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FAQ: Skipping Segment, Hidden City / Point Beyond / Throw Away Ticketing (master thd)

Old Apr 18, 2013, 9:20 am
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Last edit by: Prospero
FAQ: "Missing" or "Skipping Segments": Hidden City, Point Beyond and Throw Away Ticketing
Q. What will happen if I "skip" a segment?
A. Skipping an intermediate or end segment is most often referred to as "Hidden City / Point Beyond Ticketing" by American Airlines, and skiplagging by others; doing so invalidates the contract you have with AA regarding your ticket. AA will at least cancel the remaining segments. If the reason for missing a segment is to drop the last segment to save money on a more expensive ticket to the intermediate destination, it is called a "Hidden City / Point Beyond" ticket. American Airlines states, in the Conditions of Carriage (and more existentially in Tariff Rule 100AA):

American specifically prohibits the practices commonly known as:
Hidden City/Point Beyond Ticketing: Purchase of a fare from a point before the passenger's actual origin or to a point beyond the passenger's actual destination.
Link to American Airlines Conditions of Carriage, Ticket Validity.

Q. What about buying a round trip and not flying the return?
"Throw away" ticketing, that is purchasing a less expensive round trip ticket with the intent of not flying the return segments ("throwing away" the return tickets) is similarly frowned upon, but may be acted upon - particularly if this becomes frequent or a pattern

Q. Do American Airlines Corporate Security / AAdvantage Fraud have people and algorithms running in the background that check for these?
Assuredly, yes. Can people be found liable for fees and/or lose their accounts / status / miles? Yes, we have had many reports on FT, and the risk increases for repeaters. Can people be criminally or civilly prosecuted? Doubtful. (Link to article on Contract Fraud.)

Q. Would I get in trouble skipping the final segment?
A. Possibly not, if you don't do this on other than the rare occasion, but there is risk.

Q. Can I short check my baggage?
A. In most cases, you may find it difficult, unless you have an overnight connection, must retrieve your baggage for customs or because your connection does not offer interlining of baggage.

Q. Will I get my EQ and Award Miles.
You will likely accrue miles for the segments you actually flew. But skiplagging could result in miles confiscation and potentially account closure.

Q. Can I claim the residual value for the unused segment?
Au contraire; with a hidden city / point beyond ticket, you owe AA money under their rules. United and Lufthansa have billed skiplaggers, AA may have.

Q. What has AA said they can do to me about hidden city or throwaway ticketing?
Passengers who attempt to use hidden city tickets may be denied boarding, have the remainder of their ticket confiscated and may be assessed the difference between the fare paid and the lowest applicable fare.
A highly recommended article on this topic is 3 Words on Hidden City Ticketing: Dont Do It (link) from ExpertFlyer, 27 Feb 2019.

Archived older posts may be read here.

For Conditions of Carriage - Ticket Validity and Letter used by AA:
AA Hidden City and Point Beyond Ticketing:

Skipping an intermediate or end segment is referred to as "Hidden City / Point Beyond Ticketing" by American Airlines, and doing so invalidates the contract you have with AA regarding your ticket. AA will generally cancel the remaining segments, and if it is dropping the last segment to save money on a more expensive ticket to the intermediate destination, it is called the "Hidden City" ticket.

The entire Conditions of Carriage, the contract that governs your ticket (in additon to the Detailed Fare Rules attached to your fare class and readable prior to purchase), are here: CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE.

The specific language regarding Hidden City and Point Beyond Ticketing is here:
TICKET VALIDITY - COMPLIANCE WITH TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE

Tickets are valid for travel only when used in accordance with all terms and conditions of sale. Terms and conditions of sale include but are not limited to:
  1. The passenger's itinerary, as stated on the ticket or in the passenger's reservation record,
    • Any requirement that the passenger stay over a specified date or length of time (for example, Saturday night or weekend) at the destination specified on the ticket.
    • Any special purpose or status (for example, age in the case of senior citizen or children's discounts, military status in the case of a military fare, official government business in the case of a government fare, or attendance at a qualified event in the case of a meeting or convention fare) that entitles the passenger to a special or reduced rate, or
    • Any other requirement associated with the passenger's fare level.
Unless a ticket is reissued by American or its authorized agent upon payment of applicable charges, or an authorized representative of American waives applicable restrictions in writing, a ticket is invalid:
  1. If used for travel to a destination other than that specified on the ticket,
    • If the passenger fails to comply with applicable stay-over requirements,
    • If the passenger does not meet the purpose or status requirement associated with the fare category on the ticket, or
    • If American determines that the ticket has been purchased or used in a manner designed to circumvent applicable fare rules.
American specifically prohibits the practices commonly known as:
  • Back to Back Ticketing: The combination of two or more roundtrip excursion fares end to end for the purpose of circumventing minimum stay requirements.
  • Throwaway Ticketing: The usage of roundtrip excursion fare for one-way travel, and
  • Hidden City/Point Beyond Ticketing: Purchase of a fare from a point before the passenger's actual origin or to a point beyond the passenger's actual destination.
  • Duplicate and Impossible/Illogical Bookings: Duplicate or impossible/illogical American Airlines bookings are prohibited without prior authorization from American Airlines. A duplicate or impossible/illogical booking includes, but is not limited to, bookings for the same passenger on flights traveling on or about the same date between one or more of the same or nearby origin and/or destination (such as JFKDFW and LGADFW or DFWLAX and DFWONT), or bookings with connections that depart before the arrival of the inbound flight.
  • Fraudulent, Fictitious and Abusive Bookings: Fraudulent, fictitious and/or abusive bookings are prohibited. These types of bookings are defined as any bookings made without having been requested by or on behalf of the named passenger. Additionally, creating bookings to hold or block seats for the purpose of obtaining lower fares, AAdvantage award inventory, or upgrades that may not otherwise be available, or to circumvent any of American Airlines' fare rules or policies, is prohibited without prior authorization from American Airlines.

Where a ticket is invalidated as the result of the passenger's non-compliance with any term or condition of sale, American has the right in its sole discretion to:
  1. Cancel any remaining portion of the passenger's itinerary,
    • Confiscate unused flight coupons,
    • Refuse to board the passenger or check the passenger's luggage, or
    • Assess the passenger for the reasonable remaining value of the ticket, which shall be no less than the difference between the fare actually paid and the lowest fare applicable to the passenger's actual itinerary
Sample letter from American Airlines on Hidden City Ticketing:

Dear ,

Let me take the opportunity to clarify American Airlines position on hidden city or point beyond ticketing. Purchasing a ticket to a point beyond the actual destination and getting off the aircraft at the connecting point is unethical (sic). It is tantamount to switching price tags to obtain a lower price on goods sold at department stores. Passengers who attempt to use hidden city tickets may be denied boarding, have the remainder of their ticket confiscated and may be assessed the difference between the fare paid and the lowest applicable fare.

Because we compete with other airlines with different route structures, we sometimes find it necessary to give a traveler who is traveling beyond a connecting point a better price than travelers who are just traveling to the connecting point. For example, a passenger who is traveling to Austin, Texas from Los Angeles can go on one airline via Phoenix for a price that is lower than the cost of traveling on American between Los Angeles and Dallas. If we want to offer the same price to Austin as the other airline, but the only way we can get travelers there is via Dallas, we find ourselves charging the Austin passengers less than the Dallas passengers.

Although the issuance and usage of hidden city tickets is not illegal in the sense that one could be fined or sent to jail by the government, it is unethical and a breach of a passengers (sic) contract with AA. Both tariff rule 100AA and American's Condition of Carriage, which are incorporated into every ticket sold by American as part of our agreement to carry the passenger named on the ticket, bar hidden city ticketing. In addition, it violates the agencies' contract to act as an agent for American Airlines.

If American Airlines continues to lose revenue as a result of hidden city transactions, the fares we charge must inevitably rise.

Sincerely,
In August 2020 AA went after user HappyInTheAir561 for Hidden City Ticketing, demanding payment of $2,500 or permanent closure of his AAdvantage account and loss of 600,000 miles balance. Below is the letter (missing is the 2,500 quote), and there is an entire thread about it here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...rmination.html The user says he ultimately paid the money.
Mr. XXXX,

As an analyst with American Airlines, one of my responsibilities is investigating violations of the General AAdvantage Program Conditions. An audit of your AAdvantage account, determined that you have engaged in the practice known as Hidden City ticketing; the purchase of a fare to a point beyond your actual destination. Hidden city ticketing is explicitly defined in AAs Conditions of Carriage as a violation of ticket validity. The Terms and Conditions of the AAdvantage program further state that compliance with the Conditions of Carriage is compulsory for participation in the AAdvantage program. As such, AAdvantage account XXXXXX is restricted, pending the outcome of our investigation. You may review the terms and conditions of the AAdvantage program (several parts of the terms and conditions are noted below) by clicking the link below or by copying and pasting it into your browser.

The audit of your account XXXXXwas completed on August xx, 2020. The following reservations were not issued in compliance with the AAdvantage Terms & Conditions, Conditions of Carriage or AA.com Site Usage policy:

52 HIDDEN CITY TICKETS (Included each one of the flights they believe is a hidden city ticket)

Not unlike other commodities, airline seats are market priced. A seat on a non-stop flight is a premium product and commands a higher price. Seats in connecting markets must be priced competitively and hence can be substantially cheaper. The ill-effects of point beyond ticketing are two-fold; the customer receives the flight for a price for which they arent entitled and a seat is spoiled on the separate connecting flight. An airline ticket constitutes a contract and the terms of that contract are stated explicitly in the Conditions of Carriage. Please see excerpts below.

Mr.XXXXX, these actions have resulted in clear and considerable losses to American Airlines. In addition to our loss for the travel provided, tickets booked through prohibited practices are considered fraudulent, and therefore not eligible to accrue mileage. In this case, our loss is further compounded through the Elite mileage accruals, benefits, and services used that were not otherwise available. Generally, violations of this nature subject the AAdvantage account to termination. However, we are willing to provide you with an opportunity to restore an equitable relationship through restitution for the loss on your identified travel.

You may respond to this message by 3pm, CST, Friday, August 31, 2020 stating you would like to bring your account back to good standing. At that time, the segments will be re-priced based on your intended travel and we will send you the information so that you may make the appropriate reimbursement for the travel provided. Failure to return the account to good standing or to reply, will result in the termination of your AAdvantage membership and all its benefits, including all remaining AAdvantage miles in your account and any award tickets issued from it.
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FAQ: Skipping Segment, Hidden City / Point Beyond / Throw Away Ticketing (master thd)

Old Mar 7, 2017, 9:13 am
  #76  
 
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Originally Posted by no1cub17
Only to some places (like Europe). Thankfully Asia routes seem exempt for the most part.
Even that's changing with DY. TP, for example, has started doing one-ways.

Originally Posted by Shareholder
Surprised at the naivit of the posts here. This scam has existed for decades, ever since de-regulation of domestic fares. And it's only gotten more popular with the ending of restrictions that made one-way fares more expensive than returns (with Saturday overnights).


How is it a scam?
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 9:25 am
  #77  
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Originally Posted by mvoight
$221 is the "anytime" fare today for flights SFO-LAX today
If you don't mind the drive, it is possible to get a reasonable car price, especially if you have a corporate rate that has no drop fee
Especially if you'll be renting a car anyway once there.


Maybe I missed it, but what routing did the Gate Agent offer the OP in lieu of SFO-LAX-LAS?


A few years ago, I was doing a mileage run, MCO-PHL-BOS-PHX, and there was a flight cancel or something that happened for the PHL-BOS leg. They tried to route me back on PHL-PHX, but I told them I had planned to meet a friend at BOS, and had 2 hours or so there. So they booked me on another PHL-BOS, and on my original BOS-PHX (just a few minutes had gone by so I managed to keep my seat for BOS-PHX).
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 9:29 am
  #78  
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Originally Posted by woolfson
It was bound to happen. BUSTED.

I got busted by the American Airlines gate agent this evening in San Francisco trying to skip-leg to Los Angeles on a SFO --> LAX --> LAS flight. (Basically, buying a ticket to a destination that you have no intention upon going to - so that you can get off at the connection point and achieve a much lower price on an otherwise unaffordable flight.)

So. A delayed flight.

I said "but I'm meeting up with a friend in L.A."

The gate agent said "Hey, I know what you're doing, you have no intention on going to Las Vegas. You're not allowed to do that. I'm going to need to put you on a different flight to get you to Vegas since your flight's delayed!"

So I had to ditch the flight and drive to LA and basically forfeit the ticket. And she also seemed to write some choice things into the PNR when she took me off the flight.

I'm writing this because - if you do skip leg - be prepared for the occasional epic fail. And it was sort of a hilariously humbling experience.
Was the delay sufficient to qualify for a refund of the fare?
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 9:41 am
  #79  
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Hidden City Ticketing is one of those things that you can only get away with once in a long while on an airline you don't fly often. Do it regularly, and odds are good they will catch up to you fast. It only takes one forced gate check or cancelled/rerouted flight to get you into a mess.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 9:53 am
  #80  
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Originally Posted by Palal
Even that's changing with DY. TP, for example, has started doing one-ways.





How is it a scam?
It is a violation of AA's COC:

#1 - To purchase a ticket which at the time purchased you do not intend to fly
#2 - To engage in hidden city ticketing

The issue for OP is what exactly OP entered in the PNR notes and whether AA will take any other action against OP as a result.

OP does not list any status with AA, so it is not apparent that there is significant action against his FFP to be undertaken.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 10:16 am
  #81  
 
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Originally Posted by Proudelitist
Hidden City Ticketing is one of those things that you can only get away with once in a long while on an airline you don't fly often. Do it regularly, and odds are good they will catch up to you fast.
I've hardly ever heard of it being a problem for anyone, actually.

It only takes one forced gate check or cancelled/rerouted flight to get you into a mess.
This is true. You should definitely think about your options if it doesn't work out. In OP's case, driving back to LAX from LAS might not be that much worse than the drive down from SFO, so he probably had the balance of risks correct.

I don't know if I've ever intentionally booked a hidden city ticket, but my travel plans often (a few times per year) change such that I don't want/need the last segments of an itinerary, and have never run into trouble as a result.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 10:21 am
  #82  
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No airline uses the term "skip-legging", nor has it been used in this forum as far as we know; the term is "hidden city of point beyond ticketing", and we have merged the new thread into the existing one. As the Wikipost at the top of the page indicates, the procedure is specifically mentioned and a violation of the AA Conditions of Carriage.

/Moderator
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 10:44 am
  #83  
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Originally Posted by jordyn
I've hardly ever heard of it being a problem for anyone, actually.
Which has minimal correlation to how often it -has- been a problem for serial-offenders.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 10:44 am
  #84  
 
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Seems to me the latest poster could have said something along the lines of ....


1. I really want to connect in LAX because if I can't get to LAS tonight then I have friends there I can over night with.
2. If I get to LAX and can't get out, worst case scenario is I can rent a car and drive to LAS from there.
3. Who knows what is happening with the LAS flight, I'll worry about any misconnect when I get to LAX.

Seems to me there are likely to be a lot of pax stressing over a misconnect and its odd that the agent would worry about someone who isn't actually asking about anything.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 10:46 am
  #85  
 
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Originally Posted by C17PSGR
Seems to me the latest poster could have said something along the lines of ....


1. I really want to connect in LAX because if I can't get to LAS tonight then I have friends there I can over night with.
2. If I get to LAX and can't get out, worst case scenario is I can rent a car and drive to LAS from there.
3. Who knows what is happening with the LAS flight, I'll worry about any misconnect when I get to LAX.
Well, of course all of those would be lies.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 10:52 am
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Presumptuous GAs aside, the OP did not get "busted" because he didn't do anything wrong (he didn't even fly). He/she should request a refund on account of the departure delay if he's willing to "rock the boat" a little more and not worry about what the AAgent wrote in his PNR. IMHO, OP should just have politely stuck to the "I want the routing I paid for" story on grounds that he was meeting a companion at LAX. I've done this numerous times at DFW when going from domestic to international. This is very common.

When my layover time is ample, I will say that I have a meeting in Admirals Club of the connecting city (sometimes a true story). People pay to fly specific routes and avoid specific airports for a number of legitimate reasons, and most airline staff understand and respect that.

Originally Posted by aztimm
A few years ago, I was doing a mileage run, MCO-PHL-BOS-PHX, and there was a flight cancel or something that happened for the PHL-BOS leg. They tried to route me back on PHL-PHX, but I told them I had planned to meet a friend at BOS, and had 2 hours or so there. So they booked me on another PHL-BOS, and on my original BOS-PHX (just a few minutes had gone by so I managed to keep my seat for BOS-PHX).

I've had good luck getting favorable rebookings when stating that I'm on a mileage run. LOL, I've never needed an excuse! It's almost like it's fun to some AAgents to come up with convoluted routings. Was recently flying MSY-DFW-LAS to catch another MR when a VDB offer came up, and I took it. I told the AAgent that I was on an MR and he laughed. "Let's see what we can do," he said as he booked me going MSY-CLT-LAX-LAS.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 12:12 pm
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Originally Posted by brewdog11

I've had good luck getting favorable rebookings when stating that I'm on a mileage run. LOL, I've never needed an excuse! It's almost like it's fun to some AAgents to come up with convoluted routings. Was recently flying MSY-DFW-LAS to catch another MR when a VDB offer came up, and I took it. I told the AAgent that I was on an MR and he laughed. "Let's see what we can do," he said as he booked me going MSY-CLT-LAX-LAS.
FA's once asked me if I was on a mileage run, although when I told them I was they weren't as enthused, remarking "so that's why we aren't making any money"
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 3:04 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by enviroian
Ah got it...he booked two, one-way refundable fares.

Genius!
No, not really. Booking a ticket SFO - LAX - LAS and LAX - SFO under the same FF# is a dead give away of what is likely happening. AA has years of experience watching flight patterns and probably catches way more of these than they take action on. Yes, there can be legitimate bookings, but those people will push the issue more than someone trying to cheat the airline.
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Old Mar 7, 2017, 4:21 pm
  #89  
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Originally Posted by brewdog11
Presumptuous GAs aside, the OP did not get "busted" because he didn't do anything wrong (he didn't even fly). He/she should request a refund on account of the departure delay if he's willing to "rock the boat" a little more and not worry about what the AAgent wrote in his PNR. IMHO, OP should just have politely stuck to the "I want the routing I paid for" story on grounds that he was meeting a companion at LAX. I've done this numerous times at DFW when going from domestic to international. This is very common.

When my layover time is ample, I will say that I have a meeting in Admirals Club of the connecting city (sometimes a true story). People pay to fly specific routes and avoid specific airports for a number of legitimate reasons, and most airline staff understand and respect that.




I've had good luck getting favorable rebookings when stating that I'm on a mileage run. LOL, I've never needed an excuse! It's almost like it's fun to some AAgents to come up with convoluted routings. Was recently flying MSY-DFW-LAS to catch another MR when a VDB offer came up, and I took it. I told the AAgent that I was on an MR and he laughed. "Let's see what we can do," he said as he booked me going MSY-CLT-LAX-LAS.
Except that this particular agent didn't buy it.

The bottom line is that if you purchase a ticket A-C which happens to connect at B, you can be rerouted A-D-C or you could be rerouted onto the A-C nonstop. If you have a meeting at B, you would then purchase A-B and B-C as separate segments and pay the segment fares.

AA is a lot tougher than UA & DL on COC issues (until the others catch up) and for all we know the GA gets a bonus for catching a live one.

The juvenile fibbing doesn't help if the agent has heard it all before. Even if it's not a fib and it's true.
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Old Mar 8, 2017, 8:28 am
  #90  
 
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Originally Posted by JonNYC
Which has minimal correlation to how often it -has- been a problem for serial-offenders.
Why do you think that? Other infractions (e.g., selling miles or SWUs) or rules that AA enforces from time to time but not consistently (e.g., audits of appropriate SWU application) all get discussed here. I see no reason to believe that this is a special case where people are regularly getting busted for it but no one talks about it on FlyerTalk.

Now perhaps you have inside information that you're hinting at but not sharing. I'd be curious to learn more, but color me skeptical at this point based on the evidence at hand.
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