Many times you will find that trips with connecting flights are cheaper than non stop flights. What you may have not noticed is that going on a flight with connections, may be cheaper than flying on the first leg of the connection.

Example: You are flying to Denver. Denver is $500 non stop. There could be a flight to St Louis, connecting in Denver, which is $350. So you book the St Louis flight, connecting in Denver, and when the plane stops in Denver, you don't get on the connecting flight.

There is an app called Skiplagged. It helps you find these deals.


FYI:

United Airlines sued Skiplagged, in 2015, but they are still going. https://money.cnn.com/2015/12/31/invest ... index.html

United Airlines then threatens customers https://nomascoach.boardingarea.com/tra ... llections/

Lufthansa Airlines tried suing a passenger for doing this and the case was dismissed. https://www.npr.org/2019/02/13/69435259 ... urn-flight

Skiplagged has over 1 million customers

Wow! Thanks!

I tested this the other day while looking for Honolulu flights. To/From bay area, they were over $500 RT, but a return flight from HNL - SFO - PDX, was priced at $152 (quite a bit cheaper than HNL - SFO).

I didn't buy, but it was interesting to check out skiplagged.

Luckily on Tue or Wed, United dropped its fare on the flight we had previously booked (1/2 miles, 1/2 cash), and our friends were able to reserve the same outbound flight.

We are checking in on a Friday, but it's the last day of school, and our sons had finals that day until 12:30. United had a 4:30 flight which worked out nicely.

My understanding of using a "skiplagged' technique is that you should not check any bags as they will end up at your ticketed destination.

Is that how others understand checked begs in these situations?

Yes and no. Before skiplagged, they use to ask if your bags are going to your final destination, as you have an option of where your checked bags end up. Now they don't ask. If you self check your bags, it automatically prints to your final destination.

I'm sure you still have a choice, but exercising that choice may be a red flag.

With long layovers, it is not uncommon to get your bags, between connections, go into town and come back again. Airlines don't like to keep your bags for more than 4 hours

On many international flights, you get your bags, go through customs, then check back in for a domestic flight.

It's called "hidden city ticketing", and the savings can be very tempting. But there are also significant risks. Passengers have had their elite status and/or frequent flyer miles confiscated by the airline flown, and some airlines are taking customers to court.
https://jenonajetplane.com/hidden-city- ... ed-review/

Some Airlines is probably an over statement. One Airline took Skiplagged to Court in 2015. It's 2019 now and no additional court filings.

One Airline took a Customer to Court. If that Airline loses, in Court, it's tough cookies for the other airlines.

One Airline sent nasty letters to customers threatening to send them to a Collection Agency, revoke their miles or elite status. I have yet to find one posting that the airline has followed through. They are probably waiting for the one lawsuit to complete before taking action.

I am not saying that airlines won't take action, but here are some hurdles the airlines will have to overcome...

1. Jury Trial. A Defendant can request a Jury Trial. I don't think you will find a jury to side with the Airline on this. It's too complex. Having an airline say to a jury, "if you book with us, you have to take that flight or we are going to sue you", will not get very far.

2. Money Damages. Typically to get a monetary reward, you must prove that the offending party caused some financial harm to you. The defendant can easily state that he saved the Airline money by not boarding the connecting flight. Fuel, Wear and Tear, peanuts, baggage handling, etc. The airline would have to show that the originating flight was not overbooked by more than 20% to make the case that they could have sold the ticket to someone else at a higher price. Here is the risk, for the airlines, if the monetary damage is not enough, the Court may get mad that the airline brought it to Court.

3. The Music Industry. The music industry went after boot leg downloaders. One or two made the news. Nothing since. I don't think the airlines are willing to take on 1 million+ Skiplagged customers

4. Complex. The airline would have to show the complex nature of how they price tickets and how flying 1000 miles is cheaper than flying 500 miles.

5. Collection Agency. The airline would need to go to Court and win a judgement to send it to a Collections Agency. Collection Agencies deals in bills, not the abstract. Even if one did. The customer merely needs to dispute the bill and the Collection Agency, will probably send it back to the Airline. If the Collection Agency went to Court, the customer, in California would simply ask the court to follow evidence law, which would require the Airline to send experts to the Court to prove their case. For a $5,000 complex situation, I think not.

6. Revoking Elite Status. This scares the airlines the most. The rewards programs, of airlines, suck compared to the days of old. Many Elite Status members are dissatisfied with their programs. The Airlines would need to tread lightly to prevent reward program members from taking a competitor airlines in droves.

7. Disclosure. In the wisdom of Airline Ticketing, the rules, which they claim that the passenger violated, is given to the customer AFTER booking a no cancellation flight. Why? Because no one reads it anyways and the airlines saves money. If no one reads it anyways, it is harder for the company to win.

I haven't booked a hidden city flight yet, but when I do, I am not worried.

8. Precedence. If you book a airline ticket and no show, you typically don't get your money back. The airlines has set a precedence that the ticket has no monetary value after the departure time.