Skiplagging: A Risky Way to Save on Airfare

Skiplagging, the practice of buying a plane ticket with a connecting flight and getting off at the connection rather than continuing to the final destination, is not a risk-free way to save money on air travel. While it’s not illegal, airlines can punish you for skiplagging if they catch you. The practice is prohibited in the contracts of carriage of all but one of the 10 major airlines in the United States. The only exception is Allegiant Air, but they don’t sell any tickets with connecting flights. Delta, American, United, Southwest, Alaska, and Frontier single out “hidden-city ticketing” as a prohibited ticketing practice. JetBlue, Hawaiian and Spirit don’t use the term “hidden-city ticketing,” but require passengers to complete the route on their ticket. Each airline can cancel your ticket and refuse to board you if they catch you skiplagging, according to their contracts of carriage. While the potential punishments vary between airlines, they could also include charging you the difference in fare for the correct ticket, canceling travel miles, charging additional fees for the costs of delivering your baggage and confiscating your unused travel coupons. United’s carriage contract goes as far as to say the airline can permanently ban you from its flights if it catches you.

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