TravelBug3811

Please reply if you have tried this travel pratice lately (or personally know someone who has) and have either been caught or got away with it. I am debating attempting it on Delta. Note that this pratice does constitute a breach of Delta's contract of carriage.

This is my (quick) story. As I do not travel for business, I travel infrequently (5-15k miles/yr). The majority of my flights are MSP-DTW (2 Delta hub cities). Prices are high. However, if I perform point-beyond ticketing and travel

DAY 1 - MSP to DTW, DTW to CHI (any airport)
DAY 3 - DTW to MSP, MSP to CHI (any airport)

The price is less than 50% of the direct flight. So will I be able to get away with this? Or, when I miss the Day 1 DTW to CHI flight, will all my flights on Day 3 be cancelled?
It's pretty obvious from my itinerary I am point-beyond ticketing. But does anyone have first or second hand knowledge of someone actually being caught or getting away with it? Thanks all!

Kinsey

You could also just take an indirect route to get to DTW, for cheaper than nonstop, and not have to worry about getting caught/your ticket cancelled.

For example, MSP-ORD-DTW-ORD-MSP (which I just searched for, on two random business days in mid-January three days apart, and found for $300).

Use the "Multi-City" function on the delta website and play around. You probably can find some city where you A) can fly from MSP and B) that has a connection to DTW that has some good deals.

TravelBug3811

That layover works too, but the price is still not as cheap as point-beyond ticketing. The itinerary I posted is only $168 (with a Saturday stay, which is what I always do)... half the price.
But if there is a high risk of getting caught (hence my open question to forum members) then it's definitely not worth it. A change to MSP-DTW (no extra segment), then DTW-MSP-CHI increases the price by $90, but would be usable at least the first time.

psychtobe

correct.

MikeMpls

Check out Southwest Airlines. Their Mission Statement explicitly permits hidden-city ticketing (what you want to do) as well as back-to-back ticketing. Just be sure you have no luggage checked when you step off the plane:
Round trips are the sums of the one-ways, so there is no advantage to booking RT's. In fact, the advantage lies in booking one-ways so you can take full advantage of their "no change fee" policy to refare if the price drops.

Southwest serves the cities you mention (MDW is their CHI airport, or perhaps MKE if your destination is north of Chicago).

You'll get away with it on Delta once, twice, .... Eventually you will find your miles confiscated and/or your credit card charged for the fare differentials (with or without your authorization).

NHFL9

Do you actually know of this happening? I cannot recall something like that ever being reported here. Granted I agree this isn't something people should frequently engage in, I just cannot recall hearing of an instance where Delta caught it after the fact and took action.

MikeMpls

Both outcomes have happened, and in the cases where DL AMEX was used contesting the unauthorized charges didn't necessarily work.

inyourvillages

Were you planning on doing both trips on DL/NW? That seems like a bad idea. So does counting on making a connection in DTW to a different airline, unless you leave yourself a LOT of time in between.

fti

I know someone who did back-to-back ticketing on DL and was caught, and I posted it on here. Probably 6-8 years ago. He had to pay >$1,000 fare difference. I think the route was PDX-DFW at the time but I am not 100% positive.

Beckles

I'm surprised a Saturday night stay would matter, since fares like this are often matches of WN fares, in my experience they typically do not reqiure a round-trip purchase, just buy two one-way tickets if you can, then there's no risk of the Day 3 itinerary being cancelled because you missed your second Day 1 flight.

As for being caught, if you buy these tickets yourself from the airline, I'd say there is very little chance of that. Most of the airlines' enforcement of such practices is against travel agencies that book this for their clients, the airlines have contracts with the travel agencies that allow the fare differences to be relatively easily collected.

Kibison

My brother regularly books the TPA-NYC flights that connect in ATL so he can jump off in ATL. The savings are too huge to worry about anything DL could do, including confiscating miles and they would have a very hard time trying to collect the fare difference.

Always look for the hidden deals on jumping off early.

Any threat from DL is just a paper tiger. No worries.

motytrah

Just remember, if you miss one segment the rest of your PNR will get canceled.

JSFox

This is really quite an amazing commentary on our society. Do integrity, character, and honesty no longer rank as important? What do we tell our kids? Do as I say, not as I do?

Bikeguy

In the NW forum, the advice you would have gotten is if you do it only once or twice a year, and fly a lot regularly, you'll be fine.

Things happen.

Medical emergencys.

Whatever.

Now, if you do this on all your flights with DL, and you use a FF number, you are asking for trouble.

AndyTLe

I guess it would be the same advice on DL. Once or twice should be fine, just don't make a habit of it.