets, there may be consequences. United 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
These aren’t empty promises either, as one teen discovered in 2023. He was reportedly banned from American Airlines for three years after using a skiplagged ticket.
In 2023, American Airlines also sued the website Skiplagged, which is the best-known platform for finding hidden-city tickets. Last year, a jury awarded the airline $9.4 million in damages due to the case. While a sizable award, it was far short of the $94 million demanded by American.
“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 incorrect 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.
[Related:How to Actually Find Cheap Flights]
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?
Skiplagged is probably the best-known website 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 has used the practice, but each cites a different reason. Jacobson says he wouldn’t be opposed to using hidden-city ticketing. Still, 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.
Meanwhile, Ruiz 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?”
However, nearly 300,000 people took the risk last year, according to Skiplagged, and the company says only 0.1% — 309 passengers — had their tickets flagged by the airline. If you are still hesitant, the company now offers a Skiplagged Guarantee that promises to reimburse users who book a ticket through the site and later have it cancelled or rerouted.
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What Is Skiplagging and Should You Do It to Save Money? originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 06/11/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
