Airline passengers suffering from sky-high fares are increasingly resorting to an old trick to save some money by booking flights with a stopover to their intended city and skipping the second leg of the journey.
While not a new concept, “skiplagging” – also known as “hidden-city” or “throwaway” ticketing – is gaining popularity, much 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 prices from some other sites to popular destinations by more than $100.
Dan Gellert, COO of Skiplagged.com, told The Post on Friday that there is such a big difference in price because “we exist to help travelers save money.
“We don’t exist to help the airlines sell tickets, which the other travel sites do.”
The Post tested whether Skiplagged.com’s rates for a vacation in the hidden city of Honolulu were cheaper than the nonstop round-trip flights listed on Google Flights from New York in early June.
The search result offered three options, starting at $872 and going up to $937.
Stopover flights – often in Los Angeles – started at $812 on Google Flights.
A hidden city route, meanwhile, on Skiplagged from New York to Maui, with a stopover in Honolulu, was offered for $799, nearly $100 cheaper.
The savings were even higher for an international flight from New York to Amsterdam.
Round-trip flights to the capital of the Netherlands from June 1-5 started at $1,171 for a nonstop flight on Google Flights.
However, the same search on Skiplagged found a route to a hidden city that would cost a traveler $1,021 – $136 less than the nonstop flight.
All the travelers would have to do is skip the flight on the second leg of the route from Amsterdam to Milan.
There’s just one catch: Flyers can’t check in a bag.
After all, airports tag luggage to arrive at a traveler’s “final destination.”
Skiplagged.com claims in an FAQ article that cost-cutting strategies are “perfectly legal,” but advises travelers “some things to be aware of” as airlines begin to pick up on skippagged and introduce penalties.
Their tips include bringing only one carry-on bag that fits under the seat in front of you.
“All major risks are checked at the gate and all checked baggage ends up” at the final destination with a ticket.
Knowing that the practice is upsetting airlines, Skiplagged.com also advises travelers not to “overuse hidden city routes.”
Additionally, “don’t tie a frequent flyer account” to your travel schedule, the FAQ advises.
Airlines have been known to strip travelers with hidden city tickets of their status benefits or their mileage account altogether, according to NerdWallet, as skiplagging violates some airlines’ terms and conditions.
The outlet even mentioned cases where American Airlines passengers who skipped their trip were billed by the airline.
“It’s like a restaurant that charges more for medium than large, and then gets mad when a customer buys the large and eats half,” Gellert said of airlines’ anger over skiplagging.
The cost-cutting hunt comes as flight prices continue to outpace 40-year high inflation, despite the airline industry receiving more than $50 billion in pandemic relief over the past two years.
The airlines blame the higher ticket prices on jet fuel costs that have risen nearly 150% over the past year, staff shortages and pent-up demand, CNBC reported.
Delta’s contract of carriage for international flights directly lists hidden city ticketing — a practice it says is used to “circumvent the published fare” — as prohibited.
Some airlines have tried to sue passengers who skipped, including Lufthansa, which in 2018 sought $2,300 in damages from a flyer for using a hidden city ticket.
The airline withdrew the suit the following year for an unknown reason.
United, along with travel website Orbitz, even tried to sue Zaman for “deceptive conduct” in 2014, arguing that his site deprived the two companies of $75,000 in revenue.
The case was dropped in early 2015 after a Chicago judge said the court had no jurisdiction over the case because Zaman lived and conducted business from New York.
“Our flights are so cheap, United sued us…but we won,” Skiplagged.com boasts on its homepage.
