wotan2525

I can save myself a bundle of money by booking two one-way flights that connect in the actual city I wish to travel to. I know that if you skip one leg of a round-trip booking that they will cancel your return, but outside of that -- has anyone heard of the airlines taking action? Can they prevent you from booking on them in the future if you do this too often? Any other reason not to do it?

flying_owl

Hidden City Ticketing, it's been discussed many times here.

In short, the airline is only obligated to take you to your final destination, so if you booked say LAX-ORD-DTW and wanted to get off at ORD, and there were IRROPS for whatever reason, they have the right to book you LAX-IAH-DTW or etc.

In addition, the airline may zero your frequent flyer account, so that you lose your status, all miles, etc. It's not worth it for me, but if you want to take the chance, on an airline that you don't fly regularly, then by all means go for it. Just don't complain if you get sent somewhere other than your connecting city.

One more thing, don't check any bags if you are trying to do this. They'll get shipped to your final destination, and asking the GA to ticket it to your connecting city gives yourself away.

Father-of-3

I read this differently. More like I need to go ATL to LAX and its $500. But ATL-DFW is $200 and DFW-LAX is $200 making it $400 or $100 cheaper.

I think the main issue with doing this is that the airline isn't responsible for protecting your Connection. If you land 2 hours late and miss your second flights they won't be much help.

Father-of-3

Just saw the title (iphone cuts it off) Never mind my first post.

This isn't a good idea. You might get rebooked through another city, you can't check bags, and you could piss off the airline.

It's a violation of the small print on your ticket purchase and FF program.

One interesting thing though. I've been the last one to get on a plane and had my seat occupied and been told to just grab another one. Then I later find my miles missing and call in for them and get told I wasn't properly boarded and they fix it.

I've wondered if you could get away with a spin on that? I'm not up for it but I could see others on here trying.

Pucnit

I do it all the time to the airlines I don't like. That being said you accept the risks discussed above.

Father-of-3

Never thought about that approach. Who cares if Valuejet gets mad at me.

cordelli

There are hundreds, if not thousands of threads discussing it with strong views on both sides, including one recent thread about the airline sending the customer a warning notice.

See this thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-vs-497-a.html

and a search will bring back hundreds more

wotan2525

Thanks for the responses. I understand the risks but it seems minimal. I always carry on and I don't travel enough to have any status worth protecting. This is also for an international flight so even if I do check through, I have to claim the bags and go back through security anyway.

Also -- Couldn't find much in the search since I didn't know the "hidden city" terminology. Plenty of reading now!

Father-of-3

Atlantis is the hidden city but in don't know the airport code for it.

clacko

the only ethics ? is do you keep the savings or tell your spouse about it!

rankourabu

^

When a corporation (such as an airline) acts ethically towards me - I ll return the favour.

I love FlyerTalk, the moral police is always out in full force - but would jump on a mileage deal faster than a fat kid opens a bigmac.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

ethically? I wouldn't worry. Airlines are out to make a buck and to take full advantage of fares. You are free to do the same. For the one person who skips the last segment, there are 100 who pay the higher price... including seniors, those on limited income and other disadvantaged people.

contractually? Maybe a slight concern. If you repeatedly skip then they might close your FF account and you lose your miles. Simple way around that is to travel without status on those flights. They might also bill you the one way fare for the segment and charge your credit card for a higher price. (are they likely to do that? nope)

criminal liability? not even an issue. doesn't come into it.

cbn42

So is it OK for me to forge a boarding pass to get onto a flight I haven't paid for? Hey, airlines are out to make a buck, so why can't I?

Exactly, and it is those people who you are ripping off by not following the rules. If you don't pay the proper cost for your ticket, who do you think is going to pay the difference? The airline's shareholders? It is going to get passed on as higher fares to those who are willing to follow contracts that we sign.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

no and no

I have outlined this before. The cost of the seat, plus profit is worked out in minute detail by the airline.

On any given flight it will know exactly how many seats can be sold and at what cost. It will know how many no-shows. If it is flying A->B it will know, for example, out of 100 seats, that it can only sell 80 at full cost. The other 20 are then available for connecting services A->B->C.

You are snagging one of those seats A-B-C. Not one of the A-B only seats.

If they could sell all their seats A-B only they wouldn't need to offer any others and could charge them all at full fare.

So you're not stealing anything, just taking one of the few seats they set aside for A-B-C.

Science Goy

False equivalence. You're comparing a felony to a breach of a private contract.