Editorials & Other Articles

underpants

(183,043 posts) Sat Feb 16, 2019, 11:54 AM Feb 2019

What I learned today - saving money on air flight ...and getting sued by the airline

Hidden city ticketing: The travel hack airlines don't want you to use

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hidden-city-ticketing/index.html

What is hidden city ticketing?
"Hidden city ticketing" is a longtime, under-the-radar practice of the most astute, rule-breaking fliers. It's now taking center stage in a lawsuit filed by Lufthansa, one of the world's largest airlines.

It can get complicated. Let's say you need to fly from New York City to Los Angeles, and the cheapest ticket you can find is selling for $500. There's another flight from New York to Reno, Nevada -- with a layover in Los Angeles -- that only costs $350.
If you get off the plane in Los Angeles -- throwing away the second flight from Los Angeles to Reno -- you'll get to La La Land at a "discount."

The airline alleges that their customer booked a roundtrip from Oslo to Seattle with a layover in Frankfurt. On the return trip, the customer got off in Frankfurt, didn't fly to Oslo and instead booked a separate Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Berlin. (He did show his hand by booking the second flight on the same airline as his first flight.)
It's against the airline's contract of carriage (PDF), which is often hard to find on an airline's website.

7 replies

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Highlight:

What I learned today - saving money on air flight ...and getting sued by the airline (Original Post) underpants Feb 2019 OP

Corporations use every loophole they can find or create to save money and increase profit. Aristus Feb 2019 #1

So it's illegal to get off the plane? greymattermom Feb 2019 #2

I have to say this was news to me underpants Feb 2019 #3

I had a friend who commuted to NYC for work and would stay there three or four days a week. Yonnie3 Feb 2019 #4

Works unless you have checked luggage. Sneederbunk Feb 2019 #5

Ah. Good point. underpants Feb 2019 #6

As Long as the Customer Pays for the Ticket, There's No Reason to Sue dlk Feb 2019 #7

Aristus

(66,530 posts)

1. Corporations use every loophole they can find or create to save money and increase profit.

Reply to underpants (Original post)

Sat Feb 16, 2019, 11:57 AM

Feb 2019

But when consumers use loopholes to save money, the corporations sue. What bullshit...

greymattermom

(5,754 posts)

2. So it's illegal to get off the plane?

Reply to Aristus (Reply #1)

Sat Feb 16, 2019, 12:05 PM

Feb 2019

This used to happen to me before Southwest flew to Cincinnati. Delta had to compete with Southwest in Louisville, so they charged less for a flight that stopped in Cinci and went on to Louisville than they charged for the same flight if you got off in Cinci. I would fly from home to Cinci to Louisville, rent a car in Louisville and drive back to Cinci.

underpants

(183,043 posts)

3. I have to say this was news to me

Reply to Aristus (Reply #1)

Sat Feb 16, 2019, 12:13 PM

Feb 2019

Not that corporations can suck but this skipping of flights.

My daughter is going to fly this summer to see the grand parents. Without getting into details the easiest way is for her not to fly out of Atlanta but Chattanooga. There is no direct flight back to here, the closest arrival is in DC. Now I can look for a flight using this trick.

Yonnie3

(17,516 posts)

4. I had a friend who commuted to NYC for work and would stay there three or four days a week.

Reply to underpants (Original post)

Sat Feb 16, 2019, 12:17 PM

Feb 2019

He bought much cheaper round trip tickets with a weekend stay in NYC. They were less than half price.

The round trips originated in NYC, so for his first trip he bought a full fare ticket and didn't use the final ticket. He always worried that the airline would figure it out.

He was a programmer for machines that replaced tatting. A truly specialized type of coding.