Skiplagging: The Risks And The Rewards

Are you a seasoned traveler or someone who wants to jump into the joys of travel? Do you appreciate a good travel bargain? Have you ever heard of Skiplagging?

Travel :
For those who aren’t in the know, ‘Skiplagging’ (also known as “hidden city” or “throwaway” ticketing) is a modern-day travel hack that beats the airlines at their own game and all but guarantees you the cheapest airfare possible. Here’s how it works:

Let’s say, for example, you want to travel from Miami, Florida to Charlotte, North Carolina. After a quick search on the American Airlines website, you discover that a non-stop flight directly to Charlotte is $469. However, after further digging, you find an available flight from Miami to New York City with a change of planes in Charlotte that costs only $229 (a savings of $240 bucks). So, you purchase the Miami to New York City ticket, get off in Charlotte, and “skip-lag” by never boarding the connecting flight to NYC.

Skiplagging has become so popular at saving money, that an actual website was created to find the cheapest skiplagged fares available to travelers.

Although Skiplagging is not illegal, airlines HATE it. After all, they spend hours upon hours figuring out popular routes and pricing them in a way that gives them the greatest profit. So, airlines have begun cracking down on the travel practice by using their internal rules to punish anyone they discover may be saving money by cheating them out of money.

According to Yahoo! News, a 17-year-old was recently banned from flying on American Airlines for 3 years because he skiplagged on a recent trip.

Similar to our above example, the young man was scheduled to fly from Gainesville, Florida, to New York City, with a layover in Charlotte. However, suspicious gate agents in Florida took the teen to a security room for questioning after seeing his North Carolina driver’s license and presuming he wouldn’t continue on the flight to New York City.

“His ticket was canceled and he was banned from AA for 3 years but never actually did anything wrong. He never even got his boarding pass,” the teen’s father said. He added that the family has skiplagged quite frequently without any issues. However, this time, the dad had to purchase a new direct ticket, which cost more than $400, so his son could fly to Charlotte.

Although the North Carolina driver’s license tipped the gate agents off, it was the teen’s admission that he was, in fact, not continuing on to NYC that landed him in trouble.

For anyone wanting to try Skiplagging for the first time, Nerd Wallet has offered a few ‘must-do’ suggestions for the trip to go well.

• NO LUGGAGE – Anyone attempting to skip-lag must not check bags but instead use carry-on only. Otherwise, they will get off the flight when it stops but their bags will continue on to their expected final destination.

• NO FREQUENT FLYER MILES – Anyone traveling on a Skiplagging ticket should not under any circumstances attach their airline frequent flyer account to the skip-lagged flight. Otherwise, an airline will track you down once they’re aware of your hack and possibly penalize you by canceling your accrued airline points. This also means you won’t be able to use TSA PreCheck or Clear when boarding your flight.

• NO ROUND-TRIP BOOKINGS – The proper way to skip-lag is to purchase a one-way ticket ONLY. If you need to travel round-trip, it’s important to purchase 2 one-way tickets. Otherwise, if you get off before the final destination on your outbound flight, the airline will simply cancel the return portion of your round-trip ticket since you were a previous no-show.

• NO GATE AGENT CONTACT – Skiplaggers are warned to fly under the radar when traveling and to avoid discussions with gate agents and airline personnel. The proper way to skip-lag is to quietly show up at the gate, get on your flight, then get off at your desired stop (all anonymously).

Skiplagging is an incredible way to save hundreds of dollars on airline tickets. However, it does have its downsides.  

If, for some reason, your flight is delayed or canceled and the airline needs to rebook you, they will likely not book you on the route of your choosing. This means you may not be able to get off in the city you actually want, but will be flown to the city the airline believes to be your final destination.  

Additionally (and since Skiplagging is not illegal), airlines are employing every penalty they can muster to deter the practice. This means that if you’re caught (by admitting it), the airline could cancel your frequent flyer account, force you to pay the fare for the actual route you were traveling, or, in the case of the teen, ban you from flying on their airline.

So, is Skiplagging for you?

OK WASSUP! discusses Travel News:
Saving hundreds of dollars by Skiplagging.