If you think longer flights are always the most expensive route to take when flying, think again. Years ago, budget travelers discovered that some trips are cheaper with a well-known but controversial travel hack called skiplagging. Also called hidden city ticketing, the travel tip can come in handy when flights to your intended destination are sold out. However, airlines are fed up with travelers who take advantage of this tactic and are taking action in the form of fines, cancellations, and even lifetime bans.
Keep reading to find the answer to the question: What is skiplagging? Also, find out why following travel tips that advise you to do this is probably not a good idea.
What is skiplagging?
Skiplagging is a clever yet hotly debated travel tip that involves booking a flight with multiple legs but intentionally skipping the last portion to reach a cheaper destination.
Here’s how it works: Imagine booking a round-trip flight from New York to Paris with a layover in London, but your actual intention is to stay in London. Once you arrive in London for the layover, you simply disembark your plane and forgo the final leg of the journey to Paris — you never planned to go there in the first place.
Skiplagging is such a popular travel hack that even former President Donald Trump’s team used the scheme to skip out on flight fares in 2023, according to documents disclosed in a report from the travel site View From The Wing. Travelers can use the loophole to skip out on higher fares or make it to their destination despite sold-out direct flights. Airlines are well aware of the practice and heavily discourage it. So, before you rush to become a skiplagging expert, it’s crucial to understand that this approach has potential pitfalls.
Why is skiplagging so controversial?
Though not technically illegal, skiplagging raises ethical questions and concerns about cascading impacts on the airline industry. Critics argue that this travel tactic disrupts the revenue models airlines rely on to provide services, potentially leading to higher prices for other travelers. Hidden city ticketing can potentially create a ripple effect, affecting flight availability and pricing for future passengers.
In 2014, United Airlines and travel company Orbitz sued the founder of a website called Skiplagged, which compiles flight data to show travelers which hidden city fares they could book for their intended destination. The federal suit claimed that the website encouraged customers to violate their airline ticket’s contract of carriage clause, essentially ignoring the fine print of their ticket’s intended usage and violating airline policy.
In 2021, Southwest Airlines also filed suit against Skiplagged, citing issues such as flight delays caused by attempts to locate passengers for booked flights who had disembarked during a layover. Skiplagging’s impact on airline performance was detailed in a 2022 study by University of Utah business professor Jaelynn Oh and University of British Columbia professor Tim Huh, revealing that the scheme can lead to increased prices and flight delays.
Though cases involving Skiplagged were eventually thrown out or settled, Skiplagged is still in operation today. The uproar set a precedent for airlines looking to counter travelers who attempt to use hidden city deals.
What happens if you get caught skiplagging?
Though policies vary by airline, if you’re caught skiplagging, airlines may take action by emptying your frequent flier miles. Some airlines even explicitly forbid skiplagging in their terms and conditions, stating that missing a leg of your flight could result in penalties, including cancellation of return flights without refund or even the suspension of your frequent flyer account. Lifetime bans are also on the table for travelers who skiplag.
Another major drawback of the practice? Missing luggage. Since checked bags are often routed to your final destination and not moved from flight to flight with you, skiplagging can complicate baggage handling. If you decide to disembark at a layover, your bags could continue the journey without you.
If you’re going to try to pull one over on your carrier of choice to save a few bucks or snag the date/route you desire, only carry your luggage and know what consequences are at stake. In short, skiplag at your own risk.
The consequences of skiplagging by airline
All major airlines have policies to discourage skiplagging and penalties for travelers who are discovered using the tactic. Most of the policies include consequences ranging from canceling the rest of the flights on the traveler’s itinerary to refusing to allow the passenger to board a flight and removing their luggage.
American Airlines
According to American Airlines’ conditions of carriage, the airfare paid is for travel between the locations outlined on the schedule, not for stopover cities. Also, using a round-trip ticket for one-way travel is prohibited.
Frontier Airlines
Frontier’s contract of carriage said that the airline automatically cancels “a passenger’s ticket upon such passenger failing to either (i) check-in for such passenger’s flight, or (ii) board such passenger’s flight, in either instance within the required times. The automatic cancellation will apply to all subsequent flights, including return flights, on the itinerary.”
Delta Airlines
In its contract of carriage, Delta prohibits “throwaway ticketing” (using round-trip fares for one-way travel) and “hidden city/point beyond” ticketing. According to Delta, if a passenger tries one of these tactics, the airline “reserves the right to cancel any unused portion of the passenger’s ticket, void any remaining value of the unused portion of the ticket, refuse to let the passenger board or check bags, and/or, if the passenger is permitted to board, charge the passenger the Applicable Full Fare.”
Southwest
Southwest has similar consequences to Delta, including reserving the right to cancel without any notice any other reservations the airline believes were made to be used for skiplagging.
United
United has been one of the more aggressive airlines in combatting skiplagging, which is borne out in its contract of carriage. In addition to canceling reservations, United specifically says it reserves the right to “permanently ban” passengers caught skiplagging, delete all the miles or points in the passenger’s frequent flyer account, and charge a delivery fee and penalty to deliver the customer’s checked baggage back to them.
