getting off at an In Transit point
 

I'm thinking this has perhaps been asked in the past but I could not find any references.. suppose you book a one way ticket to destination Z via destination X and get off at X and throw off the other boarding pass any consequences to doing it?

For example: Air NewZealnd OW to Auckland costs $740, Air NewZealand to Sydney via Auckland costs $685 and I have seen it as low as $650 but the OW to Auckland never comes down.

Suppose I just buy the ticket to Sydney and get off at Auckland, what happens?

It's called "hidden city" ticketing. All the airlines hate it and you will be in violation of the Contract of Carriage.

Basically the rest of your trip (i.e., your flight(s) back) are cancelled (this wouldn't apply in this case since it is OW), your PNR gets flagged, and you won't get FF points for the flight. And you might get chased for the difference in prices.

If you buy a ticket to Sydney, they are under no obligation to get you to Auckland, so if something happens and they end up flying you direct to Sydney, or connect somewhere else, you are out of luck.

If you do this, you also can't check bags.

Thanks very much for the explanation! ^ I didn't figure in that bags will not be able to be checked in, that is a huge obstacle to save a few bucks.

I'm not sure if the NZ schedules work but you could try to arrange a <24 hr layover in AKL (such as flying into AKL and arriving say, 9 am and have the next flight to SYD before 9am the next day), you should be able to short check your bags and not fly onto SYD.

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I've done hidden city ticketing with United and have always got the miles for the legs travelled. No lawsuits or angry letters either..