Damn united airlines at it again!
- Thread starter Road Guy
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Road Guy
Well-known member
It's a hack, and it's based on arcane airline pricing policies. It's been around for decades but the internet as made it simpler to take advantage of.
I've taken advantage of it a few times on company travel when the "hidden city" turned out to be a local airport, and I was trying to save money. I never walked away at a connecting airport though. From a FCA standpoint, the wasted time from an extra connecting flight or travel to the further local airport, wasn't really worth the saved funds.
I've taken advantage of it a few times on company travel when the "hidden city" turned out to be a local airport, and I was trying to save money. I never walked away at a connecting airport though. From a FCA standpoint, the wasted time from an extra connecting flight or travel to the further local airport, wasn't really worth the saved funds.
Road Guy
Well-known member
Id also like to see how they would try and charge you for the fee - I would deny that shit on my credit card, and in all reality I don't know why they care since the plane is making a stop anyways.. probably saving them an ounce of fuel 
The airlines have a racket set up where they screw people that live near a hub and want to take nonstop flights, but at the same time offer competitive fares from cities they connect to.
One instance for me was was wanting to fly to Marquette, MI on business. Detroit to Marquette nonstop was $600+ roundtrip. Lansing is about an hour drive from the Detroit airport, and flights from Lansing to Detroit to Marquette were $350. But it adds a couple hours to connect and have a layover, so they're banking on business travelers paying the premium for the nonstop flight, and they also compete with American who has flights from Lansing to Chicago to Marquette so they have to keep fares lower there (there's no competition on the nonstop Detroit - Marquette flight.)
But their racket breaks down if you fly Marquette to Detroit and then get off and walk away without taking your return flight to Lansing. So they try to make that practice "illegal." For the most part it hasn't held up in court, but I have heard of airlines cancelling frequent flier accounts if you do it too many times. For the average traveler that might not mean much, but people that fly a lot can easily have thousands of dollars in frequent flier miles.
One drawback to hidden city ticketing where you walk away at the connecting airport is you can't check bags, because they'll go to the final destination without you (and if you're forced to gate-check a bag, then what?) But the big danger is that if your first flight gets cancelled, you might be rerouted through a different connecting airport and and not get to where you originally were planning to go.
One instance for me was was wanting to fly to Marquette, MI on business. Detroit to Marquette nonstop was $600+ roundtrip. Lansing is about an hour drive from the Detroit airport, and flights from Lansing to Detroit to Marquette were $350. But it adds a couple hours to connect and have a layover, so they're banking on business travelers paying the premium for the nonstop flight, and they also compete with American who has flights from Lansing to Chicago to Marquette so they have to keep fares lower there (there's no competition on the nonstop Detroit - Marquette flight.)
But their racket breaks down if you fly Marquette to Detroit and then get off and walk away without taking your return flight to Lansing. So they try to make that practice "illegal." For the most part it hasn't held up in court, but I have heard of airlines cancelling frequent flier accounts if you do it too many times. For the average traveler that might not mean much, but people that fly a lot can easily have thousands of dollars in frequent flier miles.
One drawback to hidden city ticketing where you walk away at the connecting airport is you can't check bags, because they'll go to the final destination without you (and if you're forced to gate-check a bag, then what?) But the big danger is that if your first flight gets cancelled, you might be rerouted through a different connecting airport and and not get to where you originally were planning to go.
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Dexman PE PMP
Internationally PMP'n his PE-ness
And in order to do it, you have to book both the initial and return flights as separate trips (two one-way plans) because if you skip out halfway on the original flight, your return is cancelled. Some airlines try to combat this by making roundtrip packages a little more affordable.
