Airline passengers feeling the pinch of sky-high fares are increasingly resorting to an old trick to avoid wasting some money by booking flights with a layover to their intended city and ditching the second leg of the trip.
Although not a latest concept, “skiplagging” — also generally known as “hidden-city” or “throwaway” ticketing — has been gaining in popularity, to the consternation of airlines.
The skiplagging trend comes from the flight booking website Skiplagged.com — founded in 2013 by a then-22-year-old entrepreneur named Aktarer Zaman — which beats another sites’ prices to popular destinations by greater than $100.
Dan Gellert, Skiplagged.com’s COO, told The Post on Friday that there’s such a stark price difference because “we exist to assist the travelers lower your expenses.
“We don’t exist to assist the airlines sell tickets, which is what the opposite travel sites do.”
The Post tested if Skiplagged.com’s rates for a hidden-city Honolulu vacation were cheaper than the nonstop, round-trip options listed on Google Flights from Recent York in early June.
The search result offered three options, starting at $872 and reaching as high as $937.
Flights with stopovers — often in Los Angeles — began at $812 on Google Flights.
A hidden-city itinerary, meanwhile, on Skiplagged from Recent York to Maui, with a layover in Honolulu was listed for $799, nearly $100 cheaper.
Savings soared even higher for a global flight from Recent York to Amsterdam.
A round-trip flight to the capital of the Netherlands from June 1-5 began at $1,171 for a nonstop flight on Google Flights.
Nonetheless, the identical search on Skiplagged found a hidden-city itinerary that may cost a traveler $1,021 — $136 lower than the nonstop flight.
All of the travelers would should do is ditch the second-leg flight on the itinerary that continued on from Amsterdam to Milan.
There’s only one catch — flyers can’t check a bag.
In any case, airports tag bags to reach at a traveler’s “final destination.”
Skiplagged.com claims in an FAQ article that cost-saving strategies are “perfectly legal,” but advises travelers “some things to pay attention to” as airlines have began catching onto — and implementing punishments related to — skiplagging.
Their suggestions include bringing just one carry-on bag that may fit under the seat in front of you.
“Anything larger risks getting checked on the gate, and all checked bags will find yourself” in the ultimate ticketed destination.
Knowing that the practice upsets airlines, Skiplagged.com also advises travelers to “not overuse hidden-city itineraries.”
As well as, “don’t associate a frequent flyer account” along with your itinerary, the FAQ advises.
Airlines have been known to strip travelers with hidden-city tickets of their status perks or their mileage account altogether, in accordance with NerdWallet, since skiplagging goes against some airlines’ terms and conditions.
The outlet even cited instances where American Airlines passengers who skiplagged their trip were sent a bill from the airline.
“It’s like a diner charging more for medium than large, after which being mad when a customer buys the massive and eats half,” Gellert said of airlines’ anger over skiplagging.
The price-saving hunt comes as flight prices proceed to outpace 40-year-high inflation, despite the airline industry receiving greater than $50 billion in pandemic relief money throughout the past two years.
The airlines have blamed the upper ticket prices on jet fuel cost increasing nearly 150% up to now 12 months, staffing shortage, and pent-up demand, CNBC reported.
Delta’s contract of carriage for international flights directly cites hidden-city ticketing — a practice it claims is used for “circumventing the published fare” — as prohibited.
Some airlines have tried to sue passengers who’ve skiplagged, including Lufthansa, which sought $2,300 in damages from a flyer in 2018 for using a hidden-city ticket.
The airline withdrew the suit the next 12 months for an undisclosed reason.
United, together with travel website Orbitz, even tried to sue Zaman in 2014 for “deceptive behavior,” arguing his site deprived the 2 corporations of $75,000 in revenue.
The case was thrown out in early 2015 after a Chicago judge said the court didn’t have jurisdiction over the case because Zaman lived and conducted his business from Recent York.
“Our flights are so low cost, United sued us…but we won,” Skiplagged.com boasts on its homepage.
