It doesn’t matter where you are in time or place, there’s always someone who’s trying to beat the system. It’s especially prevalent in the travel world:
- How to override hotel thermostat settings and TV “hotel mode” settings
- How to get a cheaper Uber from the airport
- How to “fix” hotel showers that have low flow shower heads
But of course, there are plenty of hacks that people try and either they get caught, or the company changes the rules so the hack won’t work anymore:
- Man banned from airline after posting how to get free carry-on bag
- Airlines cracking down on hack to pay less for checked bags
- Airline’s punishment for skiplagging expands
Now, that last one – skiplagging? That’s a crazy one because it’s technically not illegal to do it. But airlines do their best to strongly encourage passengers to not do it.
What is Skiplagging?
Skiplagging (or “hidden city” flights) is defined as:
…a flight where you get off at the layover rather than the final destination. For example, a flight from New York to Orlando might be $250, but a similar flight from New York to Dallas with a layover in Orlando might be $130. If you’re going to Orlando, we’ll show you both flights. If you choose the cheaper one, you get off the plane at the layover (Orlando) rather than going to the final ticketed destination (Dallas).
That’s from Skiplagged.com’s website.
My husband and I don’t participate in skiplagging (here’s why). But plenty of people do, which is probably why Skiplagged developed this stance after losing their latest lawsuit (to the tune of $9.4 million). So when I saw a particular question on Reddit the other day, from someone who was trying to “beat the system,” it brought up an interesting discussion:
The Redditor sounded as if they live in Detroit. They found a one way flight from STL to London Heathrow was $589. It included a 3-hour layover in Detroit, after which the plane proceeded to LHR. They also discovered that a non-stop, one way flight, on the same flight number, from DTW to LHR, was $820.
Their question was whether or not they could book the flight from STL to LHR and just skip the first leg of that trip, boarding at DTW, to save $230.
A Clever Trick – But Is It Skiplagging?
Nope. It sounds similar to skiplagging in theory, since you’re skipping a “hidden city,” but it’s not the same thing.
Skiplagging means starting the flight where it should and disembarking at the layover city. This would be skipping the original city and embarking at the layover city.
Why Skipping the First Leg Won’t Work
Nope.
Airlines sell you reservations with the agreement that you’ll fly with them from your originating city to your final destination. If you’re not there at the originating city by whatever time the deadline is to check in, they’ll consider you to be a “no show” and will cancel your reservation – including any legs/flight(s) after a stopover/layover.
How to Find a Cheaper Alternative
That particular price? Only if they made their way to STL and boarded the plane there.
Other recommendations took the form of advice we gave years ago – checking out the prices of nearby cities. So other Redditors in the post recommended driving to Toronto or Lansing (that latter one is apparently also $589), flying to NYC, or taking the train to Windsor, and getting a (cheaper) flight from there. One other person mentioned that jetBlue had $50 flights from DTW to JFK for July…in case that helped.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
