when the trip is cheaper with a second leg that you do not want
 

Hi,

Steven here, only an occasional flyer, although a bit more now.

Clearly, this subject line question is only if you are going carry-on. And the planes change, ie. off the plane to another gate. And you inform them of the cancellation after the first leg.

An example. Tomorrow a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago. Right now, United charges $282 and up. Yet the flights to Madison, Wisconsin (some changing planes) are $210, with the same stop in Chicago. Hmmmm...

Another example I noticed was that a US Air MSP-LGA ticket was lots cheaper than a MSP-CLT ticket. There, however, it was the same plane, making cancellation ... difficult.

And I remember years ago this issue came up with round-trip tickets over the weekend, that were cheaper than one-way. I think some airlines tried to charge if you did not use leg the return. (Now this may be less of an issue, since often R/T is simply two legs added ... I would be curious if there is much point in searching R/T anymore in the sense of getting cheaper fares.)

Anyway, this question is similar in concept.

Ethics? Sense?

It all seems very strange. You would think they would avoid a major anomaly like this, although as we know airline pricing can be arcane, byzantine and high-tech all at the same time.

Your thoughts welcome.

Thanks.

==========

Any experiences on Spirit from MSP-Chicago? I am not a fan of flying Spirit, here I may make an exception.

Steven Avery

Frequent topic here on FT.

It violates the airline's rules, but consensus is that if:
- you don't make a habit of it
- no checked bags
- drop only the final leg(s) of the ticket

... then you will be fine. There's a small risk that if delays or cancellations occur, the airline might try to fix it with a different connecting airport

And as frequently pointed out here as well, if you apply this scheme to a round-trip itinerary, the entire return trip will be canceled if you don't show up for that second leg on the outgoing.

[Unnecessary text edited by Moderator]

In your case, is it worth saving $62 once every 2-3 years to beat the system?

As the folks above mentioned this is called hidden city ticketing and has some concerns and pitfalls. You also run the risk that during IRROPS they route you via some other connecting city to your ticketed final destination so you'd no longer be going to the place you intended to skip off. You're then left finding your own way at additional expense to your real destination.

As noted above this question comes up weekly, if not daily lately.

Have you looked at Southwest? Their flights won't show up in online sites like Orbitz you have to go direct to their website. Over half a dozen daily non-stops between MSP and MDW (Chicago Midway). They're no longer the "el-cheapo" they once were but always worth a look.

If you really want to do it as cheaply as possible, are on a leisure trip without schedule concerns (especially due to current delays on the route), you can do St. Paul to Chicago Union Station on Amtrak. Currently $66 or less one-way in coach, ~8 hours each way, maybe longer if delays haven't cleared up yet.

[Conforming to moderator edit upthread.]

I always thought the purpose of FT was to exchange information, but since OP specifically asked about the ethics of the practice, I suppose a little "ethicizing" (akin to "moralizing") is inevitable

same message, less smackdown:

"If you search 'hidden city ticketing' or 'skipping the last segment' you will find about 10,000 threads on this subject. You're the only one who can determine if saving that $62 once every 2-3 years to 'beat the system' is worth it to you."

I have read articles where airlines see this happening, recalculate the ticket based on the higher price, and bill the credit card that paid for the ticket.

Small risk, yes. But usually small benefit. Why bother?

HI,

Thanks for all the info.

And I originally did buy an Amtrack ticket to get there, which I still have (I will lose 10% of a small amount if I cancel).

Amtrak a couple of days later they warned me that this train is often running very late, late enough to miss the Delta flight (I had an extra hour built in). Then this AM they told me that, if very late, they often run a MSP-Chicago bus, which would likely be more comfy than the Megabus alternative, not too bad, if I want to get the early stop. Plane may be better for the six hours extra here in MN.

As for Southwest, somehow I missed them, or checked pretty late. Usually , I check, since I know they have that wonderful policy of multiple changes and banking a ticket that you do not use and that they are non-Kayak, Orbitz etc. They are still ok with a 3:20 non-stop for $230, which will fit my needs. At least, they would be a better choice than the US Air and Spirit alternatives.

So if it looks like I am going tomorrow by plane, it will be Southwest.

Steven

The NY Times ethicist addresses the question of hidden city ticketing in today's column. He's clearly not a frequent flier, based on his advice that the traveler notify the airline that he or she will not be flying the rest of the itinerary after the traveler completes the first leg of the flight.

I have flown Spirit three times, all three of them were between MSP and ORD. Two flights were last-minute so their price was substantially cheaper than any other option and the third time was booked in advance but between better price and better connection, it was the most logical choice.

All three times I just had carry on that would fit under my seat. I boarded at the very end of the boarding process (why sit in those cramped seats any longer than necessary?) and ended up putting my small day pack in the overhead compartment for no extra charge.

What do you mean by "miss the Delta flight"? Are you picking up a separately-ticketed flight in Chicago to somewhere else on Delta?

I disagree. I think it makes perfect sense to notify the airline after you fly the first leg. That way they can offload you from the flight before you become a no-show. Not to mention, it's just courteous.

Since this seems an active topic today, I'd like to ask my own question.

Can one drop a middle leg if its on a different carrier?

For example, outbound is A->B on Carrier 1, B->C on Carrier 2, Return is C->D on Carrier 3, and D->A on Carrier 1.

If I wanted to drop C->D and drive C->D instead, can I do that without having D->A dropped?

I've done this before in Europe on a single carrier. I flew LH out to Frankfurt, took a connection to Vienna, but instead of connecting back for the return, flew from Prague instead.

This was a few years ago so I don't know if the rules are the same, and how they work with multiple airlines.

Should I just call the carriers and ask?

Here's a not-entirely-hypothetical:

Someone is traveling to China for two weeks with spouse. For a bunch of reasons, the travel dates are fixed with zero wiggle room.

Booking 11 months out, said person got F award tickets in the first low-mileage-needed allocation for the return flight. However, they were not available for the outbound flight. Two one-way award tickets in F or J that bypass capacity controls add up to a whole lot of miles.

Paid one-way tickets on the same airline are fairly expensive. However, paid round trips are much less so. Should this person:

1. Suck it up and buy one-way outbound tickets for what they cost.

2. Buy a round trip with return before the award return flight, so they could (in theory) get back to China a second time to use the reward ticket. Then toss the second half of the round trip.

3. Buy a round trip with return after the award return flight, so the fact that they tossed the second half of the round trip will not be known until they have returned.

4. Buy a round trip on a different airline and toss the second half. This is not as desirable for schedule and FF credit reasons, but feasible if options (2) and (3) are risky.

5. Other?

What does the collective FT wisdom suggest?

HU has great J fares between the US and China, both OW and RT. If the OW savings weren't substantial, I'd just go for the RT and save the miles.