Am I required to catch my connection (flight)??
 

This may be a weird question, but if I book a flight with a connection but want to stay in the connecting city, am I somehow required to catch my connection?

I'm looking for flights from San Francisco to Kona, Hawaii and I found that the cheapest flight for the particular dates I want looks something like this:
Depart: SFO > KOA
Return: KOA > SFO > Los Angeles (LAX) > San Jose (SJC)

If I book that above itinerary, it's about $150 CHEAPER than if I book the same trip but end it at SFO. I would like to book it and just not catch that flight down to LA and back up to San Jose and take a train from San Jose back to SFO... that'd just be crazy.

I can't imagine someone forcing me back onto to plane but obviously United will know that I didn't get on that flight. Is there some way for them to penalize me or levy some fine?

I've never encountered something like this before and hoped someone here can help.

It's called hidden city ticketing and is against the T&C of the airlines. No, they won't force you onto a plane, but you do risk your frequent flier account by skipping the last flight(s). Also, you may not receive miles for your itinerary, even the portion you flew.

Interesting. thanks. I'm really tempted to do this, but maybe not give them my FF#? I'm sure they can track me down with my name/address but maybe reduce the risk a little... Now that I know what it's called, I can explore more online. Thanks!!!

Your luggage will be checked to the final destination on your ticket, although in this case you might be able to go to SJC to fetch it.

In IROPs, the airline has the right to change your connecting points, so you might not go through SFO in that case.

Lie to induce AA to contract with you for a certain itinerary at a cheaper price, intentionally break the contract, then hope you don't get caught. Good summary?

Here's a relevant blog post from Gary @ VFTW http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthew...ey-on-airfare/

Not commenting on the "ethics" of doing hidden city ticketing (I've never done it) but it boils down to:

1. Not against the law but against airline policy so they hate it and it may get you banned
2. The skipped leg should be the last leg(s)
3. Must be one way or the last leg of the RT
4. Don't put your FF#
5. Don't check baggage (or if you're brave, short check it)
6. If there are irregular operations (IRROPS), you're SOL and you will need to fly to the true destination.

Well, I haven't booked anything yet. Until just yesterday I didn't know this was a "thing" and wasn't sure what the law/rules were. Now that I know what it's called I intend to take a closer look at what the airline T&C says exactly rather than take the word of someone online and figure out all the ramifications... just gathering info at this point.

Thanks again to everyone who's commented on this!


I guess what I still don't understand is why it's so much cheaper. On that return leg, the 2nd airport (SFO) and the 4th/final airport (SJC) is only 30 min apart BY CAR. Why are they willing to knock off $150 if I take 2 extra legs + 5hrs flying/waiting at the airports? It's not like I was looking for special loopholes - it just came up on a regular search for a roundtrip flight between SFO <>KOA, allowing for nearby airports.

Flight prices have nothing to do with logic or costs or distance. Just what the market will take.

I obviously can't speak for the airline, but presumably many people are willing to pay more for a nonstop flight than they are for a flight requiring two connections.

This was posted on reddit.com/r/flying, so I'll pass down the information:

This is a website that helps you figure this out.

http://www.skiplagged.com/

I'm sure the airlines are real happy about that website ;)

Seems like it does a decent job but hopefully they put up some disclaimers to educate people on how to fly on a hidden-city ticket and not get in trouble.

I know what you mean - I went ahead and sent them feedback regarding that, but here is a reddit post on the topic for your consumption.

http://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/...throwing_away/

That website makes it look like it's legit... I guess we'll start seeing lots of complaints of people who didn't understand the dangers.

I'm not sure whether having a significant increase in pax applying this tactic would entice the airlines to make pricing more logical and if that were a good thing at all for FFs... :confused:

What seems more logical to you may not be more logical for the airline ...

Hidden city pricing is perfectly logical and it's based on supply-and-demand. If tickets were priced based on the flying mile, this would be a non-issue. But, they aren't and that's a good thing.

As we've seen lately, the scammers eventually get caught. Or, their bags wind up somewhere they don't want them to be. Or, in IRROPS, they wind up having to buy a one-way walkup ticket to actually get to the place they're going.

It all comes down to the fact that you might be able to beat the rules once, maybe even twice. But, stuff catches up.