Hidden city travel has been monitored in the U.S. very carefully in recent years and airlines have started to bill travel agents they find using this regularly as a means of cutting prices for their clients, the full fare based on how the ticket was actually used. In some cases, they have removed their right to sell seats on that carrier.

Not using a segment for which you have been booked, particularly the originating or destination city, is fraud. No question about it and can be dealt with accordingly. Any other excuses are pretty much in the category of "my dog ate my homework", and can be seen through for what they are.

Will an airline risk losing your business? Yes, because someone who commits fraud once is likely to do it many times. And you could have your Aeroplan account cancelled and miles forefeited too.

As long as back to back tickets are actually used and all segments flown in sequence as ticketed, while they are frowned upon by the airlines as a means of reducing costs, they are not considered fraud and not subject to the same potential "punishment" to the passenger or travel agent. I know there has been much debate about this, so I posed it to AC Aeroplan people when we were in Montreal last summer as a means of doing super mileage runs. The foregoing was the answer I was given by a senior manager.

Bottom line, as long as you comply with all the terms of the issued ticket, you are within your rights to purchase and fly on those tickets. Once you violate these regs, you -- and the travel agent that sold you the ticket -- can be prosecuted, or otherwise dealt with, by the airline in question.

And by the way, Fly Boy, what the h*ll does LOL stand for?