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Hidden-City Ticketing: This Cheap Flight Trick Could Cost You More Than Money

online booking of flight ticket, with plane sign on keyboard

This little trick, quietly used for decades, can save travelers hundreds on airfare. Hidden-city ticketing is when a consumer finds a significantly cheaper rate by booking a seat on an itinerary with a connecting flight in their destination and skips the final leg of their booked ticket.

For example, if you want to fly from New York to Chicago and find direct rates are $500, but find a flight from New York to California with a stop in Chicago for a connecting flight priced at $250. You’d book that flight and just stay in Chicago, skipping the flight to California and saving yourself pricey direct flights.

Technically, it’s not illegal. However, airlines caught on to the practice and began issuing penalties. The carrier can cancel the remainder of the passenger’s ticket if any legs are missed and the passenger would not receive any sort of compensation. You can also be stripped of airline miles, and even be charged the difference between the fare paid and the lowest applicable fare or be denied boarding.

Skiplagged, a website that utilizes this practice to find fares, is now under fire. United and Orbitz, giants in the online travel industry, are taking on the grass-roots site ran by a tech-guru with legal action. The website is still up, but is begging for help.

Consumers, Skiplagged needs your help! United Airlines and Orbitz recently filed a lawsuit that can force us to remove results only we find, getting in the way of saving you lots of money on airfare. Please support Skiplagged by donating to our legal fund here. Thank you!

The corporate-run big dogs claim that hidden-city ticketing causes “logistical and public safety concerns.”

Seriously. That is their claim. It’s a matter of opinion I suppose, but here’s a fact: According to a study, the airline industry will make $49.9 billion in ancillary fees – worldwide – this year. In 2013 the profit was $43 billion, an increase from $36 billion in 2012.

This lawsuit may backfire. What was once a quiet practice, is now in the mainstream news. The exposure of the practice reminds me of the discovery of Napster that led to a huge lawsuit, and a total revamp of the music industry’s selling practices.

You can find these hidden-city fares on your own. Travel agents might help you locate these fares, but they can penalized and most won’t run the risk of ruining a business relationships. If you do decide to try it out, remember that you cannot check any of your bags. They will end up in the final destination city. Also, only book one-way fares to avoid cancellation of your return route.

Do you agree with ethics behind the practice? Let us know in the comment section below.